With a win in Super Bowl 59, Andy Reid can become just the third NFL head coach with four Super Bowl championships. He’d join Chuck Noll and Don Shula as the lone sideline bosses in that category. A quartet of rings isn’t the only thing Big Red is pursuing. He’s after something even more significant. A previous article accentuates on that.
If not for yet another championship campaign, a three-peat, and four titles in seven seasons with Patrick Mahomes as his quarterback, then what exactly is better? The answer is simple: the title of greatest NFL coach ever.
Reid’s journey from being a graduate assistant at BYU to one of the best ever in his profession has been both tumultuous and rewarding, equally compounded by tragedy and triumph.
Andrew Walter Reid was born two days before the first day of spring in 1958. Alaska and Hawaii were still a year away from being admitted into the Union as the 49th and 50th states. Perhaps it fits that, only nine months into Andy Reid’s life, the NFL Championship Game between the then-Baltimore Colts and New York Giants, still regarded as “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” took place at Yankee Stadium.
Teeming with multiple future Hall of Famers, ranging from Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry to Gino Marchetti and Frank Gifford, that championship contest played the same year Reid was born is incredibly symbolic. Just over 61 years after that game was played, Reid would win his first of three (so far) Super Bowls.
Long before an NFL team employed him, Reid gained familiarity with sports at an early age. As a teenager, he worked as a vendor at Dodger Stadium. He witnessed plenty of Dodger greats hone their craft, from Reggie Smith and Don Sutton to Steve Garvey and Ron Cey.
Youth sports were a prominent feature of the future Hall of Fame coach’s formative years. Reid was once a participant in the Punt, Pass, and Kick competition in 1971 when he was 13. He hilariously dwarfed his competition, as he was already six feet, one inch tall, and a burly 207 pounds.
Reid’s signature mustache, a celebrated part of his brand, existed as a cadet at the California Maritime Academy. He would not stay there, though.
Reid’s path to the NFL took form when he was matriculated at Glendale Community College, where he played offensive tackle. Aspiring to transfer to the illustrious Stanford University, Andy Reid’s plans were drastically altered when he sustained a knee injury.
Recruited by then-head coach LaVell Edwards, Reid and his best friend, Randy Tidwell, enrolled at BYU. Reid was also teammates with Jim McMahon.
Playing time and stardom were two things that eluded Reid in his time as a Cougar. However, his progressive mindset and analytical approach to the game didn’t evade him, which his teammates and coaches noticed. He was teeming with questions and a desire for knowledge and spent ample time with all of the coaches.
As an English major, Andy Reid aspired to become a writer. Edwards had other ideas for his former recruit, though. He suggested to Reid that coaching offered a bright future for him, and Reid bought in.
With a football future firmly in sight, Reid became a graduate assistant after he graduated in 1981. In his one season as a graduate assistant, some of Reid’s colleagues included Mike Holmgren and Norm Chow.
A career was steadily beginning to take form for Andy Reid. In 1983, he was brought aboard San Francisco State’s staff as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. For the next three seasons, Reid called the plays and coached up the big boys in the trenches.
Like many of his peers, Reid ricocheted between jobs. From 1986-1991, he was the offensive line coach for three different college teams – Northern Arizona, UTEP, and Missouri.
The perseverance and work ethic would pay off for Reid in 1992, when, at age 34, he was reunited with former BYU colleague Mike Holmgren. Naming Reid as the tight ends and assistant offensive line coach, Reid was finally in the NFL as a member of the Packers.
By 1997, Reid was promoted to quarterbacks coach – a position he would maintain for two seasons. Working in tandem with Brett Favre, Reid quickly gained a reputation as a quarterback whisperer. Favre won his third consecutive MVP award that same year, and led pro football in passing touchdowns and touchdown rate.
Favre led the NFL in completion percentage and passing yards the following year and eclipsed 30 touchdowns for the fifth consecutive season. Reid had inherited one of the greatest passers in NFL history and extracted even more greatness from him.
Andy Reid was part of a coaching staff that produced a Super Bowl 31 victory, two NFC championships, and three division titles.
The NFL coaching cycle is a vicious process of constant hiring and firing, and 1999 was no exception. Reid was in heavy demand from Brian Billick, who was being hired by the Ravens, to Gunther Cunningham, taking the Chiefs’ job.
Overall, nine head coaching changes were made – one of which included Reid. Just before midnight on January 10th, 1999, Andy Reid was named as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, and was the second-youngest sideline boss at the time. It had been reported that Reid arrived at his interview with a book that was five inches thick. Said book was comprised of how he would operate the team if hired.
The hiring was initially unpopular. Many in the media had questioned Reid’s lack of experience and the fact that he was not an offensive coordinator before. Also working against Reid was that he inherited an Eagles team that had not won a playoff game since 1995 and had accrued a record of 14-33-1 since 1997.
Another ill-perceived maneuver made by the Eagles was the decision to draft Syracuse gunslinger Donovan McNabb with the second overall pick in the 1999 Draft. The choice was met with fierce criticism.
Needless to say, McNabb went on to become the greatest quarterback in franchise history and one of the best passers in the NFL for a decade. In just his second season, he finished second in MVP voting. McNabb eventually became just the fourth quarterback to amass 30,000 passing yards, 200 touchdown passes, 3,000 rushing yards, and 20 rushing touchdowns.
In the 2000s, McNabb and Andy Reid went to five NFC Championship Games, including Super Bowl 39. They won five NFC East titles and made eight playoff appearances. They finished with more regular season wins than all but two teams. Reid’s initial coaching staff in 1999 comprised seven future NFL head coaches.
For all the accomplishments, though, Andy Reid came up short in Philadelphia. What occurred right before his final season with the Eagles was worse than any loss on the field.
Andy Reid was given an ultimatum by team owner Jeffrey Lurie right before Labor Day 2012. Another season without a playoff appearance would cost Reid his job.
Only weeks before that, a parent’s worst nightmare occurred. On Sunday, August 5th, 2012, Reid’s oldest son, Garrett, was found dead in his room at the Eagles’ training camp at Lehigh University. He was just 29 years old.
Two months later, it was determined that Garrett had succumbed to a heroin overdose. Dozens of syringes and needles were found in his room. He had struggled with drug abuse for years and served a prison sentence for a 2007 car crash that injured another driver.
Andy Reid displayed admirable fortitude and resolve in the aftermath of his son’s passing. Sadly, though, his Eagles bottomed out, finishing 4-12 and in the NFC East basement. On December 30th, 2012, Andy Reid was fired.
Everyone knows how Andy Reid’s stint with the Chiefs has gone.
He’s won three Super Bowls – and possibly a fourth on February 9th. He and Patrick Mahomes is this generation’s Brady and Belichick.
For now, though, this is the end of my Andy Reid rant.
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