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© 2025 COLD WIRE MEDIA. THE COLD WIRE IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF COLD WIRE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USE OF THIS SITE CONSTITUTES ACCEPTANCE OF OUR TERMS OF USE AND PRIVACY POLICY

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

The Life And Career Of Dick Vermeil

Ben Donahue
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The Life And Career Of Dick Vermeil

 

There is little doubt that Dick Vermeil was born to coach football.

After playing college football as a quarterback, Vermeil transitioned into the coaching profession in 1959.

A decade later, he jumped to the NFL and quickly ascended the ladder until becoming the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976.

In what would become a trend as a head coach, Vermeil’s Eagles reached the postseason in his third year.

Two seasons later, Philly advanced to Super Bowl XV before losing to the Oakland Raiders.

Then, after winning just three games in 1982, Vermeil retired, citing burnout.

He would work in the media for nearly two decades before deciding to return to the sideline.

Taking over a floundering St. Louis Rams outfit in 1997, Vermeil had the organization playing in Super Bowl XXXIV in 1999.

This time, his team won a world championship and validated Vermeil’s ability to coach, no matter the decade.

Following another brief retirement, he was back in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2001.

By 2003, KC was in the postseason with 13 wins.

Vermeil would retire for good after 2005 with a career record of 120-109 and a 1-1 record in Super Bowls.

In 2022, the well-respected coach was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

This is the story of Dick Vermeil.

 

A Future in Football

American Football amongst the Yard Lines

 

Richard “Dick” Albert Vermeil was born on October 30, 1936 in Calistoga, California.

He was one of four children and spent much of his teenage years working in his father’s auto shop while also suiting up for the Calistoga High School Wildcats.

Vermeil’s father was a fan of auto racing and football and young Dick gravitated to the sport, playing quarterback.

Before his senior year, the Wildcats got a new head coach, Bill Wood, who would also become a mentor to Vermeil.

“Halfway through the season, he [Wood] told me he thought I could play college football if I wanted to, and no one had ever told me that before. And I was excited about that,” said Vermeil.

It was also during his senior year that Vermeil shared with Wood that he would spend his future in coaching.

“If I’m going to do it,” he vowed that day, “I’m going to do it right.”

Upon graduating from Calistoga, Vermeil matriculated to Napa Junior College for two seasons and then transferred to San Jose State.

He was the Spartans’ backup quarterback in 1956 and started in 1957.

That season, while San Jose went 3-7, Vermeil passed for 580 yards, one touchdown and nine interceptions.

His stats meant that a future in pro football as a player was nonexistent.

If Vermeil wanted to continue working in the sport, he would have to pivot to coaching, something he was already prepared to do.

 

Working His Way Up the Ladder

Once Vermeil put the wraps on his playing career, he focused on his studies and obtained his bachelors and masters degrees in Physical Education by 1959.

That same year, he began coaching at Del Mar High School in California as an assistant.

In 1960, Vermeil was already a head coach, leading the Hillsdale High School Fighting Knights for three seasons.

At the time, Vermeil was married with young children.

In an effort to help his wife take care of their offspring, Vermeil also worked several jobs when he wasn’t coaching.

“That man’s going places,” people would say.

By the time he was 27, Vermeil was a junior college head coach at Napa Valley College.

As he guided the program to a 7-2 record, Vermeil also had the opportunity to coach his younger brother, Al.

“I really enjoyed [coaching Al],” Vermeil said in 2023. “A lot of kids have NFL-level football talent, but not the body size to go with it. He was an outstanding football player and an instinctive inside linebacker.”

[Al Vermeil would become a coach himself and was a member of the San Francisco 49ers staff in 1982 that won Super Bowl XVI.]

Not one to sit still for long, Vermeil left Napa Valley after one season and joined the Stanford Indians under head coach John Ralston in 1965.

 

Vermeil Heads to the NFL

NFL-logo-on-football

 

In 1969, Vermeil became the special teams coach for the Los Angeles Rams (a unique position at the time) and then moved across the country in 1970 as the offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots.

The Pats offense that season ranked dead last in the NFL in points for and Vermeil relocated back to the Rams in 1971.

