Sports : Stanford Hires NFL’s Dennis Green as 1st Black Head Coach in Pac-10

Dennis Green was named head coach at Stanford University today, becoming the first black head coach in the Pac-10 Conference.

The former head coach at Northwestern University most recently coached wide receivers for the San Francisco 49ers. Green, 39, replaces Jack Elway, who was fired at the conclusion of the 1988 Cardinal season that ended in a lackluster 3-6-2 record.

Green was an assistant at Stanford under Bill Walsh, his present boss with the NFL’s 49ers, in 1977 and 1978. He served as running backs coach for Walsh’s first 49ers coaching staff in 1979 and then returned to Stanford as offensive coordinator under Paul Wiggin in 1980 before accepting the head coaching job at Northwestern in 1981 at the age of 31. He was named Big 10 Coach of the Year in 1982.