Greasy Neale Award

Dennis Green has restored the pride and the winning attitude of the Minnesota Vikings, leading that franchise to the playoffs six times in his seven seasons as head coach. This season, the Vikings had the league's best record, 15-1, and scored more points (556) than any team in NFL history.

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When Dick Vermeil did not sign on for that second tour of duty with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1995, he felt he had closed the door on his NFL coaching career.

"I thought that was my last hurrah right there," he said.

But two years later, the St. Louis Rams offered Vermeil, then 60, the dual role of head coach and director of football operations. He jumped at the chance and, just as he did with the Eagles a generation earlier, he transformed a stumbling franchise into a champion.

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Dick Jauron is so calm and even-tempered, it is sometimes hard to fit him into the role of Chicago Bears head coach. After all, this is a franchise once coached by the crusty Papa Bear, George Halas, and later the fiery Mike Ditka, who threw clipboards and head sets around the sidelines even when the Bears were winning.

Behind Andy Reid’s desk at the NovaCare Center, there is a framed quotation from Charles Lindbergh. It reads: “The important thing is to start, to lay a plan and then follow it step-by-step no matter how small or large each step by itself may seem.”

Thorough, meticulous, precisely planned. Those are the words most often used to describe the 44-year-old Reid, who in 2002 led the Eagles to their second consecutive NFC East Division title and in the process won his second Greasy Neale Award from the Maxwell Club as Professional Coach of the Year.

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Dick Vermeil has worked his coaching magic with three different franchises in three different decades. He built the Philadelphia Eagles into a Super Bowl team in 1981. He transformed the St. Louis Rams from the NFL's losingest franchise of the 1990s into world champions. Now he has done it again with the Kansas City Chiefs.

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When Marty Schottenheimer addressed the audience at his first San Diego Chargers kickoff luncheon, his message was simple and direct. "We will win," he said.

The cities change, the players change, but one thing doesn't change. Marty Schottenheimer wins. He won in Cleveland, he won in Kansas City and he built another winner in San Diego, which may be his greatest achievement of all.

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“People who have known Tony Dungy a long time talk about what a man of dignity he has been,” wrote Mike Vaccaro in the New York Post. “Flashes of that always came through on television. You never saw him grab a player’s facemask, never heard him disrespect anyone. (He is) a man who clearly embodies everything we want our sporting heroes to be.”

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Sean Payton did more than just rebuild a football franchise in 2006. As head coach of the New Orleans Saints, Payton helped to rebuild the spirit of an entire city devastated by the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina in August, 2005.

In his first season as a head coach, Payton led the Saints to a 10-6 record and a first place finish in the NFC South. Just one year earlier, the Saints struggled to win just three games as they moved between Baton Rogue and San Antonio while the city of New Orleans coped with the aftermath of the terrible storm.

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When Bill Belichick was named the winner of the Maxwell Football Club’s 19th annual Greasy Neale Award as pro football Coach of the Year, he was typically low-key.

“This is definitely a team recognition, but one that I appreciate very much on a personal level,” Belichick said.

It was left to New England owner Robert Kraft to put the appropriate flourishes on the achievement, recognizing the coach who directed the Patriots to the NFL’s first perfect regular season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

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“There can be only one.” While this may be the signature quote from the cult classic Highlander movie series, it also applies to Tennessee Titans Head Coach, Jeff Fisher, the winner of the 20th Annual Earle Greasy Neale Award as Professional Coach of the Year.

“There can be only one” man when it comes to longevity in the NFL and that man is Fisher. He has the longest tenure of any head coach currently in the league. In 2008, he finished his 15th season with the Titans. He has compiled a 133-108 record (.552 winning percentage) during that span.

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