Former Vikings coach Dennis Green died Friday morning at age 67 after a cardiac arrest.
Green coached the Vikings from 1992-2001, making the playoffs eight times and taking Minnesota to the NFC title game after the 1998 and 2000 seasons, and left as the team's second all-time winningest coach behind Bud Grant.
Green had a career NFL coaching record of 113-94, including a 97-62 record with the Vikings. He won four playoff games with Minnesota and lost eight.
Green was the NFL's second black head coach, following Art Shell of the Raiders.
The Vikings released a statement Friday: "We are incredibly saddened by the sudden passing of former Vikings Head Coach Dennis Green. Denny made his mark in ways far beyond being an outstanding football coach. He mentored countless players and served as a father figure for the men he coached. Denny founded the Vikings Community Tuesday Program, a critical initiative that is now implemented across the entire NFL. He took great pride in helping assistant coaches advance their careers. His tenure as one of the first African-American head coaches in both college and the NFL was also transformative. Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Green family."
The outpouring of grief from the football world came immediately, with former Vikings running back Robert Smith tweeting: "Rest in peace Denny. I lost my mother in April, I feel like I just lost father."
Larry Fitzgerald Jr., who grew up in the Twin Cities during the Green era, said Friday: "My whole football career is predicated on what he did for me. He hired me as a ballboy for the Vikings and then he drafted me in the NFL. So he's directly responsible for everything I've done in my life."
Kurt Warner, former Cardinals QB, tweeted, "we lost a good man way too soon!"
Tony Dungy, Green's defensive coordinator for four seasons, tweeted: "Denny Green did so much for me but the best thing was allowing his Asst coaches to have time with their families."
When the Vikings introduced Green as coach in January 1992, he famously announced there was a "new sheriff in town." And his records backed up his bold talk.
Green's run was highly successful, despite not making a Super Bowl. His teams didn't have a losing record until his final season, 2001. His 1998 season with the Vikings stood as the most successful season under a black coach until Dungy won the Super Bowl with Indianapolis in 2006.
Green replaced Jerry Burns as Vikings coach in 1992. Burns said Friday, "I just hate to see the guy leave. He was a great friend.
"I know the Lord is up there looking for him," he said, "and maybe he'll give him a coaching position up there."
Mike Tice, who was both a player and assistant coach under Green before succeeding him in the head job, remembered Green as a private person and influential coach.
"Denny first and foremost was an excellent offensive mind," Tice said Friday. "He was underrated in that regard. He knew how to break down defenses and was an excellent teacher of coaches."
Tice also remembers Green for his colorful, oft-used phrases.
"There was an expression he always used. He always used to say, 'plan your work and work your plan.' He was so organized. And another saying that I still use quite a bit, when a player had a lot of ability but the player wasn't doing well and coaches were criticizing the player, he would say, 'It's not always Johnny's fault that Johnny can't read.' It was his way of saying to the coaches, 'hey buddy, maybe it's you.' I still find myself saying those things."
After the Vikings, Green coached the Arizona Cardinals from 2004 to '06 _ where he had an infamous rant after a loss to the Bears in which he declared the Bears "are who we thought they were." His Cardinals teams never won more than six games.
Dungy was one of three assistants of Green's that went on to be head coaches. Brian Billick won a Super Bowl with Baltimore, and Mike Tice succeeded Green in Minnesota.
Before the NFL, he was head coach at Northwestern and Stanford. At Northwestern, Green became the first black coach in Big Ten football history.
Mike Zimmer was at the opening ceremonies for U.S. Bank Stadium on Friday and remembered Green as a "tremendously prepared" coach and "an outstanding person." He met Green after Zimmer got the Minnesota job, and Zimmer said Green "was very positive about how things were going with the Vikings."
