Andy Reid
Andy Reid (born Andrew Walter Reid) is the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League, a post he has held since 2013. He had been head coach previously of the Philadelphia Eagles and had also been the team's executive vice president of football operations.
Reid was born on March 19, 1958, in Los Angeles, California. A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes casually called the "Mormon Church"), Reid graduated from Brigham Young University in 1981, having played offensive guard and tackle under coach LaVell Edwards. After graduation, Reid stayed on as a graduate assistant to BYU's coaching staff. He spent the next nine years as an offensive line coach with four different colleges. He then became an assistant coach with the Green Bay Packers and was named the Packers' quarterbacks coach in 1997. Reid had not had much experience when he was hired as head coach for the Eagles in 1999, and the hiring caused a stir. He had made a huge impression in the league with his coaching talents while he worked at Green Bay, but he had never been an offensive or defensive coordinator.
When Reid hired on with the Eagles, he inherited a failing team with 3 wins to 13 losses the previous season. During Reid's first year as coach, the team cut their losses to 11 and won their first away game. In 2000 the Eagles reached the playoffs after posting an 11-5 regular-season record. Reid's Eagles won the National Football Conference's Eastern Division four consecutive times, the longest such streak in franchise history. The Eagles made it to Super Bowl XXXIX but fell to the New England Patriots 24-21 in the final minutes. (See Wikipedia:Andy Reid.)
Injuries and flamboyant star players made 2005 a rough season for the Eagles, but they rebounded in 2006. After a roller coaster ride through 2006, the Eagles, at 10-6, won the NFC East division title, as well as an NFC Wild Card game against the New York Giants. The Eagles made it to a 5th NFC Championship game in 2008.
Reid was named the Earle "Greasy" Neale Award winner for the third time in 2010.
- During his 13 year tenure, Reid has compiled the best win total (120), winning percentage (.609) and playoff victory total (10) in team history. He has captured six division titles and five trips to the NFC Championship game. Since he was hired in 1999, no other franchise has earned more divisional playoff round appearances (7) and only Bill Belichick's New England Patriots have exceeded Philadelphia's conference championship game appearances with (6). Since 1999, Reid has also sent 19 players to 44 Pro Bowl appearances, the highest total for any team in the NFL during that period. None of these players had ever appeared in a Pro Bowl before Reid was hired (Wikipedia).
With the Eagles, Reid was one of three coaches in the league with the powers of a general manager as well as head coach. Among coaches with 100 games under their belt, Reid’s .609 winning percentage is 11th in NFL history and second among active coaches behind Bill Belichick (.724). He is currently the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL.
Reid met his wife Tammy in a physical education class at BYU. They had five children: sons Garrett, Britt, and Spencer, and daughters Crosby and Drew Ann. In January 2007, Reid's two oldest sons, Garrett and Britt, were involved in two separate, serious automobile incidents on the same day, and subsequently had a number of charges filed against them, including assault and drug possession. His oldest son, Garrett, was found dead August 5, 2012, in his room at training camp at Lehigh University. Nearly 1,000 family members, Philadelphia Eagles personnel and prominent NFL executives crowded into a church meetinghouse in Broomall, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia) to attend Garrett's funeral. 2
- "There were a lot of tears, but also a lot of joy recalling the best part of Garrett's life and an acknowledgement of the challenges that he had over the years," said Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie.[2]
Reid's sons have since followed in his football footsteps. Son Britt is linebacker coach with the Chiefs and son Spencer is a strength and conditioning coach at Colorado State.
Reid Parts Way with the Eagles
At the end of 2012, Reid was fired by the Eagles and immediately hired by the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City was excited to get the likes of Reid, as demonstrated in an article featured on Pitch online, January 9, 2013, called "Print your Andy Reid Commemorative Mustache ." [1] Journalist Ben Palosaari said the following:
- The Eagles had fired Reid after a crappy 4-12 season, which followed 2011's 8-8 campaign. Such blemishes were rare in Reid's 14-year Philly tenure; Reid ended with just three losing seasons, compiling a 130-93-1 overall record.
- The (Chiefs) franchise's future looks bright with Reid in charge and the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Celebrate by printing off this commemorative Andy Reid walrus mustache and a collection of facts about our new football overlord after the jump.
The article went on to laud Reid's comfort in middle America and his Missouri roots (Reid coached the Missouri Tigers' offensive line from 1989 to 1991.) Reid has a knack at spawning head coaches — Three of Reid's former assistants are current head coaches - Minnesota's Leslie Frazier, Carolina's Ron Rivera and Baltimore's John Harbaugh. And more...
- He is a Mormon: Reid played college football at Brigham Young University in the late 1970s. He donated to fellow Mormon Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. He should have plenty of places to worship in the metro.
- Reid's mustache is awesome. The article has a mustache to print, cut out and wear — a must for loyal fans with high hopes for the Chiefs' future success on the field.
Reid won his first game as head coach of the Chiefs on September 8, 2013. It was the widest margin of victory on opening day since the Chiefs defeated the Denver Broncos in 1963 by a score of 69–7. Later that month, the Chiefs played his old team, the Philadelphia Eagles. As he walked out onto the Lincoln Financial Field before the game started, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. The Chiefs won the game 26–16. As of December 21, 2013, the Chiefs were 11–3 for the 2013 season.
Super Bowl LIV
On February 2, 2020, Reid ended his 20-year title drought by ending the Chiefs' 50-year title drought by coming from behind to beat the 49ers 31-20 in Super Bowl LIV. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes (and Super Bowl LIV MVP) said:
- "He's one of the best coaches of all time; he already was before we won this game. But we wanted to get that trophy just because he deserved it."[2]
ESPN sports writer Ian O'Connor wrote:
- When he was done at the microphone, Andy loaded himself into a golf cart with Tammy, the woman he still calls his girlfriend, and headed for the locker room.
- He will surely spend the coming days handing out credit to everyone who has helped him in his eight college and pro jobs, and way back to his time as a student-athlete and aspiring sportswriter at Brigham Young. Back then, Reid wrote columns for The Provo Daily Herald. All these years later, that young journalist inside the old coach knows exactly how this story needs to be written.[3]
