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Andy Reid Named as Coach of the Eagles

At a noon press conference, Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie introduced Andy Reid as the new head coach of the team. It is believed that Reid agreed to a five-year, $5 million contract. He is making the jump from a position coach to head coach, without ever holding a coordinator job. While people may wonder why he was selected, it was his personality and strong interview that got him into the position.coach.jpg (10597 bytes)

The Eagles top three in the organization (Lurie, Banner and Modrak) were very impressed with him during the interview last week. While many had believed the Reid left after his interview, it was learned that he actually stayed in Philadelphia Friday, went back to Green Bay later that day. On Saturday, Lurie chartered a flight to bring him and his family back to Philadelphia, and set them up at the Rittenhouse Hotel. They received a tour of the city. Meanwhile, Andy Reid had dinner at Lurie’s house, and the next day his agent, Bob LaMonte, came to Philadelphia to discuss the terms of a contract.

Andy Reid, who looks like a mix of Paul Holmgren and Mike Ditka, spent the last seven years on Holmgren’s staff at Green Bay. He was their quarterback coach last season. He will try to continue the track record of assistants for Paul Holmgren as a head coach. Some of the other coaches in the league who were assistants for Holmgren are Ray Rhodes (now the head coach of the Packers, which was announced today), Jon Gruden, and Steve Mariucci. "They’ve done it all, and I haven’t done it," said Reid last week after his first interview with the Eagles. "Do I think I can do it? Sure. I have a lot of confidence in myself."

This is the second time the Eagles were interested in Andy Reid. Last year, after former offensive coordinator Jon Gruden took the head coaching position at Oakland, the Eagles tried to get Reid as their new offensive coordinator. However, the Packers put the supervisory tag on Reid to prevent him from going to any other team except for a head coaching position. Now the Eagles will have him as their head coach.

"I’m tremendously happy to be part of the Philadelphia Eagles," Reid said, "This is the first step in putting the Eagles back on the map." Earlier in the introduction, Laurie stated, " Today the turnaround begins." Reid will have the task of trying to make a big turnaround. For the last two years, the Eagles have been spiraling downward quickly. They went from a 10-6 record and a playoff berth, to 3-13 and the No. 2 pick in the draft in 1998. It will be interesting to see where the Eagles are headed in the next few months, as free agency season starts in a few weeks and the draft in April.

This hiring falls away from the normal trend for the Eagles in selecting a coach. Normally their head coach has been defensive-minded. Now they will have an offensive-minded head coach. That is what they really need to turnaround an offense that was dead last in most offensive categories during the season.

With the new coach in place, now it will be time for the Eagles to put together his staff. It is rumored that the Eagles will keep special teams coach John Harbaugh, defensive line coach Mike Trgovac, and tight ends coach Jim Bollman. Other possible candidates for other positions on the staff are Dom Capers or Fritz Shurmur, current defensive coordinator of the Packers, as defensive coordinator, and Nolan Cromwell, currently on the Packers staff, as secondary coach. It will be interesting who the offensive coordinator will be. Anyway you look at it, next season looks to be interesting.

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