He passed away early Friday morning after suffering from complications from a heart attack.
Advertisement
Cardinals president Michael Bidwill said in a statement: “All of us at the Cardinals are incredibly saddened by the news of Dennis Green’s passing”.
Dennis Green, who served as coach, mentor and father figure to football players for most of his life, once told The Bee, “I live for this great game”. He took great pride in helping assistant coaches advance their careers. In its statement, the National Football League cited Green’s family members saying Green died Thursday night from complications of cardiac arrest.
September 6, 1992: Green coaches his first Vikings game, an overtime win in Green Bay. “I lost my mother in April, I feel like I just lost father”, Smith wrote.
Green was let go by the Vikings in 2002 and his strong personality and knowledge of the game landed him a job with ESPN for two years before he returned to the field with the Cardinals.
TEMPE, Ariz. – The Dennis Green era with the Arizona Cardinals included the franchise’s best draft, an epic rant and a new stadium, but it ended without a winning season. “He was my wide receiver coach for so many years and we stayed friends over the years also”, he said in a phone interview. For three years he was Jerry Rice’s position coach, taking the lessons of his work with Rice to Stanford where he was head coach for three seasons and then the Vikings where he managed Cris Carter and Randy Moss, helping turn both into National Football League stars. His resume also includes head coaching stints for Northwestern University and Stanford.
Unfortunately, Green’s time in the desert is best remembered for an embarrassing tirade he had following a loss to Chicago on “Monday Night Football “.
Green had only one losing season with the Vikings and compiled a 97-62 record, including a 15-1 season in 1998 spearheaded by a record-setting offense. He spent time at his alma mater, Iowa, coaching running backs from 1974 through 1976, before moving out west to coach the running backs at Stanford under the legendary Bill Walsh. But they are who we thought they were! As for that outburst after the Bears beat Green’s Cardinals, Shu says it just showed his intensity.
Green had a career record of 113-94, and he went 4-8 in the playoffs. “Not many guys are truly invested with their players, and Denny always was”.
Advertisement
Green’s team lost to the New York Giants 41-0 two years later in an attempt for the Vikings to reach their first Super Bowl since 1977. Green only trails Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant in each of those categories. Was looking forward to saying thanks at HOF. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to the Boys and Girls Club of San Diego.
