Did the Packers ever offer John Madden their head coaching job?

I’ve never seen a definitive answer about this. In 1980, after yet another losing season with Bart Starr, there were a lot of rumors that John Madden was asked to take over as head coach. If so, he obviously declined. I’m wondering if an actual offer was extended and if Madden considered it.

I’ll address the 1980 rumors later. Instead, I’ll start with 1983. That was the one time the Packers made contact with Madden when there was a job to offer him. Madden resigned as coach of the Oakland Raiders in early January 1979, less than three weeks after his 10th and final season as their coach. That year, the Raiders finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs. But he had won a Super Bowl just two years earlier and his .739 regular-season winning percentage was second in NFL history to Vince Lombardi’s .750 mark, among coaches with 100 career victories.

Madden said at the time that he was burned out and suffering from burning ulcers. However, he was only 42 years old at the time and, if I recall correctly, just about anytime an NFL job opened up over the next several years Madden was mentioned as a possible candidate, although he was also adamant about not wanting to get back in the business.

Turning back to 1983. After team president Robert Parins fired Starr on Dec. 19, he instructed director of player personnel Dick Corrick to call Madden to see if he’d have any interest in the Packers’ job.

When I talked to Madden within the same 24-hour period, he told me he wasn’t interested in coaching again but didn’t rule out having some interest if offered the position of general manager. “I don’t know if I would or would not (be interested),” Madden told me on Dec. 19, 1983, only hours after Parins’ announcement about Starr’s firing. “I couldn’t say.”

If not him, Madden told me that he still expected the Packers to land a prominent coach with an impressive resume, although the Packers had reached the playoffs only twice in the previous 16 seasons.

“I think that probably the Green Bay Packer job may be the best in pro football,” Madden told me in what was a telephone interview from his New York residence. “I think that’s going to be a job filled by a successful coach. I really do. I don’t think they are going to have any problems whatsoever.”

I’m not sure if I called Madden before or after Corrick but when those two talked, Madden told him he was happy with his position as a CBS television analyst and…