JAN 12 (morning)--Kansas City Chiefs President Carl Peterson announced on Friday that he has appointed Dick Vermeil as the ninth head coach in Chiefs history. Vermeil agreed to a three-year contract with the club meaning the Chiefs franchise will enter its 42nd season of play in 2001 under the leadership tandem of Peterson and Vermeil, a duo whose working relationship dates back some 27 years.

Click here for Head Coach Dick Vermeil’s Press Conference (Real Audio Player required)

Vermeil is just one of four coaches in NFL history to lead two different teams to the Super Bowl, joining Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves and Don Shula as the only other individuals ever to accomplish that feat. He guided St. Louis to a win in Super Bowl XXXIV following the ’99 season and guided Philadelphia to an appearance in Super Bowl XV at the conclusion of the ’80 season. He also joins a select group of just three other active NFL head coaches (Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren and George Seifert) who have guided a club to a Super Bowl victory.

In his two previous head coaching stops, Vermeil made an immediate impact on a pair of franchises which had gone signficant stretches without enjoying success on the playing field. In ’76, Vermeil inherited a Philadelphia squad which had not produced a winning season since ’66. In just his third season with the club in ‘78, he landed the Eagles in the playoffs for the first time since ’61 before eventually taking them to the Super Bowl in ’80. After leading Philadelphia to a franchise-best 12-4 record and that Super Bowl trip, he was named NFL Coach of the Year.

In ’97, Vermeil took over a St. Louis team which had suffered seven consecutive losing seasons and hadn’t been to the postseason since ’88. In just his third season as head coach of that club in ’99, he guided the Rams to a franchise-best regular season 13-3 record and the lone Super Bowl victory in that team’s history. Nineteen years after winning the honor for the initial time, Vermeil was once again honored as the NFL’s Coach of the Year.

Vermeil enters his 11th season as an NFL head coach in 2001, after producing a 76-73 regular season record in his 10 previous campaigns. He went 22-26 with the St. Louis Rams (‘97-99) and produced a 54-47 record with the Eagles (‘76-82). He boasts a 6-4 career postseason record, including a perfect 3-0 mark during the ’99 campaign with the Rams giving him an overall NFL record of 82-77 (.516). In total, Vermeil will embark on his 15th season as an NFL coach, a career which now spans five different decades after originally entering the league with the L.A. Rams in ’69.

The longstanding relationship between Vermeil, Chiefs President Carl Peterson and Vice President of Football Operations Lynn Stiles dates back to ’74 when Vermeil was named the head coach at UCLA. Peterson served as receivers coach and an administrative assistant, while Stiles served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. In ’75, that trio helped lead the Bruins to a 9-2-1 record, the team’s first-ever Pac 8 championship. That season culminated with UCLA’s first Rose Bowl appearance in 10 seasons as the Bruins defeated #1 ranked Ohio State, To this day, Vermeil remains the only head coach who has guided a team to a victory in both the Rose Bowl and the Super Bowl.

In ’76, Vermeil was named head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, while Peterson served as the club’s receivers and tight ends coach. In ’77, Peterson was named Philadelphia’s Director of Player Personnel and became the man chiefly responsible for the acquisition of talent for Vermeil. Just one year later in ’78 the duo of Peterson and Vermeil helped lead the Eagles to their first playoff appearance in 18 seasons and landed the club in the Super Bowl in ’80.

In six seasons together with the Eagles from ‘76-81, Peterson and Vermeil combined to engineer four playoff appearances, including an NFC East title in ‘80. The highlight of that four-year playoff run came in ’80 when Philadelphia won the NFC Championship and advanced to Super Bowl XV in January of ’81, marking Philadelphia’s first division title since the club won the NFL Championship in ’60.

Vermeil began his NCAA Division I coaching tenure at Stanford from ‘65-68 working on head coach John Ralston’s staff. He was designated as the first special teams coach in NFL history in ’69 for the L.A. Rams working under George Allen. After a one-year stint on Tommy Prothro’s staff as offensive coordinator at UCLA in ’70, he moved with Prothro back to the Rams, where he served as offensive coordinator from ‘71-72. He then coached running backs and special teams for Rams head coach Chuck Knox in ‘73 before taking over the head coaching reigns at UCLA the following year.

Born October 30, 1936 in Calistoga, California, Vermeil graduated from San Jose State with degrees in physical education (B.A. ’58, M.A. ‘59) after serving as a collegiate quarterback for the Spartans.

Vermeil owns the distinction of being named “Coach of the Year” on four levels: high school, junior college, NCAA Division I and the NFL. He began his coaching career at San Jose’s Del Mar High School in ’59 and received his initial head coaching assignment at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, California in ’60. After a one-year stint as an assistant at San Mateo College, he produced a 7-2 mark in his lone season as the head coach at Napa Junior College before entering the Division I ranks at Stanford in ’65.

Vermeil and his wife Carol have three children and 11 grandchildren.

VERMEIL’S COACHING CAREER
Years Team Position
1959 Del Mar High School (San Jose, California) Assistant Coach
1960-62 Hillsdale High School (San Mateo, California) Head Coach
1963 San Mateo College Assistant Coach
1964 Napa Junior College Head Coach
1965-68 Stanford University Assistant Coach
1969 L.A. Rams Special Teams
1970 UCLA Offensive Coordinator
1971-72 L.A. Rams Offensive Coordinator/QBs
1973 L.A. Rams Running Backs/Special Teams
1974-75 UCLA Head Coach
1976-82 Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach
1997-99 St. Louis Rams Head Coach
2001 Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach