49ers’ Green to Coach Stanford

San Francisco 49ers assistant coach Dennis Green today was named head football coach at Stanford University.

Green, who will be the fourth black head coach among the nation’s 104 Division I schools, replaces Jack Elway, fired last month after a lackluster 3-6-2 season.

Athletic Director Andy Geiger conducted a four-week search and interviewed more than a dozen candidates, including Paul Hackett, pass offense coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Pete Carroll.

“I’m very pleased that we were able to lure Dennis Green back to the college football ranks,” said Gieger in a release distributed moments before a news conference to announce the selection.

“I’ve been at Stanford as an assistant twice, under two different head coaches, and I really feel it’s an outstanding job,” said Green, 39, a few days before the announcement.

Green was an assistant at Stanford under Bill Walsh, his present boss with San Francisco, 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.

Green, who said he would continue with San Francisco until the season ends, started working Monday to assemble a staff.

Green, a tailback at Iowa who played in the Canadian Football League, said he plans to meet with Stanford players when they return to campus next week.

Elway was dismissed Dec. 5 amid reports of player dissatisfaction. The Cardinals had losing seasons in four of Elway’s five years with the school. He was 25-29-2 overall.