Dennis Green

Most recently, Dennis Green was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals National Football League team. He was previously the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 1992-2001. At the time, Dennis Green was one of seven current African-American head coaches in the National Football League, but he is, indeed, one of the most successful coaches in NFL history whether white or black and has achieved what few coaches have achieved.  

In 2004, Green became the 29th coach in NFL history to reach 100 wins and the eighth active coach to do so. He a career head coaching record of 108-83 in the regular season (112-91 including postseason). Following his departure from the Vikings after the 2001 season, Green worked for two years as an NFL analyst for ESPN and developed Dennis Green Sports Marketing, a consulting/marketing service targeted at enhancing corporate productivity utilizing teamwork and goal setting as the basic elements of success in the marketplace.

In 1992 he was named as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, becoming just the second black head coach in modern NFL history. As head coach for the Vikings, he them to the postseason in eight of his 10 seasons (with seven different starting quarterbacks), won four divisional titles and advanced to the conference championship game twice. Minnesota was the only NFL team to reach the postseason every year from 1996-2000.

During the 1990s, Dennis Green had the most successful record in the National Football League. He has the 9th best winning record in NFL history and held the best winning percentage of NFL active coaches. He has the highest winning percentage in the Vikings 40 year history. The 15-1 1998 season was the second best in NFL history.  

He has been rated as having a work ethic and management skills that qualify him to be the CEO of any company.  Green has been one of the best coaches in the league at getting his players to give a consistent effort every week and every year. The underlying theme of Green's teams has been perseverance, no excuses, and a drive to win. Green's motto is: "Plan your work and work your plan." He explains how to do so with what he calls "The 3 Ds:" Desire (goals), Dedication (work ethic to achieve the goals), and Determination (perseverance).  

In his autobiography, No Room For Crybabies, he tells his inspirational life story and provides the blueprint for and explanation of how he overcame bigotry to succeed in life and to climb to the top of his profession.  

Green grew up in the inner city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and encountered adversity at an early age when he lost his father when he was just 11 years old and then his mother two years later. After their passing, the ideals of hard work and perseverance became ingrained into a young man mature beyond his years.  

Green was a star halfback for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Green played briefly for the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League in 1971, then worked as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa, University of Dayton and Stanford University, initially under Bill Walsh. Early in his career, Dennis Green turned around the losing programs of Northwestern and Stanford.  

He has devoted part of every summer to camps for kids from the inner city. During every season, Tuesday is community day in which Coach Green and his players worked in the community at schools and boys and girls clubs, churches, and other settings, helping to give back to the community what the community had given to them. He has generously given his time and money to many charities and community organizations.  

In 1993, he was honored with the Pop Warner Golden Football Award for distinguished record of service to youth, community, country and humanity, and in 2001 as the "Community Coach of the Year" by The World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.  

Dennis and Marie reside in Phoenix with daughter Vanessa and son Zachary. Green also has two adult children - daughter Patti, a marketing and event specialist, and son Jeremy, who currently works as an NFL analyst for ESPN and who previously served as a personnel assistant with the San Francisco 49ers and Director of Pro Personnel for the Cleveland Browns. Green also has two grandchildren - Mollie and Trey - who live with son Jeremy and wife Shari.