He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a four-time Super Bowl champion. His nickname, "Mean Joe Greene" stems from his alma mater, the University of North Texas' athletic teams, which are nicknamed the Mean Green. Greene is also well known for his appearance in the "Mean Joe Greene" Coca-Cola commercial in 1979, considered to be one of the all-time best Super Bowl commercials. Before his NFL career, Greene had an outstanding college football career at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) (1966–68), leading the team to a 23-5-1 record during his three seasons. In his 29 games at defensive tackle, North Texas State held the opposition to 2,507 yards gained on 1,276 rushes, a per carry average of less than two yards per attempt.
His collegiate coach, Rod Rust, said of the 1968 consensus All-America, "There are two factors behind Joe's success. First, he has the ability to make the big defensive play and turn the tempo of a game around. Second, he has the speed to be an excellent pursuit player." A pro scout said, "He's tough and mean and comes to hit people. He has good killer instincts. He's mobile and hostile."
He got his nickname when the Pittsburgh fan base mistakenly assumed that the North Texas team nickname of "Mean Green" was Joe Greene's nickname; however, Coach Rust's wife wanted to give a nickname to the team's outstanding defense. Since green is the school's main color, she gave the defense the name "Mean Green". In 1984, he was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame. In 2006, Greene was voted to the East-West Shrine Game Hall of Fame. Mean Joe Greene was the leader and the anchor of the Steel Curtain defense that won four Super Bowls in the 1970's. He was twice recognized as the NFL defensive player of the year in 1972 and 1974.
He, along with other members of the Steelers' front four (L.C. Greenwood, Dwight White and Ernie Holmes) even appeared on the cover of Time magazine. That defense held NFL MVP Fran Tarkenton and the Vikings offense scoreless in Super Bowl IX (the Vikings only scored on a blocked punt, for which they missed the extra point), the only time that has occurred in Super Bowl history. It was also Greene's best championship performance, when he became the first player ever to record an interception, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery in a single Super Bowl. He went to the Pro Bowl 10 times during his career.
Greene is also well-known for the "stunt 4-3" defense in which he would line up at an angle, between the center and guard, and would explode into the line taking up 2-3 blockers. He started doing this sometime in the 1974 season, and while it cut down on the number of sacks he racked up it freed up his other defensive teammates like middle linebacker Jack Lambert to make tackles with ease.