As a member of Tommy Prothro (then John Robinson’s) staff for three years, Vermeil worked with signal callers Roman Gabriel and John Hadl.

Under Robinson in 1973, the Rams went 12-2 and advanced to the divisional round before losing to Dallas.

Vermeil helped lead an LA offense that ranked first in the NFL in points for.

 

UCLA

UCLA sign in brick wall

 

Working as an assistant to Robinson and coaching one of the best offenses in the NFL got Vermeil noticed.

He was hired by the UCLA Bruins to be their head coach in 1974 and the new guy immediately set the standard for how hard his staff would prepare.

“Men,” he told his staff, “I want to get off to a good start. We’ll meet at 6 a.m.”

The ‘74 team went 6-3-2 before Vermeil whipped and spurred his 1975 team to a 9-2-1 record.

That season, the coach’s work-a-holic lifestyle caught him off guard when he noticed one of his son’s while watching game film with his assistants.

“God,” Vermeil said, “has David [his second-oldest son] ever grown a lot in a year!”

Still, the Bruins emulated their leader and, perhaps, overachieved.

On October 4, UCLA lost to Ohio State by 21 points.

By chance, the two schools met again in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.

This time, Vermeil had his troops ready for anything Buckeyes head coach Woody Hayes threw their way.

Nothing OSU did came as a surprise and UCLA shocked the number one team in the nation, 23-10.

“I still consider that maybe the biggest game I’ve ever won as a head football coach,” Vermeil said in 2023. “I was young, passionate about the game, and had a great coaching staff. We put a team together there the two years I was there that could beat the number one team in the country, and that was something you could really take pride in. It’s still considered the biggest upset in the history of the Rose bowl game, so that’s why they put me in the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. I’m very grateful for all my players and coaches.”

Not only was Vermeil later inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, he was also inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame in 2000.

 

Back to the NFL

flag with the NFL logo waving

 

UCLA’s massive upset of the Buckeyes made a believer out of Philadelphia Eagles owner Leonard Tose.

Soon after the 1975 NFL season ended, Tose fired head coach Mike McCormack and eagerly pursued Vermeil.

However, the Bruins head man had no interest in the NFL, at least not yet.

Afterall, he had a national championship to pursue and, initially, he declined to speak with Tose.

“Tell him I’m not interested,” Vermeil said.

The coach also balked at the idea of not being able to take all of his assistants with him to the pros.

“Dick said to us, “I can’t go now. I want to be an NFL head coach someday, but if I go now, I won’t be able to take all of you. I’d need veteran pro coaches up there.’ He’s absolutely the most loyal man I’ve ever met. We said, ‘My God, Dick, this is financial security. You’ve got to talk to him,’” said assistant coach Carl Peterson.

Finally, Vermeil met with Tose and decided the time was right to become a head coach in the NFL.

Although he was only 39 at the time and barely older than some of his Eagles players, Vermeil didn’t think twice about his age.

“I never even gave it a thought,” said Vermeil. “It was never a problem for me at any level. My first year in the NFL I think I was 33 or 34 — coaching guys older than me, but it was never problematic because the head coach I worked for had the trust of the football team and that trust passes down to the young assistants. A few times I felt it was an advantage.”

 

Papale and First-Year Blues

Vermeil might have been a first-year NFL coach, but he didn’t act like it.

With little to no regard for being popular, Vermeil laid down the law, dismissing some veteran players and cutting others in the middle of practice.

In order to inject a little life into the franchise, he also made a call to nearby pro wannabes about playing for the Eagles.

When the local populace learned that their new head coach made an open casting call to everyday Joes, men of all shapes and sizes came out of the woodwork.

As expected, most of them didn’t make it, save for a 30-year-old bartender named Vince Papale.

Against all odds, Papale made the team and became part of the receiving core along with veterans Harold Carmichael and tight end Charle Young.

Papale’s story was later made into a 2006 movie called Invincible, starring Mark Wahlberg (Greg Kinnear played Vermeil).

“Well, it wasn’t some great decision, he showed us talent,” remarked Vermeil years later. “What you’re looking for is a real sleeper, or a guy who can come in and make a contribution — even if it’s only at training camp — with talent and an attitude that can get the players around him hungry and ready to play. Vince displayed great passion and the desire for an opportunity that he then made the very best of. As for his skill set, once he was given a chance to show it, he was athletic enough to be a wide receiver, but where he really excelled was as a fine punt-return and kickoff defender.”

