Featured Speaker

DICK VERMEIL

SUPER BOWL CHAMPION COACH

Richard A. Vermeil, athlete, football coach, sports commentator and game analyst, wine maker and wine connoisseur, volunteer, husband, father and grandfather, you have spent your career putting a human face on the American pastime of football. Your dedication to the well-being of your players is legendary, your concern for them an example for less-experienced coaches that a drive for success does not need to come at the cost of compassion. You began your celebrated career in your home state of California, at Del Mar High School in San Jose, distinguished yourself as a team leader and moved to the head coaching position at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo. From there you became at assistant at San Mateo College, became head coach for a year at Napa Junior College and moved into Division I NCAA coaching at Stanford University. You made history when you stepped into the professional coaching ranks as the first-ever Special Teams coach for the Los Angeles Rams. Your success with the Philadelphia Eagles, taking the team to its first playoff appearance in 18 seasons in 1978 and winning accolades as National Football League Coach of the Year in 1980, cemented your legacy as a coach who drove his players hard while listening to their needs and nurturing their abilities. But you decided it was time for a change, and you left the Eagles in 1983 for a 14-year broadcasting career, prospering as an NFL and college football analyst for CBS and ABC. The call of football brought you back, however, and in 1997 you brought your distinctive brand of coaching to the St. Louis Rams, a team that had suffered with seven consecutive losing seasons. In your third season with the Rams, the team won the Super Bowl, and you were deservedly honored once again with NFL Coach of the Year. In retirement, you have become actively involved with several Philadelphia-area non-profit organizations and community outreach agencies including the Boy Scouts of Chester County. Richard A. Vermeil, for setting high standards on and off the football field as a mentor to young football players, as an esteemed volunteer for worthy causes, and as a compassionate reminder that kindness and humility are an essential ingredient in success, the University of New Haven is pleased to confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Business Administration, honoris causa.