Dennis Green Dennis " Denny " Green ( born February 17 , 1949 ) is an American football coach , most recently head coach for the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League . During his National Football League career , Green coached the Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals . Green ' s best season in Minnesota was in 1998 , when the record - setting Vikings finished 15 – 1 and set the NFL record for most points in a season ( since broken by the 2007 New England Patriots ) . However , the Vikings lost in the NFC Championship Game , 30 – 27 to the Atlanta Falcons in overtime . Prior to Tony Dungy ' s victory in Super Bowl XLI , Green ' s 1998 season was the most successful season record ever by an African - American coach in the NFL . Despite compiling a record of 97 – 62 in the regular season with the Vikings , Green was unable to reach the Super Bowl . Early life . Green grew up in a working class household in Harrisburg , Pennsylvania . His father was a postal worker and his mother a beautician . His father died when Green was 11 and his mother died when he was 13 . Green has said that he was in attendance at the March 2 , 1962 NBA game in Hershey , Pennsylvania where Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points . Green attended John Harris High School ( now Harrisburg High School ) in Harrisburg , and graduated cum laude from the University of Iowa with a BA in finance . According to Green , he was planning to be a high school teacher if his football career didn ' t pan out . In college he started as halfback in each of his three seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes . Green played briefly for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League in 1971 , then worked as an assistant coach at the University of Dayton , University of Iowa and Stanford University , initially under Bill Walsh . College coaching career . In 1981 , Green was named the head coach of Northwestern University , a school that had gone 1 - 31 - 1 in its last 33 games . In 1981 , he was only the second African American head coach in Division I - A history ( the previous coach , Willie Jeffries , coached at Wichita State , which no longer has a football team ) . Green was named the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year , as chosen by writers and broadcasters , in 1982 at Northwestern . He left Northwestern in 1985 , doing a stint as receivers coach for the San Francisco 49ers under his former boss at Stanford , Bill Walsh . In 1989 , Green took the head coaching position at Stanford University , inheriting a team that had graduated 17 of its 21 starters from 1988 . Green led the Cardinal from 1989 to 1991 . During that time , his teams finished with an overall record of 16 – 18 , a . 471 winning percentage , going 3 – 0 in the Big Game against the California Golden Bears . In 1990 , his Stanford team defeated the top - ranked Notre Dame in South Bend , Indiana . His tenure culminated with an 8 – 3 record ( Stanford ' s best since 1986 ) . A loss to Washington in the opening game of the season was the deciding factor for the PAC - 10 championship . The Cardinal made an appearance in the 1991 Aloha Bowl , where his team lost to Georgia Tech on a last - minute touchdown . Professional coaching career . Minnesota Vikings . Green was a disciple of Bill Walsh ' s West Coast offense and was touted by Walsh and other NFL pundits as a likely candidate to be the second African - American head coach in the NFL . On January 10 , 1992 , Green was named head coach of the Minnesota Vikings , replacing the retiring Jerry Burns . He would be only the second African American head coach after Art Shell in the modern NFL era , and only the third of all time after Fritz Pollard and Shell . Through his first six years with the team , Green never posted a losing record and the team failed to qualify for the playoffs only once . Initially , Green earned widespread praise for turning around a what had recently been a lackluster franchise . However , as the team ' s fan - base grew accustomed to regular season success , Green came under criticism for failing to advance the team deeper into the playoffs . In 1996 , two members of the Vikings ' ownership board , Wheelock Whitney and Jane Dyer , reportedly contacted Lou Holtz , who was the coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team and former coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team . They wanted to bring Holtz in to replace Green . Holtz abruptly announced his retirement in 1996 , and rumors surrounded the reasons , one of which was the possible Vikings head coaching position . In 1997 , Green published his autobiography " No Room For Crybabies " , in which he responded to the criticism and perceived personal vendettas by Twin