David Culley has coached under several branches of the Andy Reid coaching tree.
Now he’s part of the Andy Reid coaching tree.
Culley, the Eagles’ only wide receivers coach during Big Red’s 14 years with the Eagles, will become the new head coach of the Houston Texans, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero:
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Culley has also coached under Sean McDermott with the Bills and John Harbaugh with the Ravens.
Culley replaces Bill O’Brien, fired on Oct. 5 with the Texans sitting at 0-4. At 65, he’ll become he 4th-oldest current NFL head coach, behind Pete Carroll (69), Bill Belichick (68) and Bruce Arians (68) and one of the oldest - if not the oldest - first-time NFL head coaches ever.
His hiring fills the seventh and final head coaching opening this offseason.
Just a few days ago, Culley seemed to be a long-shot candidate for the job.
The Texans interviewed several other candidates with Eagles ties, including Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, who was on Reid’s staff with Culley; Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who played for Reid in 1999 before coaching with him in K.C.; and former Eagles quarterback Josh McCown.
Culley becomes the 11th Reid assistant to become a head coach, following Harbaugh, McDermott, Frazier, Ron Rivera, Pat Shurmur, Steve Spagnuolo and Brad Childress from Reid’s original Eagles staff; Matt Nagy and Doug Pederson, who coached with Reid both with the Eagles and Chiefs; and Todd Bowles, who was here in 2012.
He’ll be the fifth member of that coaching tree who’ll be a head coach in 2021, along with Harbaugh, McDermott, Rivera and Nagy, whose teams all reached the playoffs this past year.
Culley began his coaching career as running backs coach at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tenn., in 1978, and had stints at seven colleges before getting his first NFL job as wide receivers coach on Sam Wyche’s Buccaneers staff in 1994. He spent 1997 and 1998 with Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh before joining Reid’s Eagles staff in 1999.
Culley and running backs coach Ted Williams are the only assistant coaches who held the same title for all 14 years of Reid’s coaching tenure with the Eagles.
It was Culley who was the only assistant coach Terrell Owens would talk to before he was suspended in 2005.
Culley went to the Chiefs with Reid in 2013 but left after the 2016 season to become the Bills’ quarterbacks coach in an attempt to become more marketable as a potential head coach, similar to when Reid moved Harbaugh from special teams to secondary in 2007.
He spent two years with McDermott in Buffalo before joining Harbaugh in Baltimore in 2019 as passing game coordinator, wide receivers coach and assistant head coach.
Culley becomes the third black coach in the NFL, joining the Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and the Dolphins’ Brian Flores.
His hiring means Bieniemy once again has been passed over despite spending the last three years as offensive coordinator of the NFL’s top-ranked Chiefs offense. Bieniemy, who finished his nine-year playing career with the Eagles in 1999, has had at least 12 head coaching interviews over the last three offseason.
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