MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Dennis Green, the trailblazing coach who led a Minnesota Vikings renaissance in the 1990s before a less successful run with the Arizona Cardinals, has died. He was 67.
Green was the first black head coach in Big Ten history when he took over at Northwestern in 1981 and was just the third black head coach in the NFL when the Vikings hired him in 1992. Through it all, Green worked hard to provide opportunities for minorities on his coaching staffs and was beloved by his players for the loyalty he showed them.
Green spent 10 seasons in Minnesota, leading the Vikings to eight playoff appearances and two NFC championship games. He had only one losing season and compiled an overall record of 97-62, a mark second only to Bud Grant in franchise history. That included a 15-1 regular season in 1998.
Green went out on a limb in the draft before that season, taking Randy Moss at No. 21 after the super-talented receiver fell due to character concerns. Moss was a sensation from the start, teaming with Cris Carter, Jake Reed, Randall Cunningham and Robert Smith to give the Vikings the most dynamic and explosive offense the league had ever seen. The Vikings scored a record 556 points that season, a mark that stood until New England broke it in 2007.
But the Vikings were upset at home by the Atlanta Falcons that season and also were embarrassed by the New York Giants 41-0 in their other trip to the NFC title game after the 2000 season.
Green went 4-8 in the postseason, one of the reasons he was fired by Minnesota late in the 2001 season.
Born Feb. 17, 1949, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Green once said he was struck by watching early Big Ten football games and seeing both Minnesota and Iowa putting together successful seasons behind black quarterbacks.
Green enrolled at Iowa, too, and played running back for the Hawkeyes from 1968-70.
Green also was a head coach at Stanford and served as an assistant to Bill Walsh on the dominant 49ers teams of the 1980s.