The Arizona Cardinals recently hired Dennis Green as Head Coach. Not only did Arizona get one of the best coaches in the NFL, Arizona also got an avid spokesman for the Great Outdoors.

Coach Green, 54, posted a 101-70 (.591) composite record in 10 seasons (1992-2001) as Head Coach of the Minnesota Vikings, leading his team to eight post-season berths (four National Football Conference Central Division titles) and NFC championship games. In addition, Coach Green revived the programs at Northwestern (1981-85) and Stanford (1989-91) in his first two head-coaching positions.

Joining an elite group of coaches, Coach Green is one of only three NFL coaches to achieve a 15-victory season (15-1 in 1998) and one of just eight coaches in NFL history to lead his team to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons (1992-94) as an NFL head coach.

All of Coach Green's talent and skills give the Arizona Cardinals and fans something to look forward to in the upcoming NFL seasons, but it is his love of the outdoors that gives anglers and outdoor enthusiasts attending Bill Luke Dodge Big Bass Days something to look forward to…Coach Green will be the honorary Grand Marshall for Saturday, March 27, and will attend the Saturday night festivities.

Tempe Marine will also have a special "Coach Green Sales Promotion" during the "On the Water" Boat Show, a part of the 7th annual Bill Luke Dodge Big Bass Days. For each Skeeter boat sold, Tempe Marine will give the buyer an Arizona Cardinals football helmet signed by Coach Green.

Coach Green
"Love of the Outdoors"

I was very fortunate to have an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors at an early age. I was the youngest of five boys, and our father taught us a great love of the outdoors. My family lived in Harrisburg, Penn., in the Susquehanna River valley.

We all learned to hunt and fish at an early age, but our father had a rule that you could start fishing when you were about 3-years-old, but you couldn't start hunting or get your first rifle until you were 12. My first rifle was a hand-me-down .22 caliber. My oldest brother, Billy, got it when he was 12, and it was handed down as each younger brother turned 12.

We went fishing a lot. My father was a worker so we would hunt and fish for food. We kept what we caught and we ate what we kept. We even gave a lot of what we kept to our relatives who lived nearby.

My father loved the outdoors and it was very important to him that everyone, whether hunting, fishing, boating or camping, took care of the environment. He taught us early to pack out our trash and take everything back that you brought. He taught us to respect the water, the land and the air.

I want to carry on that tradition with my family. I want people to see me not only as head coach for the Cardinals, but as a family man who loves the outdoors. People will often see me fishing with my 5-year-old son who loves to fish. I can't take him fishing enough. Every day, he wants to know when we're going fishing again. Unfortunately, we only get to go about once a week, which is six times too shy for him.

I want to be an example of how you can have good old-fashioned family fun and enjoyment in the outdoors.

Coach Green
"Working with the FLW"

Coach Green's love of the outdoors and fishing parlayed into the chance to do some work with the FLW and ESPN.

When I went into what I called "semi-retirement" from coaching, I got involved with FLW and ESPN. The FLW Tour was just starting at the time, so I worked some of the tournaments and did some television appearances on their behalf. I really enjoyed developing a few short-feature fishing shows.

Coach Green
"Arizona Cardinals Celebrity/Pro Bass Tournament fundraiser"

I had a fundraising tournament for six or seven years in Minnesota. They were always buddy tournaments so that a father and child, two best buddies or grandfather and grandchild, basically two people who like each other, could get together and have fun fishing and competing. We are going to have a similar fundraising event this spring in Arizona.

Gary and Susan Williams, owners of Tempe Marine, are organizing the tournament that is going to take place at Lake Pleasant on May 15, 2004. I met the Williams at the Phoenix Boat Show, and we established a very good relationship. Our goal is to have a fun tournament and give anglers a chance to compete, have fun and win some great prizes along with some bragging rights.
The proceeds of the tournament will go to the Valley Boys & Girls Clubs. Helping kids gain an enjoyment of the outdoors is something I've always been excited about. We're going to have groups of kids from the Boys & Girls Clubs come out and fish from pontoon boats during the tournament, many of them fishing for the very first time.

We will have two divisions for this event. One division will include roughly 100-125 teams, and the second division will be the celebrity division with approximately 20 boats. Tempe Marine has arranged for some professional anglers to take out Cardinal players, media, celebrities and some of the sponsors.

Gary Williams will be serving dinner to all contestants so don't eat too many sandwiches while on the lake. This event promises to be a great time - I'll see you there!

Coach Green
"Tempe Marine, Skeeter Boats and Yamaha Outboards"

When I first got to town, I was happy to see that the Phoenix Boat Show was in progress. Rick Knight, our director of security, is an avid fisherman and took me to the show. As I was walking around, salivating, as always, over the shiny new Skeeters, I met the owners of Tempe Marine, Gary and Susan Williams.

On thing led to another and I ordered a Skeeter ZX225 bass boat powered by a Yamaha VVMAX 225 HPDI outboard. The Skeeter boat plant in Kilgore, Texas, is even customizing my boat to be manufactured in the color scheme of the Arizona Cardinals.

Coach Green explained that his love of high performance boats extends onto the playing field.

I talked about a high-performance bass boat during my first press conference. That is what you want your team to be like - a high-performance Skeeter. When you want it to do something, it will do it. When you want it to go zero to 50, right now, it will do it. When you want it to stop right now, it will do it.

That's what high-performance is all about and that's why I use the comparison between a high-performance football team that can do what you want it to do and a high-performance Skeeter bass boat with a powerful Yamaha outboard. It has plenty of go with some power to spare for when you really need it.

Having never lived in a desert environment before, Coach Green is anxious to get his new Skeeter Bass Boat, powered by Yamaha, and try out some of the local lakes. Coach Green figures he'll frequent Saguaro Lake the most as it is close to his home, however, he said he plans to try out all the lakes he can get to.

Coach Green has a lot of experience fishing rivers and lakes in Minnesota, but he looks forward to the challenge of finding fish in our deep canyon lakes.

I think that it will appeal to the fans that we're trying to create a really great NFL city; that the Cardinals will be a team that everyone can get behind like I have. I look forward to introducing myself at Bill Luke Dodge Big Bass Days as an avid angler just like so many Arizonans are.

Be sure to attend the 7th annual Bill Luke Dodge Big Bass Days, March 26-28, and see Coach Green of the "Big Red Machine". The timing is perfect - new Coach, new Team and new Stadium underway. Let's show Coach Dennis Green that Arizona anglers support his "Big Red Machine" as he prepares them for a winning tradition.

Good Luck, good fishing and enjoy our 2004 Arizona Cardinals.