Cities sports writers Bob Sansevere , Dan Barreiro , and Patrick Reusse . He threatened to sue the team as his response to the Lou Holtz rumors . The high point of Green ' s Vikings career was the 1998 season , when the team went 15 – 1 and set the NFL record for the most points scored in a season ( the 2007 New England Patriots under Bill Belichick currently hold this record ) . The Vikings advanced to the NFC Championship game , losing to the Atlanta Falcons in overtime after Vikings kicker Gary Anderson missed a field goal , and Atlanta ' s own Andersen made a field goal in overtime . In 2001 , the Vikings finished with a losing record for the first time in Green ' s decade with the team . The Vikings bought out Green ' s contract on January 4 , 2002 . Assistant coach Mike Tice led the team in their final regular season game against the Baltimore Ravens , and was eventually hired as the head coach . Arizona Cardinals and press conference outburst . After spending two seasons as an analyst for ESPN , Green was hired as head coach by the Arizona Cardinals on January 7 , 2004 . Through his first two years with the team , Green totaled 11 wins with the Cardinals , sending players to the Pro Bowl , and finishing 3rd and 2nd in the NFC West , an improvement over predecessor Dave McGinnis . Unlike his previous two seasons , the 2006 season began with great expectations for the Cardinals with the opening of a new stadium , sellout crowds , the drafting of quarterback Matt Leinart , and the signing of Pro Bowl running back Edgerrin James . After a solid start , the Cardinals suffered some tough early losses . The worst of these came in a " Monday Night Football " game on October 16 , 2006 . After losing a 20 - point lead over the Chicago Bears in less than twenty minutes , the generally soft - spoken Green threw a tirade during a post - game media conference . In that conference , Green lashed out in response to questions about Arizona ' s tenacious defense that forced six turnovers and for most of the game shut down the Chicago offense : The day after the press conference , offensive coordinator Keith Rowen was fired and replaced with quarterbacks coach Mike Kruczek . Though Green later apologized for the outburst , and the Cardinals eventually would rally to finish the season 4 – 3 in their last seven games , ( including a rare win over playoff - bound Seattle ) many pundits felt that the circumstances of the Cardinals ' collapse against the Super Bowl - bound Bears on national television , combined with Green ' s tirade , had sealed his fate with the Cardinals . On January 1 , 2007 , the Arizona Cardinals fired Green , although he had a year left on his contract . Green ' s tirade is still used heavily in NFL media coverage today , often comically , to describe the obvious flaws of an opponent and the failure to capitalize on that knowledge . It was mocked in a Coors TV advertisement , and during the Cardinals ' 2008 NFC championship game , a sign in the crowd proclaimed " We are who we thought we were " . In 2008 , Green was interviewed for an NFL Network show on comebacks that covered the 2006 MNF Cardinals - Bears games , and he stated that " they are who we thought they were " referred to the Bears being a one - dimensional team that could not win if erratic quarterback Rex Grossman didn ' t have a strong running game taking pressure off of him . In the loss , Grossman actually committed six turnovers , but Arizona lost because Chicago scored two defensive TDs and got a Devin Hester punt return for the winning score , which held up when Arizona missed a field goal with seconds remaining . Green ' s legacy at Arizona is mixed . When he arrived , the team had high expectations , and under Green the Cardinals failed to make a playoff appearance . However , he is credited with drafting and acquiring many of the players that formed the nucleus of the Cardinals ' 2008 NFC West championship team . In August 2007 , the Westwood One radio network announced that it had hired Green to serve as a color analyst on their Thursday night NFL broadcasts . California Redwoods . On March 11 , 2009 , it was announced that Green would be the head coach of the San Francisco franchise for the United Football League ' s inaugural season . Green ' s first game as California Redwoods coach was a 30 – 17 loss to the Las Vegas Locomotives . Sacramento Mountain Lions . For the 2010 season , the Redwoods moved to Sacramento and renamed themselves the Mountain Lions . Green remained as head coach for 2010 and 2011 . After three years , Green left the team and sued the league for lack of payment on a $ 1 . 5 million contract . Coaching tree . NFL head coaches under whom Dennis Green has served : Assistant coaches under Green who have become NFL head coaches : Other prominent coaches :