Sports at Lunch, Dennis Green

The irony of Dennis Green explaining he gave up his second office--one he said was located at the Torrey Pines beach--for a chance to turn around the Arizona Cardinals is he spoke on a sunny afternoon July 14 as the guest for the San Diego Hall of Champions Speaker Series.

It was the kind of brilliant day that makes people never want to leave San Diego, but Green is a man of aspirations, and the lure of the NFL was too great after two years away from the game while living with his family at his offseason home in Del Mar.

“There is no one here in the Hall of Champions who didn’t have aspirations,” Green said. “I think there is an opportunity with the Arizona Cardinals, regardless of what has happened in the past, and I want to take advantage of it.”

Green was the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings for 10 years from 1992 to 2001, leading the Vikings to eight post-season trips. At Arizona, he takes over a moribund franchise.

“I became intrigued by the Arizona Cardinals,” Green said. “I am convinced every team in the National Football League can have a bite out of that big apple. No team always has to be the best and no team as has to be the worst.”

Green said his first step was to identify 10 players on the roster he inherited that had the talent and desire to play for the New England Patriots, the Super Bowl champions.

“I want guys with that kind of personal commitment in their lives that they can achieve a great deal of success,” Green said. “Then I want to find more players to build around them. That’s where we are right now. I think we have 10 tremendous players to build around. I think this will work.”

One of the players Green cited was Josh McCown, a third-year quarterback he compared to Green Bay’s Brett Favre in terms of athleticism.

Green also took questions from the 70 lunch guests and one query was about players complaining to the league he had worked them too hard in the offseason. Green dismissed the complaint as coming from one or two players and said they weren’t the kind of players the Cardinals would win with.

“We’re going to outwork people,” Green said. “I don’t want to have a three or four year plan to make the playoffs. I want to make the playoffs a goal this year.”