DENNIS GREEN

Man, I miss Denny Green.  In his ten years as the Vikings head coach, there was never a dull moment.  The smooth-jazz drumming, alleged sexual harassing, "new sheriff in town," was a sports writer's dream.

He was also a hell of a coach.

The Vikings made the playoffs in eight of his ten years and won four division championships.  He did not have a losing season through his first nine years, finishing 8-8 in 1995 and over .500 in every other season from 1992-2000.  But in 2001, his team went 5-10 and he was fired with one game left in the season.

I thought at the time that his firing was ridiculous.  Sure enough, the Vikings have not come close to that kind of sustained success since.