Born in 1942 in New York City, "Dick" Kotite (as he was usually called in his playing days) was a tight end who played collegiately at Wagner College in his native Staten Island. Kotite was drafted in the 18th round of the 1965 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings. After playing for his hometown New York Giants in 1967, Kotite saw action for the Pittsburgh Steelers the next year before returning to the Giants for a four-year stint beginning in 1969.

Following the end of his playing career, Kotite spent much of the next two decades serving as an assistant coach in the NFL, including five years as the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1986 to 1990. After Head Coach Buddy Ryan was fired, Kotite was elevated to replace him.

During his first two years, Kotite led the squad to consecutive 10-win seasons, including a playoff berth. In 1994, the Eagles began the year with a 7-2 mark, Kotite told the media that he was going to investigate his options following rumors that new team owner Jeffrey Lurie was not going to renew his contract. The timing proved disastrous, with the Eagles losing all seven of their remaining games.

The beginning of the end of the Eagles' slide happened after a botched two-point conversion attempt. In a rain-soaked contest at Texas Stadium, the Eagles scored a touchdown with 5:27 left against their division rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, cutting their deficit to 11 at 24-13. Against objections from his staff, Kotite went for a two-point conversion, and Eagles' quarterback Randall Cunningham was stopped short of the end zone. Afterwards, Kotite blamed the error on the weather. "It was raining very heavily at the time," he explained. "And we looked at the chart and misread the chart." Kotite had a chart suggesting when an extra point should be kicked and when a two-pointer should be attempted, but since there was no protective sheet on top of it, the ink ran in the rain.

After his dismissal by the Eagles, Kotite returned to the New York area where he was hired as head coach of the New York Jets, who had just fired Pete Carroll after one season and a 6-10 record. At the press conference to announce the hiring, team owner Leon Hess explained the choice by saying, "I'm 80 years old. I want results now!" Hess was to be disappointed as Kotite mustered only 4 wins over two seasons, 3-13 and 1-15. In both of his seasons as head coach, the Jets' had the dubious honor of owning the worst record in the NFL. Two days prior to his last game as Jets coach in 1996, Kotite announced he was stepping down as head coach and has since never returned to the NFL sidelines in any coaching capacity.

Counting his last seven games with the Eagles, Kotite lost 31 of his final 35 games as an NFL head coach, for a winning percentage of .114. Before that, his percentage had been .632.

In his post-coaching career, Kotite has been seen in a promotional commercial for USA Network's coverage of the US Open Tennis championships, and in an AmeriTrade commercial that aired during the Super Bowl XXXIV pre-game show. The latter advertisement casts him a father of a son who surprises his dad by saying that he wants to be a Broadway dancer.