Dick Vermeil

Dick Vermeil was head coach of three National Football League franchises over 15 seasons. He mastered the three-year turnaround, leading the Philadelphia Eagles, St. Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs to the postseason after years – nearly two decades for the Eagles – on the outside looking in.

Vermeil’s climb to an NFL job was a steady ascent that played out in his native California – from high school coach to junior college coach to four years (1965-68) as an assistant at Stanford.

In 1969, Vermeil became the NFL’s first designated special teams coach as a member of Hall of Famer George Allen’s staff with the Los Angeles Rams. He then spent the 1970 season as an assistant at UCLA before returning to the Rams as an assistant (1971-73).

UCLA offered Vermeil its head coaching job in 1974. In two seasons, he posted a 15-5-3 record that culminated in an upset of Ohio State in the 1976 Rose Bowl, denying the Buckeyes the national championship and making Vermeil a hot prospect for an NFL job.

He got it in Philadelphia. By Year 3 (1978), the Eagles made the playoffs – their first postseason appearance since winning the 1960 NFL Championship Game. Two seasons later, the Eagles won the NFC title and reached Super Bowl XV. Vermeil coached two more years in Philadelphia, then abruptly resigned following the strike-affected 1982 season, citing “burnout.”

He spent the next 14 seasons as an NFL and college football analyst for CBS and ABC.

The St. Louis Rams lured Vermeil back to the sidelines in 1997. He took over a team that had not posted a winning record in seven seasons. By Year 3, the Rams went 13-3 and won Super Bowl XXXIV with “The Greatest Show on Turf.” He won the AP’s Coach of the Year Award.

Vermeil retired 11 days after that victory and stayed out of the League for one season.

He returned to coach the Chiefs, and in Year 3 ended the franchise’s five-year playoff drought with a 13-3 record.

Vermeil finished his NFL coaching career with a 126-114 record, including 6-5 in the playoffs.