Dick Vermeil: Difference between revisions
===St. Louis Rams (1997–1999)===
===St. Louis Rams (1997–1999)===
Vermeil returned to coaching with the [[St. Louis Rams]] in [[1997 St. Louis Rams season|1997]].{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/31/sports/they-answer-to-themselves.html|title=They Answer to Themselves|last=Freeman|first=Mike|date=August 31, 1997|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=October 17, 2018|language=en}} His first two years with the Rams were abysmal: the Rams won 5 and lost 11 games in 1997, and the following season they went 4–12. The [[1999 St. Louis Rams season|1999 season]] looked to start just as badly, when new starting quarterback [[Trent Green]] was injured in the [[Exhibition game|pre-season]]. However, Green’s injury allowed then-unknown [[Kurt Warner]] to start. Under Warner, the Rams offense exploded, and they finished the 1999 season with a record of 13–3 in one of the biggest single-year turnarounds in NFL history. Vermeil led the Rams to their first Super Bowl victory in [[Super Bowl XXXIV]] with a 23–16 win over the [[1999 Tennessee Titans season|Tennessee Titans]]. He was also named [[NFL Coach of the Year Award|NFL Coach of the Year]] for the second time for the 1999 season. He walked away from coaching again after the Rams’ Super Bowl victory.{{cite news |last1=Eskenazi |first1=Gerald |title=PRO FOOTBALL; Tearful Vermeil Goes Out on Top |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/02/sports/pro-football-tearful-vermeil-goes-out-on-top.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 2, 2000 |access-date=31 August 2019}}
Vermeil returned to coaching with the [[St. Louis Rams]] in [[1997 St. Louis Rams season|1997]].{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/31/sports/they-answer-to-themselves.html|title=They Answer to Themselves|last=Freeman|first=Mike|date=August 31, 1997|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=October 17, 2018|language=en}} His first two years with the Rams were abysmal: the Rams won 5 and lost 11 games in 1997, and the following season they went 4–12. The [[1999 St. Louis Rams season|1999 season]] looked to start just as badly, when new starting quarterback [[Trent Green]] was injured in the [[Exhibition game|pre-season]]. However, Green’s injury allowed then-unknown [[Kurt Warner]] to start. Under Warner, the Rams offense exploded, and they finished the 1999 season with a record of 13–3 in one of the biggest single-year turnarounds in NFL history. Vermeil led the Rams to their first Super Bowl victory in [[Super Bowl XXXIV]] with a 23–16 win over the [[1999 Tennessee Titans season|Tennessee Titans]]. He was also named [[NFL Coach of the Year Award|NFL Coach of the Year]] for the second time for the 1999 season. He walked away from coaching again after the Rams’ Super Bowl victory.{{cite news |last1=Eskenazi |first1=Gerald |title=PRO FOOTBALL; Tearful Vermeil Goes Out on Top |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/02/sports/pro-football-tearful-vermeil-goes-out-on-top.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 2, 2000 |access-date=31 August 2019}}
===Kansas City Chiefs (2001–2005)===
===Kansas City Chiefs (2001–2005)===
American football coach (born 1936)
American football player
Richard Albert Vermeil (; born October 30, 1936) is an American former football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for seven seasons, the St. Louis Rams for three, and the Kansas City Chiefs for five. Prior to the NFL, he was the head football coach at Hillsdale High School from 1960 to 1962, Napa Junior College in 1964, and UCLA from 1974 to 1975. With UCLA, Vermeil led the team to victory in the 1976 Rose Bowl. Vermeil’s NFL tenure would see him improve the fortunes of teams that had a losing record before he arrived and bring them all to the playoffs by his third season, which included a Super Bowl title with the Rams.
Becoming Philadelphia’s head coach in 1976, Vermeil took over for a team that had not qualified for the postseason, won a playoff game, or clinched their division since 1960. He ended each of these droughts between 1978 and 1980 en route to the Eagles’ first Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XV. Retiring after the 1982 season, Vermeil spent 15 years away from the NFL until he returned in 1997 with the Rams, who had not achieved a winning season or playoff berth since 1989. Vermeil again ended these droughts during the 1999 season, also obtaining the Rams’ first winning season in St. Louis. The season culminated with the Rams winning Super Bowl XXXIV, which was their first Super Bowl victory, their first championship since 1951, and their only NFL title in St. Louis. Vermeil retired a second time following the Super Bowl, but returned with the Chiefs in 2001….
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