Dick Vermeil, describing himself as ”emotionally burned out” after seven years of self-imposed workdays of 18 and 20 hours, resigned today as coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Vermeil, who is 46 years old, made his announcement at a news conference in Veterans Stadium.
Marion Campbell, the team’s defensive coordinator, was immediately given a five-year contract as coach by the owner Leonard Tose. Campbell, 53, a tackle on Philadelphia’s 1960 N.F.L. championship team, was an assistant with three other N.F.L. clubs, and coached the Atlanta Falcons for 23 months until October 1976.
He said that he would pursue a career ”in broadcasting, at the network level, involving the National Football League.” Twice this season he made guest appearances on the CBS show, ”The N.F.L. Today.”
He was hired Feb. 8, 1976, after having led U.C.L.A. to an upset of No. 1-ranked Ohio State in the Rose Bowl a month before. His first Philadelphia team went 4-10. And until last year’s 10-7 mark and this season’s disappointing 3-6, each of his teams bettered the previous year’s performance – 5-9 in 1977, 9-8 in 1978, 12-6 in 1979 and the record in 1980, when the Eagles were beaten soundly, 27-10, by Oakland in Super Bowl XV.
”Last spring,” Vermeil said, ”I did a series of public-service announcements for Blue Cross and Blue Shield, with the message being, ‘Take good care of yourself, you belong to you.’ Well, I’m going to listen to that message, take my own advice.
It has been a troublesome year for Vermeil. His closest associate in football, Carl Peterson, was persuaded by the offer of a part ownership to leave as his administrative assistant to become the president of the Philadelphia Stars in the United States Football League. One of his best players, the middle guard Charlie Johnson, a team leader, complained about the coach’s difficult training-camp routine and asked to be traded. Stunned, Vermeil sent the 30-year-old veteran to the Minnesota Vikings. Then the 57-day strike by the Players Association left his team in poor physical shape, and after a 2-0 start before the strike, the Eagles slumped badly. A Subtle Gift
The strike had made him fidgety. While it lasted, he worked on films of opponents and of his team, making up game plans, then filing them away, unused. But he also spent more time with his family.
”We went for rides, it was such fun,” said his wife, Carol. ”We’d go out in the woods. He must have taken 100 pictures of leaves. I think he began to realize, ‘Hey, life goes on, football or no football.’ Not easy for him.
”The changing trees, the colors in the fields amazed him. You know, I think that he thought that all fields were green with white stripes on them.”