As inspirational as the Papale signing was, the Eagles weren’t very good in 1976 and ended the season 4-10, the same record as the 1975 team.

 

Philly Advances to the Super Bowl

super bowl

 

In 1977, Philly won five games, then reached nine wins (including a wild finish dubbed “The Miracle at the Meadowlands” in Week 12) and a wild-card loss to the Atlanta Falcons in 1978.

Vermeil was named the UPI NFC Coach of the Year.

By then, his manic work effort was rubbing off on the team, including some of the veterans such as linebacker Bill Bergey.

“As athletes,” said Bergey in 1983, “we all want to achieve something for ourselves. But with Dick, you go way beyond that. You play for The Cause.”

The Eagles moved one step closer to that cause in 1979 with an 11-5 record and loss to the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC divisional round.

“If I described what it felt like inside me to lose,” he said in 1983, “you would write me off as a lunatic. They’d call me one-dimensional, but when I lost, it was the only dimension that people evaluated.”

Vermeil was once again honored as Coach of the Year by multiple news outlets.

Finally, in 1980, the franchise went all-in.

Behind veterans Ron Jaworski, Wilbert Montgomery, Carmichael and Bergey, the Eagles finished 12-4, the most wins in the organization’s history at that point.

“That was the best coaching job in the NFL in the last seven years,” said San Francisco head coach Bill Walsh. “There are other great coaches, but they had great organizations around them. Vermeil beat them with his own guts and a few people who followed him. Players of his he’d brag to me about, I wasn’t that impressed with. He convinced himself and them they were great. He lived their lives.”

Philly dumped Minnesota in the divisional round before beating the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship game.

Unfortunately, the Cinderella season ended with a 27-10 loss to the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV.

“We had beaten them in the regular season, but I knew it was going to be very difficult,” said Vermeil. “Plus we were minus our No. two and three wide receivers going into that game, so we had to doctor our game plan a little bit and that really didn’t help us. I’m not using that as an excuse, but when you lose two good football players that normally make a contribution, and they don’t play in the biggest game of the year — it makes a little difference.”

 

Burnout

The Eagles returned to the postseason in 1981 for the fourth year in a row, another franchise first.

Vermeil continued burning the candle at all possible ends and was well known for sleeping in his office to prepare for each and every week.

“Vermeil got under my skin by making a big deal of sleeping at the stadium and saying that he worked 16 hours a day,” groused Dallas Cowboy General Manager Tex Schramm. “I know what other coaches do, and they just don’t talk about it.”

As Philly progressed through the strike-shortened 1982 season, Vermeil’s manic lifestyle was taking its toll.

“He put on this air as this tough little French sonofagun,” said Peterson, by that time his personnel director, “but underneath it he was more sensitive than anybody knew. He’d say he never read the papers. Bullcrap. If he didn’t read them, he’d say, ‘What’d they say, Carl?’ For all his success, his confidence level wasn’t always strong enough to pull him through.”

Near the end of the Eagles 3-6 season, the team appeared to reach a breaking point with their coach.

“Some guys had started turning Dick off,” Jaworski said. “He’d get emotional, and it was ‘Here we go again.’ The bang effect was gone. And we were so much more programmed than other teams, we couldn’t just come back after eight weeks and start winning.”

When the year mercifully ended after Philly lost a game to the New York Giants on January 2, 1983, Vermeil retired from coaching at the age of 46.

 

Broadcaster

Not long after leaving the sideline, Vermeil was hired by CBS, and later ABC, to be an analyst for college and NFL games.

He proved to be a natural and Vermeil put the same energy into broadcasting that he used as a coach.

“I worked with some fine broadcasters. I ended up with Brent Musburger, one of the best ever and I worked for him eight or nine years. I learned a lot by watching the other coaches, because I was always given free access to their meetings, to their practice sessions, to their film studies, and to their locker room. I re-substantiated some of the things I believed in and and saw some things that could be done better if I ever did it again. It wasn’t hard work. There’s preparation, but not anything like preparing a top-tier football team to play a game.”

