How Andy Reid Came to Be

[Miller]

I can add to this. I have some good knowledge as to how Andy Reid got there and became successful. When I lived in Mt. Laurel, NJ (a few miles from NFL Films), my neighbor for seven years was Juan Castillo, Reid's offensive line coach. Being a former college player myself, we became good friends. Later on, another Mt. Laurel resident and former player, Jon Runyan would be elected twice to Congress (HR) from our district, so I became acquainted with him as well.

Reid was one of six on Lurie's list of prospective coaches--fifth in line as I recall. Reid won him over in the interview. When asked as to his offensive philosophy, Reid plopped a huge playbook on the table. When asked about what needed to be done first, Reid was very quick to say "Offensive line. You have no big nasties on the line." At the time, the only top talent on the line was huge LT Tra Thomas, who just finished his rookie year. Reid also was adamant about drafting a o-lineman every single draft. The second thing was to find the quarterback. Reid say he had someone in mind for the draft (Eagles had the #2 pick, they were horrible under Ray Rhodes that last year). He would get a smart vet to keep the seat warm for his new QB. Reid also noted that there was talent on defense (Douglas, Kearse, Dawkins) but a new defensive philosophy was needed to take advantage of that talent. Also, draft a d-lineman and corner every draft

So, when hired, what did Reid do?

QB: McNabb--let's not forget how good he was before injuries took its toll
QB Vet: Doug Pederson
First FA signing: Jon Runyon, big nasty at RT
Defensive Coordinator: Jim Johnson

The Eagle tradition of sucky WR's continued though (Todd Stinkston and Freddie Mitchell, lolol), so Reid got Terrell Owens. By that time, Reid also took a chance on a 3rd rounder from Villanova named Brian Westbrook. Let's not forget how close they came to beating Brady in the Super Bowl. Reid, a brand new HC, took a 3-13 team, starting in 1999, had them in the playoffs in two years (almost beating the Greatest Show on Turf) and almost beat Brady and Bellicheat by year five.

Reid's ideas are still with the Eagles to this day. Build the trenches and find the QB that can run your system. Reid's Chiefs doesn't have a lot of top end talent outside of Mahomes and Kelce, but the rest of their receiving corps are more than JAG's. Mahomes makes them better. The right QB is THAT important.

Thanks for sharing this! Awesome stuff!

 

[Miller]

Most head coaches are carried by their QBs. If they don’t have a real good one eventually they’ll get fired. Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs are the only two Hall of Fame coaches I can think of that had great careers without a Hall of Fame QB.

Agree but you also look for the ones that fit your system and he did that. Overall I think one thing that is overlooked in this story is they originally had 3 things they looked at with one being “handling other coaches.” I think he’s done a great job bringing on and working with assts. They players love him too. The old Philly guys still love the guy.

 

[diamonddelts]

Heard the Ticket discussing this earlier this morning and was really intrigued because 1) I hadn’t heard this before and 2) this is not the way this franchise operates at all. Before I get bashed about Eagles not winning SBs with him, they still hit 5 NFC Championship games with his warts and all and now he’s brought all that success to KC. No method is perfect but thinking outside the family confines helps. This is from an interview with former Eagles President Joe Banner. I don’t want to quote the whole thing so read it all. I’ll start how they picked him..

https://talkoffametwo.com/.amp/nfl/andy-reid-eagles-banner

Remember,” he said, “we (he and Eagles’ owner Jeff Lurie) were new to the league. So we weren’t limited and governed by all the conventional wisdom that had driven the thinking for so many years. So we actually tried to add a little science to our intuition to study all the head coaches that had been to at least two Super Bowls and defining them as true success leaders. And, to our surprise, we found nothing about football that was in common….

They passed. They ran. They were aggressive. They were passive. Whatever it was, we couldn’t find anything. We almost stumbled into the fact that when it came to the description of who they were as people there were tremendous similarities – about leadership, about attention to detail, the ability to evaluate coaches and manage people.”

The coaches included Bill Walsh, Mike Holmgren and Bill Parcells, and the Eagles measured them by a list of eight criteria that they thought defined them.

In the end, the decision came down to Reid vs. Jim Haslett, with the Eagles taking the coach less traveled. The decision changed the face of the franchise, with the Eagles going to five conference championship games – including four straight – in eight years and their first Super Bowl since the 1980 season.

We were not afraid of somebody who hadn’t been a coordinator,” said Banner. “We were very focused on leadership. So they were going to have to prove to us (that) if they hadn’t been a coordinator they could be a great leader.

“There were eight teams at the time hiring a head coach. Green Bay, by the way, was one of them and didn’t interview Andy. And when we met him it was like: Either our research was really misguided, or we just stumbled on to the next great coach………

Funny how new guys and retreads can get head coaching jobs without having any coordinator experience. While certain others just get one "lets get done with it" interview, nothing at all, or told "they don't have enough experience.: I wonder why?

 

[xwalker]

I liked Andy Reid a lot back then as well, but to be fair, there were some questions surrounding him when he left Philadelphia.

Even Chiefs fans and media were questioning him a few years ago ..

