There was no guarantee that a new owner would retain any new coaches, especially if Lombardi did not provide an instant turnaround. So, with his first opportunity to become a head coach, he went to church, prayed, thought, listened to his wife Marie, and then decided the Eagles were not the right situation for himself at this time.
For , Giants head coach Jim Lee Howell had three years remaining on his contract. The Giants management team of Wellington and Jack Mara knew quite well that both of their assistant coaches would make fine head coaches, but the Mara family was very loyal. The Giants were a winning football club every year under Howell, who never had a losing season. During his tenure, the Giants won two Eastern Division titles, played in the championship game three times and captured the NFL title.
His expertise on draft day was well-chronicled as he had an ability to read talent. He was an asset to the franchise. However, the Maras wanted to know how long Howell wanted to keep being head coach. His answer? The Maras were in a pickle. They wanted to offer the head coaching position to one of their prized assistants with the notion that they would become a head coach in waiting.
This would keep one - or the other - on the current coaching staff to one day become the next head coach. One day, he was walking down the hall and into a room to his right was Lombardi breaking down film with his offensive players, down the hall to the left was Landry going over situations with his defensive players, and then down the hall into another room was Howell reading a newspaper.
In the meanwhile, the year-old Lombardi was wondering about his future. He dearly wanted to become a head coach, and particularly wanted to become the Giants head coach. While the Giants had clinched another Eastern title and a defeat in the championship game in , the Packers had gone 1.
Their head coach Scooter McLean was forced to resign. Lombardi had a plan outlined for the two men of how to resurrect an ailing franchise into a competitive team. His preparation had been conceived one year earlier when the lowly Eagles had come calling; and Vince had planned out an itinerary for making a bad team into a respectable club. This impressed both men. Lombardi even talked contract duration and money without even being offered the job.
The thought process for all three was for Lombardi to take on the reins of both GM and head coach — which Lombardi coveted. All of this had taken place only because Wellington Mara had given the Packers permission to talk to Lombardi.
But, with one condition: the Giants could have Lombardi back whenever Howell stepped down. Olejniczak agreed to the terms. The Packers then flew Lombardi to Green Bay. Once there, he met with the Packers director and vice president who interrogated him on items of administration, coaching techniques, player acquisitions and team discipline.
At the time, it was considered to be an incredibly rich contract for an NFL head coach. Lombardi accepted and the other board members agreed in concept. When Lombardi approached his wife and kids, he brought out a map of Wisconsin. Once the Lombardi family approved, the coach then had to take the matter to Wellington. What the coach wanted from Wellington was to have his boss tell him that Howell had a specific timeline and that in a certain determined year Lombardi would be head coach of the Giants.
Instead, Mara encouraged his good friend to take the position. Mara knew that Vince had to be the boss no matter where he coached, and the money was too good to pass up. Plus, one day Lombardi would be coming back with a single phone call.
Mara promised Lombardi that when Howell was done with coaching, he would offer the job to him first. After all, the Giants were his team, his players - and his town. Francis Preparatory School. There, he starred as the football's fullback, paving the way for a football career at Fordham University.
At Fordham, Lombardi was one of the football team's "Seven Blocks of Granite," a nickname for the team's sturdy offensive line. Following a short stint as a pro football player, Lombardi started studying law, before getting swayed back to the field as a coach at St.
He stayed there for eight seasons and then left for a new coaching position at Fordham in Lombardi's coaching career at his old university was brief, with a wish to replace head coach Ed Danowski that never came to fruition. Lombardi's five seasons in New York, which included a league title in , only elevated his status and his value to NFL owners.
In , Lombardi changed employers again, when he signed a five-year deal to head up the Green Bay Packers. Under Lombardi's tight-fisted leadership, the struggling Packers were transformed into hard-nosed winners: Over the course of his career with the team, he led the club to a record and five championships, including three straight titles, from to The team never suffered a losing season under the Hall of Fame coach. After retiring from coaching following the season and working strictly as the Packers' general manager, Lombardi left Green Bay in to return to the field as the head coach of the Washington Redskins.
With his new franchise, Lombardi proved to have his old touch, leading the club to its first winning record in 14 years. Lombardi stayed on for a total of eight years; five as head coach. Donald Phillips in recalled the stellar debut and overall record of Coach Lombardi at St.
When Lombardi succeeded, so did they. Twenty-two of St. Lombardi left for Fordham in to coach the freshman teams in football and basketball. His coaching stay at Fordham would be a brief one. In , Lombardi fathered his only daughter, Susan Lombardi.
Vince Jr. Susan would be the second and last child born to Vince and Marie Lombardi. Lombardi believed he was motivated and prepared to take on the responsibilities of becoming a head coach at the college level. A Jesuit-school grad from Fordham, Lombardi felt certain that he was the most qualified and best candidate for the Canisius job.
Larry Felser, an award-winning sportswriter for the Buffalo News, recalled how Lombardi ruefully responded: "Canisius was the disappointment of my career.
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