From Deseret News archives:
Reid soars: Eagles coach studied at foot of LaVell Edwards
He was a good student at BYU. He majored in English and wrote articles for the local paper. He liked to fish and goof off with his pal Randy Tidwell. He liked to make furniture, like his father. He played guard on the school's football team. He didn't really consider a career in coaching until LaVell Edwards, the legendary BYU football coach, asked him one day, "Have you thought about being a coach? You'd be a good one."
Two decades later, we know Edwards was right. Reid will coach the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday's Super Bowl.
All those years of studying at the knees of the masters, keeping detailed notes in three-ring notebooks, paid off. The year before Reid took over the head coaching job, the Eagles were 3-13. Since then, they have gone 5-11, 11-5, 11-5, 12-4 and 13-3, played in four consecutive conference championship games, and, as of this weekend, one Super Bowl.
Everyone laughs about this now, but Reid wasn't a popular choice for the job. There were bigger names who were available to fill the position. One fan playfully booed Reid in a restaurant one day "Get used to it, Coach," he said. Reid had coached only seven years in the NFL, all as an assistant under Mike Holmgren in Green Bay. No one took this 300-pound man seriously. But insiders knew better. A year earlier, tight end Chad Lewis, a former BYU tight end who had known Reid for years, met with Reid and said, "You're going to be a head coach pretty soon." Reid didn't deny it.
"He was way down on the list of candidates," says Edwards, one of Reid's mentors who receives calls from Reid almost weekly. "But when he went there for the interview, he had put together a written plan, step by step, on what needed to be done to get to the Super Bowl. You've got to give it to the owner for making a gutsy call."
The Eagles were smitten after their first interview with Reid.
"We all looked at each other and said, 'Wow,' " recalls owner Jeffrey Lurie. "This guy really comes right out at you. . . . I remember how the 49ers picked Bill Walsh and the Redskins picked Joe Gibbs out of the box."
Football men
Comments
- Serb Patriarch Pavle dies 10:25 a.m.
- Palin's way of talkin' dissected 10:24 a.m.
- Sponsor for gay-rights bills found 9:53 a.m.
- Aggies beat Spartans in snowy Logan 4:31 a.m.
- TCU 55, Utah 28 4:24 a.m.
- BYU 24, New Mexico 19 4:21 a.m.
- Jazz game at a glance 3:00 a.m.
- Real Salt Lake: Game at a glance 3:00 a.m.
- Stanford ends Y's soccer season 2:20 a.m.
- Jazz hope D-Will returns soon 2:19 a.m.
- SLC council OKs gay rights policies
359 - BYU happy to escape with victory
205 - Editorial: Mormons and gay rights
200 - TCU creams U.
159 - Will state consider gay rights law?
148 - Can BYU root for (ick) Utah Utes?
130 - Letters: Strange breed in Utah
129 - Utes remain silent about BCS
120 - Celtics crush Jazz
104 - Sloan may toy with starting lineup
87
Another good effort,a break here and there...different outcome,hey 2-2 on the...
TCU is for real...been saying it since our escape act last year. After...
BYU was favored to win by 27 POINTS! Bronco had to say what he did after the...
I have heard the James Bond excuse many times now. It is great theater and...
And so BYUs bowl game becomes Utah
...for Ugly playing.
TCU owns the mountain west, and I would have to say anyone else that stands...
Look at the state of the country right now. There is no incumbent that has...
If the state needs to raise money so badly then increase the sales tax by a...
Just to echo what all the other folks have said about this tragic incident....


You can be the first to comment on this story.