For nearly two decades he called college regular season and bowl games along with NFL contests.

In 1994, then-Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie talked to Vermeil about coming back to lead the Eagles after Lurie fired Rich Kotite.

The two sides couldn’t reach an agreement and Vermeil remained in the broadcast booth.

“I’m not going to beg Jeffrey Lurie to coach this football team,” said Vermeil at the time.

 

Comeback

Head coach Dick Vermeil of the St. Louis Rams
Mandatory Credit: Stephen Dunn /Allsport

 

Although the Eagles and their former coach couldn’t come to an agreement, the call to return to the sidelines proved to be too powerful.

In the 1980s, the LA Rams had made regular appearances in the playoffs.

Unfortunately, the 1990s weren’t as kind.

Rare was the season that the organization won more than a handful of games and the fate of the franchise didn’t change when it moved to St. Louis in 1995.

Following a two-year period with Rich Brooks that netted all of 13 total wins, then-Rams owner Georgia Frontiere reached out to Vermeil in 1997.

He hadn’t coached since the 1980s, but Frontiere was desperate for a turnaround.

Now in his early 60s, Vermeil threw caution to the wind and signed on the dotted line.

 

1999

The 1997 Rams were long in the tooth and featured quarterbacks who didn’t have a chance to turn around their fortunes.

A 5-11 record that year turned into four wins in 1998.

Then, before the 1999 season, the organization decided enough was enough and invested in talent.

Quarterback Trent Green was brought in from the Washington Redskins.

Next, the franchise traded for all-world Indianapolis Colts running back Marshall Faulk.

With the team’s sixth overall pick in the ‘99 NFL Draft, NC State receiver Torry Holt was selected.

Holt was placed in a receiver room that included veterans Isaac Bruce, Ricky Proehl and Az Hakim.

Vermeil told anyone who would listen how excited he was for the upcoming year.

“Having Faulk changes everything,” Vermeil said. “We’ve got weapons this year like you wouldn’t believe. Isaac Bruce, when he’s healthy, is the best wideout there is, and we drafted [North Carolina State wideout] Torry Holt, who’ll be an instant playmaker. When we split Marshall wide, we’ll line up Greg Hill at halfback, and he was ripping up defenses before he got hurt last year. For the first time since I came back we’ll have four players on the field who are capable of scoring at any time.”

Then, before the regular season could begin, Green was injured in a preseason game against the San Diego Chargers.

The injury would keep him out for the entire season.

Instead of desperately trying to sign a veteran to replace Green, Vermeil emotionally announced that he and the troops would rally behind little-used backup Kurt Warner.

“We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we’ll play good football.”

 

The “Greatest Show on Turf”

No one outside of the Rams team headquarters believed Vermeil’s statement.

Warner was a former Arena League star who had barely taken any snaps in the NFL.

Of course, that didn’t matter to the grizzled coach or his new offensive coordinator, Mike Martz.

Right out of the gate, St. Louis won its first six games.

The last five of those contests, the team scored 34 or more points.

A two-week skid against Tennessee and Detroit followed in Weeks 8 and 9 before a 7-1 finish.

Warner played outstanding football and passed for over 4,300 yards and an NFL-best (and career-high) 41 touchdowns.

(Warner’s unexpected breakout performance would become yet another feel-good story about one of Vermeil’s players that would become the movie American Underdog in 2021. Dennis Quaid was cast in the role of Vermeil).

He was named the league’s MVP while leading an offense that was tops in the NFL and dubbed the “Greatest Show on Turf.”

Faulk was named the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year and Vermeil was the Coach of the Year, 20 seasons after winning his first such award.

In the playoffs, the Rams outscored Minnesota in the divisional round before sneaking past Tampa Bay in the NFC Championship, 11-6.

For the second time in his career, Vermeil had his team playing in the Super Bowl.

This time it was Super Bowl XXXIV against a Tennessee Titans squad that had beat the Rams in Week 8.

During the contest, Warner passed for a then-Super Bowl record 414 yards and two touchdowns, including a 73-yard bomb to Bruce.

It came down to the final seconds and a heads-up play by linebacker Mike Jones before St. Louis prevailed, 23-16.

