Philadelphia Eagles

A surprising look at how Reid picked 1999 coaching staff

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We all know how remarkable Andy Reid’s first Eagles coaching staff was.

Seven of those guys went on to become NFL head coaches, and more than two decades later, some of the league’s top head coaches and coordinators – John Harbaugh, Sean McDermott, Ron Rivera, Steve Spagnuolo, Leslie Frazier – are guys who Big Red hired when he became head coach of the Eagles in 1999.

We hear all the time about the Andy Reid Coaching Tree.

What’s easy to forget is where those guys came from.

Not one of those coaches Reid hired was a big name. Not one was a hot coaching candidate. Not one was considered a rising star.

And, incredibly, Reid had only worked with one of them (and he still does).

It was a collection of young college guys and veteran journeymen that nobody had heard of.

Turned out OK. Turned out it was one of the greatest coaching staffs in NFL history.

“You can see by the people I’m hiring that I’m looking for a certain kind of person,” Reid told reporters during the hiring process. “I’m not going to hire anybody who isn’t a teacher. I want high-character people here.”

Six of Reid's assistants had previous NFL coaching experience with a combined W-L record of 262-349-4, a .429 winning percentage. 

They coached a combined 39 seasons in the NFL and had six 10-win seasons.

Jim Johnson's previous NFL teams were 77-113 and won one playoff game in 12 years when he arrived in Philly. David Culley is the only one whose previous NFL teams had a winning record. They were 18-14.

As Nick Sirianni puts together his initial staff this month, it’s interesting to look back 21 years to January of 1999, when the reaction to most of Reid’s coaching hires was … “Who???”

Which was also the reaction when Jeff Lurie hired Reid.

The lesson here is a simple one: You never know.

You can look at bios and study stats and scrutinize rankings and won-loss records. But when it comes to assistant coaches, you really never know.

It's wild to look back at the Eagles’ historic 1999 coaching staff and see where each of those guys came from:

Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson: We think of Johnson as a legend now, but Marvin Lewis, Dom Capers and Chuck Bresnahan were the leading candidates to become Reid’s defensive coordinator in 1999 before Johnson finally got the job. In Johnson's two years as an NFL defensive coordinator, the Colts ranked 18th and 26th in the league in points allowed. And in his eight years as the Cards’ LBs coach, Arizona never ranked higher than 20th in defense. Hardly a hot candidate. Turned out OK.

Offensive coordinator Rod Dowhower: Dowhower had held 15 jobs in the previous 27 years. He had a career record of 9-23-1 as a college head coach and 5-24 as an NFL head coach. He was coming off two seasons as Giants QB coach when Giants quarterbacks had a 69.6 passer rating. In his four years as an NFL coordinator with the Broncos and Falcons, his teams never ranked higher than 22nd in offense.

Special teams coach John Harbaugh: It would have been easy for Reid to just clean house of Ray Rhodes' staff after a 3-13 season, but he kept Harbaugh, who was coming off his first year as an NFL assistant after spending time coaching special teams at five colleges.  

Quarterbacks coach Brad Childress: He had one year of NFL coaching experience as QBs coach on a 5-11 Colts team in 1985. He was Barry Alvarez’s offensive coordinator at Wisconsin when Reid hired him.

Wide receivers coach David Culley: Culley was coming off a decent run with the Steelers, where he coached Yancey Thigpen to a Pro Bowl season. Culley was with Reid a total of 18 years, longer than any other assistant.

Offensive line coach Juan Castillo: Castillo had only coached offensive line for one year under Ray Rhodes, but Reid was impressed enough with what he did to keep him.

Linebackers coach Ron Rivera: Rivera was best-known at this point as a starter on Buddy Ryan’s 1985 Bears defense, but his coaching career up until that point consisted of two years as an entry-level quality control coach with Chicago.

Secondary coach Leslie Frazier: Frazier started up the program at NAIA Trinity and then spent two years as Ron Turner’s secondary coach at Illinois before joining Reid’s staff.

Tight ends coach Pat Shurmur: He had never coached in the NFL and spent eight years at Michigan coaching tight ends, offensive line and special teams and one year at Stanford as an OL coach before joining Reid.

Assistant to the head coach Sean McDermott: He’s now a Coach of the Year Candidate, but in 1999 his only coaching experience was a year as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, William & Mary.

Defensive assistant Steve Spagnuolo: Spags, now Reid’s defensive coordinator, had never coached in the NFL. He had been a position coach at numerous colleges – Lafayette, Maine, Rutgers – and was coming off a season coaching in the World League when Reid found him.

Offensive assistant Tom Melvin: Melvin had also never coached in the NFL before joining the Eagles. Reid hired him after he had spent eight years as offensive coordinator at NCAA Division 3 Occidental. Reid has coached with Melvin at San Francisco State, Northern Arizona, the Eagles and the Chiefs.

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