When Andy Reid became the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs back in 2013, he couldn’t have known that he would face a member of the team’s incumbent coaching staff in a Super Bowl a decade later.
Reid technically fired Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach Nick Sirianni, who was with the Chiefs for four years between 2009 and 2012 in various roles on the offensive coaching staff. Instead of retaining Sirianni, who was under contract, Reid opted for his assistant head coach David Culley to coach his wide receivers. A role that would ultimately play a part in Culley’s short-lived stint as the head coach of the Houston Texans years later.
Reid’s coaching tree has already reached legendary status, and Sirianni told reporters at a media availability session on Tuesday about the role that the long-tenured Kansas City coach has played in his career.
Crazy to think Andy Reid let Nick Sirianni go 10 years ago in Kansas City and now they go head to head in #SuperBowlLVII
Eagles coach #NickSirianni on what he learned from #AndyReid during their meeting #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/PvVPIo1dEH
— Jeff Skversky (@JeffSkversky) February 8, 2023
“He was very good to me in the sense that he brought me in to talk to me,” Sirianni explained. “He didn’t have to do that. He didn’t have to bring me in to talk to me to let me go, right? But he did because it seems like that’s the type of person he is, that’s the kind of coach he is, and I was grateful for that.”
In describing the way that he was lifted up by Reid during a less-than-ideal time in his career, he didn’t hold back in letting the media know how much Reid’s encouragement meant to him.
“I was down in that moment,” Sirianni said, “and he gave me strength when I was down, he tried to pick me up when I was down, and I think that says a lot about his character and who he is, so I was appreciative of that.”
While there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood heading into this matchup, Chiefs fans can rest assured that Sirianni will be angling to secure his first Super Bowl win against Reid on Sunday.