 

Retirement, Unretirement, and Retirement Again

Head coach Dick Vermeil of the Kansas City Chiefs
(Photo by Dave Kaup/Getty Images)

 

With a long-elusive championship in hand, Vermeil decided to quit again even though the Rams were still one of the best teams in pro football.

His second retirement was much shorter than his first.

In 2001, the Kansas City Chiefs hired the 65-year-old to bring their franchise to the Super Bowl.

One of Vermeil’s first personnel signings was his former Rams quarterback, Trent Green.

Running back Priest Holmes came over from Baltimore and tight end Tony Gonzalez was already a fixture.

Green remained upright in his second stint with Vermeil but the Chiefs struggled to finish 6-10.

An 8-8 record followed in 2002 before Vermeil’s squad broke loose for 13 wins in 2003.

“I was fortunate again — I had great administrators, owners, and personnel departments,” said Vermeil. “I had a control of the critical decisions that it takes to win and the support of everybody. We were doing something right. I think myself and my staff had a very fine process.”

For the third time in his career, Vermeil was honored as the NFL’s Coach of the Year.

Despite KC’s record, the team succumbed to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in the divisional round, 38-31.

Two more years followed including a 10-6 finish in 2005 that failed to produce a playoff appearance.

When the ‘05 season concluded, Vermeil retired for good.

During his coaching career, he was 120-109 and went 1-1 in two Super Bowls.

Vermeil was NFL Coach of the Year three times and was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame, Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, California Sports Hall of Fame, and the St. Louis Football Ring of Fame.

In 2022 Vermeil was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

 

Still Putting in the Work

Former NFL coach Dick Vermeil
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

 

Although Vermeil could have easily rode off into the sunset and taken it easy, that just wasn’t his style.

During and after his coaching career, Vermeil has been active in several causes including the Boy Scouts of America in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Also, although he spends the majority of his time at his homestead outside of Philadelphia, Vermeil returns often to the Napa Valley region of California.

Since 2008, the former coach has lent his name, and his notorious work ethic, to Vermeil Wines.

Wine making had always been in the family, but after he left the coaching profession, Vermeil dove in with both feet.

“Wine was always a big part of holiday meals,” Vermeil said in 2023. “We would open my grandfather’s new vintage and the adults would discuss it. I would sit there and listen to every word. I was fascinated by it. It left an image to me, how important this product was to our family and to a lot of families.”

Now, instead of kicking back and putting his feet up, the 88-year-old Vermeil spends countless hours toiling in the field with his workers and game-planning the business as if he were still coaching.

“The preparation he puts in for those meetings, it is like a game plan in football,” said Michael Azeez, one of the lead investors in Vermeil Wines. “He writes everything down on a pad of paper. He’s got a whole list of things for us to consider, whether that’s coming up with a better way of doing something or making some different wines or how we’re selling them. That quality of challenging people comes through in our management meetings.”

After 14 years, Vermeil’s wine company finally started making a profit in 2022.

“It’s not a big money deal, but at least we’re paying all of our bills and making excellent wines,” Vermeil said. “I’m not a real knowledgeable wine guy. I know some basics. I don’t pretend to be an expert. I don’t have a sophisticated palate. I know what I like. I know what tastes good to me, and if it tastes good to you, it’s good wine no matter what you paid for it.”

 

References

https://vault.si.com

https://vault.si.com/vault/1983/03/28/new-life

https://www.thegoldnuggett.com/post/dick-vermeil

https://www.chiefs.com/news/dick-vermeil-s-quarterback

https://medium.com

www.thegamebeforethemoney.com

www.stlshof.com

https://3c2asports.org/HOF/2018/Dick_Vermeil

https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=buckheit/060825

californiasportshalloffame.org

www.the33rdteam.com

https://www.philadelphiaeagles.com

https://rosebowlgame.com

https://bcedc.com

https://www.philadelphiaeagles.com

mosportshalloffame.com

https://www.vermeilwines.com/Team

https://www.espn.com

https://uclabruins.com

https://www.nfl.com

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/VermDi0.htm

https://www.profootballhof.com/players/dick-vermeil/

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Ben Donahue
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Over 25 years of experience in sports including coach, athletic director, game day operations, media relations, football operations, and scout. He is [...]

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