Silver-haired John Fox arrived at Denver International Airport on Jan. 12, 2011, wearing a bright orange tie, sporting an everyman grin and brimming with confidence that he had the game plan to turn around the foundering Broncos.
Monday, four years to the day that Fox stepped off that plane at DIA, his dramatic, newsworthy and largely successful four-year reign as Broncos head coach came to an end.
“John Fox and I met for more than an hour on Monday afternoon to discuss the 2014 season and our goals for the future,” general manager John Elway said in a statement. “During our open and candid conversation, it became clear that it was best for both the Denver Broncos and Coach Fox to move on and make this change.”
Fox’s four years in Denver were all about change.
He took over a dysfunctional 4-12 team and led it an 8-8 record and a playoff berth in his first season. He rode the tsunami of the Tim Tebow phenomenon and was instrumental in bringing franchise quarterback Peyton Manning to Denver.
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During his third year on the job, Fox collapsed on a golf course, underwent open-heart surgery and returned to lead the Broncos to their first Super Bowl in 15 years.
In Fox’s four seasons, the Broncos won four AFC West Division titles, lost only once against division opponents and reached the NFL’s elite eight four times, but a Super Bowl title proved elusive.
With Manning directing traffic behind center, Fox led the Broncos to records of 13-3, 13-3 and 12-4 seasons and first-round playoff byes each of the past three seasons. But the 2012 season ended with a shocking 38-35 double-overtime loss to Baltimore in the divisional round of the playoffs.
The Broncos advanced to the Super Bowl in the 2013 season but were humiliated 43-8 by the physically superior Seattle Seahawks.
“Although we came up short of our ultimate goal, I am proud of our team’s many accomplishments during these last four years,” the 59-year-old Fox said Monday in a statement.
Fox arrived in Denver as one of five candidates being interviewed for the vacant Broncos head coaching job. Owner Pat Bowlen and Elway were searching for a coach to turn around a team that had lost its way under Josh McDaniels.
After a 5½-hour meeting with Bowlen, followed by another 5½-hour dinner meeting with Elway at Elway’s restaurant in Cherry Creek, the Broncos knew they had their man.
“Coach Fox is a great fit for us not only with his coaching ability, but also his personality,” Elway said the next day when Fox was introduced as the 14th head coach in Broncos history.
Fox inherited a Carolina Panthers team that was 1-15 in 2001 and led it to a six-win improvement in 2002. In 2003, he led the Panthers to an 11-5 record and a berth in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Fox’s Panthers lost 32-29 to New England when Adam Vinatieri kicked a 41-yard field goal with four seconds left.
Fox came to Denver with two Super Bowl rings — one for being an assistant with the losing Giants in XXXV and the other for coming up just short in XXXVIII.
He was not in the habit of wearing, or looking at, either ring.
“I came back to coaching to get a winning ring. It’s why I do this,” he said.
Although Fox arrived as a defensive-minded coach, his first season in Denver was colored by Tebowmania. Kyle Orton, a more conventional quarterback, was Fox’s first choice as starter. But when Orton stumbled to a 1-4 start, Fox went with Tebow, the people’s quarterback. Tebow, though erratic, started 11 games and led Denver to an 8-8 record and the AFC West title.
Tebowmania hit a crescendo in Denver’s 29-23 playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. On the first play of overtime, Tebow connected with DeMaryius Thomas on 80-yard catch and run. Reality bit the next week when the Broncos lost 45-10 at New England. In bone-chilling cold, Patriots fans derisively chanted “Te-Bow, Te-Bow.”
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It was clear to Fox, Elway and Bowlen that Denver needed a legitimate championship quarterback to make a Super Bowl run. In March 2012, Elway and Fox flew to Duke University to watch Manning work out. Manning’s series of neck surgeries led the Indianapolis Colts to balk at paying him a $28 million roster bonus. So the 35-year-old quarterback became the most prized free agent in NFL history.
Thanks to Fox and Elway, the Broncos landed Manning and returned the team to the NFL’s elite.
Whatever Fox did during his tenure with the Broncos, he did it with gusto.
In 2013, the Broncos were 7-1 at the bye week when Fox became ill on a North Carolina golf course. He had known since 1997 that his heart had a genetic valve defect, but he hoped to ride out the 2013 season before undergoing surgery.
He didn’t make it. After open-heart surgery Nov. 4 to replace a faulty aortic valve, followed by four days to recover at a hospital, Fox was released to his home in Charlotte, N.C. Then, quickly, he got back to work, planning and scheming on his IPad.
After three weeks of medical leave, he returned to the Broncos’ Dove Valley headquarters.
“The longest bye week in history,” Fox joked.
Now, after four years, he no longer works at Dove Valley. He departed Monday with a regular-season record of 46-18 — a winning percentage of .719, easily the best in franchise history.
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or
