KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- At any of several points during a 30-year NFL head-coaching career, it would have been impossible to predict Dick Vermeil getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Vermeil got his first NFL head coaching job with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976, just after leading UCLA to a Rose Bowl victory over Ohio State.
The Eagles had gone nine straight seasons without a winning record when Vermeil arrived. But Vermeil had them in the playoffs in his third year and in the Super Bowl in his fifth.
It came at a cost.