Tempe, Ariz. ? Dennis Green, one of the winningest NFL coaches in the 1990s, signed a five-year contract Wednesday to guide the struggling Arizona Cardinals.

Green, 54, who had a 97-62 record in 10 seasons with Minnesota and led the Vikings into the playoffs eight times, spent the day in San Diego exchanging faxes and phone calls with Cardinals officials in Tempe.

The Cardinals did not release details on his salary. The team announced his hiring through e-mail, and neither vice president Michael Bidwill nor football operations vice president Rod Graves, the driving force to land Green, returned calls.

“He is a proven winner with an outstanding track record of success,” owner Bill Bidwill said in the release.

The Cardinals planned to introduce Friday at a news conference.

Green was 4-8 in the postseason, one of the reasons he was fired late in the 2001 season.

The Vikings went 15-1 in 1998 and wound up losing in the NFC title game. They also lost in the 2000 NFC championship game.

Green made a smooth transition to football commentator on television while looking for opportunities to get back on the sideline. He recently interviewed for the head coaching jobs at Oakland and Washington.

He interviewed for several jobs last season, but wanted more control than any of the teams were willing to give him.

A disciple of former 49ers coach Bill Walsh, Green was head coach at Northwestern and Stanford before taking the Vikings’ job.

“The attraction of Arizona for Denny is that the Cardinals’ organization has had trouble winning and now a lot of people don’t expect them to start winning,” said Gary O’Hagan, Green’s agent told the Associated Press late Wednesday. “That creates a lot of upside, an opportunity for success.”

He said the team’s new stadium in Glendale, Ariz., adjacent to the Phoenix Coyotes’ new ice arena, was one of the strong points of the job. The roofed football stadium is scheduled to open for the 2006 season and will host the 2008 Super Bowl.

“They need to have a winning team because they need to sell tickets,” O’Hagan said. “Dennis is a proven winner and that’s what the Cardinals need.”

The Cardinals have had one winning season since 1984, one playoff appearance since 1982 and one playoff victory since winning the NFL title in 1947 as the Chicago Cardinals. Coach Dave McGinnis was fired after Arizona finished 4-12 last season, one of four teams with that league-worst record.

The team’s home fan base has dwindled to about 20,000.

Vikings owner Red McCombs fired Green after the Vikings went 5-10. It was Green’s only losing season. His teams made it to the NFC title game twice, but lost at home to Atlanta after the 1998 season and on the road to the New York Giants after the 2000 season.

Green becomes the fourth black head coach in the NFL, the most the league has had at any one time. The other three are Herman Edwards of the Jets, Marvin Lewis of the Bengals and Tony Dungy of the Colts.

The hiring filled the third of seven coaching vacancies, all taken by former NFL head coaches. Tom Coughlin agreed to coach the Giants on Tuesday and Joe Gibbs ended an 11-year retirement Wednesday to return to Washington.

Still to be filled are vacancies in Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago and Oakland.