Mike Ditka

When the New Orleans Saints offered him a job as head coach, he was skeptical about whether they would actually give it to him and whether he should take it. But when he talked to Saints owner Tom Benson, he became excited about the idea. "I firmly believe everything happens for a reason, and as I sat in that room, I began to think this was where I was meant to be." Ironically, the Saints' previous coach, Jim Mora, had quit after a disastrous game, just as Ditka had.

The Saints needed to improve: they were playing so badly that their fans called them "the Ain'ts," showed up at games with paper bags over their heads, and called the New Orleans Superdome, where the Saints played, the "House of Blues." They had not had a winning season since 1992, and fan morale was so bad that in 1996, the average home game attendance was only 37,750, the worst in the team's 30-year history.

On January 28, 1997, Ditka was announced as the new coach of the New Orleans Saints. His first two seasons with the Saints produced a 12-20 record. In 1999, Ditka traded several draft picks to earn the right to draft Texas running back Ricky Williams. The choice was controversial. "A lot of people think I'm nuts," Ditka told Sager. "People ask me if by giving away our entire draft I'm ransoming the whole future of the Saints. Well, let me tell you: There is no future. This game is about winning. It's about trying to get as good as you can as soon as you can."

Citing the example of Walter Payton, who was such a large part of the Bears' success in the 1980s, he said, "Maybe that's old-fashioned and maybe the new gurus of football don't see it that way, but I don't really care." In 2000 Benson, evidently feeling that the Saints had not improved enough, fired 22 employees, including Ditka. Since that time, he has been retired from coaching.

As he grew older, Ditka's health began to deteriorate; he suffered a heart attack in 1998 and had an angioplasty. He takes heart medication, and he has had two hip replacements. He told Sager, "The things that seemed so important when you were young don't seem so important anymore. You realize that the greatest gifts you've got are life, health, friends, your spiritual beliefs." Ditka summed up his often-opinionated coaching methods when he told Attner, "There is a reason I do everything. You'll learn that. If I don't say anything for any other reason but effect. If it gets the right effect, then I have said the right thing."