Andy Reid

Andy Reid (born March 19, 1958, Los Angeles, California, U.S.) is one of the most successful coaches in the National Football League (NFL). He transformed the Kansas City Chiefs into an American football powerhouse and guided them to three Super Bowl victories (2020, 2023, 2024). Reid also was on the coaching staff of the Green Bay Packers when the team won the Super Bowl in 1997.

Early life

Reid is the youngest of two sons born to Elizabeth Reid, a radiologist, and Walter Reid, a scenic artist in the entertainment industry. The family lived in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. While growing up, Reid played numerous sports, including baseball and basketball, but he was most interested in football.

By the time he was 13 years old, Reid towered over other kids. One of his teachers in junior high school later estimated that Reid was already 6 feet 2 inches (about 1.9 meters) and weighed 220 pounds (almost 100 kg). His size was an asset on the playing field, and he was considered a natural athlete. In 1971 he competed in the NFL’s Punt, Pass & Kick competition during halftime of a nationally televised Monday Night Football game. (None of the youth jerseys fit him, so Reid ended up borrowing one from Los Angeles Rams running back Les Josephson.)

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While in high school, Reid was a lineman on the football team, and he also pitched for the school’s baseball squad. After not receiving any football scholarship offers, he enrolled in Glendale (California) Community College and then transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. There he played offensive tackle, though he did not see much playing time. Reid, who initially studied journalism, also wrote a column for the Provo Daily Herald. In the early 1980s he earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s degree in professional leadership in physical education and athletics.

In 1982 Reid began working as a graduate assistant to BYU head coach LaVell Edwards. In a relationship that would pay off during his pro career, Reid got to know Mike Holmgren, the team’s quarterbacks coach. In 1983 Reid left BYU for San Francisco State University, where he served as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.

Pro coaching career

Reid held several other college coaching jobs before joining the Green Bay Packers of the NFL in 1992; the team’s head coach was Holmgren. Reid held a number of jobs with Green Bay, including tight ends coach, assistant offensive line coach, and quarterbacks coach. During his two years in the last post, he worked with star QB Brett Favre. In Reid’s seven years with the team, the Packers made the playoffs six times and played in two Super Bowls, winning the championship in 1997.

Philadelphia Eagles

In 1999 the Philadelphia Eagles hired Reid as the head coach, and he took over a team that had gone 3–13 in 1998. At that year’s NFL draft, Reid selected quarterback Donovan McNabb, who would become one of the NFL’s leading dual-threat QBs. During Reid’s first season, in 1999, however, the Eagles continued to struggle, posting a record of 5–11. But the following season Reid transformed Philadelphia into a playoff team as the Eagles went 11–5. Over Reid’s 14-year career in Philadelphia, the Eagles made the playoffs nine times and appeared in Super Bowl XXXIX (2005), which they lost to the New England Patriots, 24–21. Despite several strong subsequent seasons, Philadelphia failed to return to the Super Bowl, and, after the team went 4–12 in 2012, Reid was fired.

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Personal life

Reid has been married to his wife, Tammy Reid, since 1981. The couple met while they were students at BYU. They later had five children, and two of their sons struggled with drug and alcohol addictions. In 2012 Garrett Reid died from an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 29. Ten years later Britt Reid was sentenced to three years in prison for a 2021 drunken-driving accident that seriously injured a young girl.