Enough should be enough when it comes to Andy Reid
https://arrowheadaddict.com/2018/01/08/andy-reid-must-go-head-coach-chiefs-now/

Is Reid a genius or does he just have the best QB in the league...

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Is Reid a genius or does he just have the best QB in the league...

he won with bums in the past too, not the big prize but he won

 

[StarOfGlory]

Most head coaches are carried by their QBs. If they don’t have a real good one eventually they’ll get fired. Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs are the only two Hall of Fame coaches I can think of that had great careers without a Hall of Fame QB.

They might not have had a HoF QB but they didn’t have slop either. Bledsoe, Thiesmann, Simms, Testeverde, Brunell, and Rypien all made a Pro Bowl team or multiple teams at one time under their coaching.

 

[fredp22]

Reid is a great coach
wish we picked him up but Jerry was is the middle of his "I can make a coach out of my puppet" Garrett experiment
Reids not attention grabbing or arrogant and would have actually fit in well with us/Jerry.
It was Reid that moved KC up to get Mahomes. Imagine if he was here and did the same-would have been nice

 

[KJJ]

They might not have had a HoF QB but they didn’t have slop either. Bledsoe, Thiesmann, Simms, Testeverde, Brunell, and Rypien all made a Pro Bowl team or multiple teams at one time under their coaching.

Both Parcells and Gibbs got it done with multiple QBs. Parcells lost Phil Simms during the season and ended up winning the Super Bowl with Jeff Hostetler. I forgot if Joe Gibbs benched Jay Schroeder, or if he got injured, but he replaced him with Doug Williams and went on to win the Super Bowl. Gibbs won Super Bowls with three different QBs, none of which will ever sniff the Hall of Fame.

 

[Sydla]

jimmy > any of them, and switzer wasn't a slouch either.

Switzer was a placeholder to just navigate those elite teams a couple of years.

Campo. Gailey. Phillips. Garrett. Then think of all the bad assistants Jerry hired. Monte Kiffin when he was well passed his prime.

Philly is better at hiring coaches than us.

 

[Risen Star]

Kellen Moore is the next great head coach if he can pack on the pounds.

 

[StarOfGlory]

Both Parcells and Gibbs got it done with multiple QBs. Parcells lost Phil Simms during the season and ended up winning the Super Bowl with Jeff Hostetler. I forgot if Joe Gibbs benched Jay Schroeder, or if he got injured, but he replaced him with Doug Williams and went on to win the Super Bowl. Gibbs won Super Bowls with three different QBs, none of which will ever sniff the Hall of Fame.

Schroeder was injured the first game against the Eagles that year, the Buddy Ryan days when they were just ripping up QB’s. He came back to play later that year but Gibbs was pissed off at him (I forget why) and benched him for Williams. Schroeder had a monster year the previous year, I remember that.

 

[Proof]

Switzer was a placeholder to just navigate those elite teams a couple of years.

Campo. Gailey. Phillips. Garrett. Then think of all the bad assistants Jerry hired. Monte Kiffin when he was well passed his prime.

Philly is better at hiring coaches than us.

not arguing the rest of the list, but the top end is better. more superbowls. and i don't think siriani is a good coach at all. reid is though, pederson I think is as well, and their process is definitely interesting and sound.

 

[StarOfGlory]

Kellen Moore is the next great head coach if he can pack on the pounds.

He’s got a lot of catching up to do.

 

[Bobhaze]

Lurie has hired 5 coaches.

Ray Rhodes who was not good.

Reid.

Kelly who went from genius to bum in a few years.

Pederson who won them their first SB.

Sirianni who has them in a SB in his 2nd year.

One thing is for sure, Lurie is way better at hiring coaches than Jerry is.

Lurie knows he wouldn’t be good as the GM. So he hired an outstanding GM in Howie Roseman. Not a single one of Lurie’s kids are making football personnel decisions. Hmmmm…..

 

[StarOfGlory]

not arguing the rest of the list, but the top end is better. more superbowls. and i don't think siriani is a good coach at all. reid is though, pederson I think is as well, and their process is definitely interesting and sound.

I’ll give Sirianni credit for putting his ego aside and giving Steichen play calling duties. Curious to see how MM does next season.

 

[rnr_honeybadger]

The Cowboys will never reach the SB until the GM understands the importance of coaching and team culture.

 

[Toro9]

Lots of McDonald's.

When you're a serious coach you don't have time to go home or to a restaurant.

 

[Risen Star]

Lurie knows he wouldn’t be good as the GM. So he hired an outstanding GM in Howie Roseman. Not a single one of Lurie’s kids are making football personnel decisions. Hmmmm…..

They have yet to discover the distinct advantages of doing it our way. Let's hope they never catch on.

 

[Bobhaze]

They have yet to discover the distinct advantages of doing it our way. Let's hope they never catch on.

So true. I have a cousin who is an eagles fan. He’s been saying for 25 years that he hopes Jerry lives forever. He honestly with a straight face has said to me that Jerry is the best thing to happen to Filly fans in this century.

 

[Risen Star]

For anyone who may have missed it, that's actually what Jerry said in defense of the way the Cowboys operate. There are "distinct advantages" because there is no middle man GM in the way. That (bad) decisions can be made more quickly.

I guess that was the best he could come up with after all these years.