Former Northwestern/Stanford (and Vikes) HC Denny Green passes away at age 67

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3rd african-american Head Coach in NFL history - and (I think) only the 2nd african-american Head Coach in D1 college FB. Although his record wasn't very good at Northwestern, he had a couple of decent teams at Stanford.
 

Even though the Vikings never won the Super Bowl with Denny he had competitive teams and one of the best regular season teams ever.
He was also a charismatic guy.
 




short ornery norwegian said:
3rd african-american Head Coach in NFL history - and (I think) only the 2nd african-american Head Coach in D1 college FB. Although his record wasn't very good at Northwestern, he had a couple of decent teams at Stanford.
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Well his record at NW doesn't look good from a distance, but relative to their history at the time it was outstanding.
 

Couple things

short ornery norwegian said:
3rd african-american Head Coach in NFL history - and (I think) only the 2nd african-american Head Coach in D1 college FB. Although his record wasn't very good at Northwestern, he had a couple of decent teams at Stanford.
Click to expand...

Denny was the second African American head coach in the NFL behind Art Shell of the Raiders. He won the Big Ten Coach of the Year Award in 1982, so somebody thought his record was pretty good.
Much too young for anyone to pass but especially for one of the "good guys". Rest in peace Denny. My prayers go with all who grieve his loss.
 

60's Guy said:
Denny was the second African American head coach in the NFL behind Art Shell of the Raiders. He won the Big Ten Coach of the Year Award in 1982, so somebody thought his record was pretty good.
Much too young for anyone to pass but especially for one of the "good guys". Rest in peace Denny. My prayers go with all who grieve his loss.
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His team went 3-8 that year. How in the world did he get named coach of year?
 



bemidjigopher said:
Sad IMO the second best coach in Vikings history
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A close second to J.B.

Denny was the one who predicted that someday the U would build what I think he called a small "boutique" stadium. At the time I thought he was nuts. As it turned out, he was right and given our attendance he was brilliant to suggest the idea.

Unfortunate he died relatively young. RIP Denny.
 


In my opinion - the 2nd best coach of the Vikings ever (behind Grant, obviously). But more importantly to me, he was the last coach of the Vikings that I actively cheered for. It has nothing to do with him - but when I became a hardcore Gopher fan was right when he was shown the door and my fandom switched from the Vikings to the Gophers. I'm not anti-Viking, but in the words of Moe Sizlack "I'm a well-wisher, in that I don't wish them any specific harm."
 

no idea!

XMan said:
His team went 3-8 that year. How in the world did he get named coach of year?
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My bad SON... just going on the award... NW was bad every year under Denny but somehow he did win Big Ten Coach of the Year??? I thought they made progress in wins.
 


60's Guy said:
My bad SON... just going on the award... NW was bad every year under Denny but somehow he did win Big Ten Coach of the Year??? I thought they made progress in wins.
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They had gone 1-31-1 in the seasons before his hire. Winning 3 games in one season was a minor miracle.
 

MNGoldenGophers1 said:
A close second to J.B.

Denny was the one who predicted that someday the U would build what I think he called a small "boutique" stadium. At the time I thought he was nuts. As it turned out, he was right and given our attendance he was brilliant to suggest the idea.

Unfortunate he died relatively young. RIP Denny.
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That is because the plans existed already. There were articles in the paper about it way back in the early 90s.
 

60's Guy said:
Denny was the second African American head coach in the NFL behind Art Shell of the Raiders. He won the Big Ten Coach of the Year Award in 1982, so somebody thought his record was pretty good.
Much too young for anyone to pass but especially for one of the "good guys". Rest in peace Denny. My prayers go with all who grieve his loss.
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Hate to quibble, but Fritz Pollard (the first black player to be named a college all-american) was the head coach of two NFL teams in the 1920's-before the league got rid of all the black players. Denny was the 2nd black coach in the modern era - 3rd overall.
 

dpodoll68 said:
They had gone 1-31-1 in the seasons before his hire. Winning 3 games in one season was a minor miracle.
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This. Pretty sure they had the D1 record for consecutive losses going when he took over, but I'm not sure.
 

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