Andy Reid is synonymous with NFL success, but before building powerhouses in Philadelphia and Kansas City, he nearly took a different career path. Here’s how Reid’s playing career with the BYU Cougars shaped the decades of football that followed.
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When most hear Reid’s name, they think of “Big Red” with the Chiefs, the Philadelphia Eagles head coach with Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick, or one hell of a mustache. What they don’t think of is his time in Provo, Utah.
Raised in Southern California, Reid began his college football career at Glendale Community College. There, he started at tackle and even planned to accept a scholarship from the Stanford Cardinal before suffering a knee injury.
However, it’s not as if BYU was waiting to swoop in. Patti Edwards, Cougars head coach LaVelle Edwards’ wife, later noted, “I probably shouldn’t say this, but Andy was recruited to come to BYU so his best friend would come to BYU.”
That best friend was guard Randy Tidwell. According to Chiefs.com, Tidwell had already scheduled a recruiting visit with the Cougars and convinced Reid to join him. “Edwards … had already been looking at Tidwell, and after the visit, Reid became part of the package of getting both of them to BYU.”
While Reid’s path to BYU was unconventional, his time there proved pivotal — even if injuries kept him off the field more than he would have liked.
“He didn’t get a lot of playing time,” Kyle Whittingham, the current Utah Utes head coach who was a middle linebacker at BYU, recollected. “Seems like he had a few injuries that he had to deal with.”
However, Reid didn’t just sit on the bench. He constantly asked questions, analyzed the offensive scheme, and spent a copious amount of time with the coaches — all before he even decided on coaching as a profession.
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Edwards, who passed away in 2016, said, “We’d be out there practicing and working, and there’d be questions coming up on how to pick up a certain blitz.
“I noticed a lot of times (Reid) was helping the guard, the tackle or the center next to him to make sure they understood what to do if there was some kind of stunt or whatever they did. I remember saying at the time that this guy’s got an unusual feel and knowledge of the game.”
Reid was an English major and aimed to become a writer (he worked for the local newspaper while on campus), but when he graduated, Edwards confronted him, “Have you thought about being a coach? You’d be a good one.”
That’s seemingly all it took for Reid to take the head coach up on an offer to become a graduate assistant the following season. In 1981, Reid worked under several innovative offensive minds, including offensive coordinator Doug Scovil, RBs/WRs coach Norm Chow, and QBs coach Mike Holmgren.
After that formative season, Reid spent the next nine years as an offensive line coach with four colleges (San Francisco State, 1983-85; Northern Arizona, 1986; UTEP, 1987-88; and Missouri, 1989-91).
Then, his first shot at the NFL came from a familiar face.
“This is corny, but [Mike Holmgren] said, ‘I promise you I’m gonna hire you someday,'” Reid explained in 2023. “So he did good on his promise. Well, it’s a good opportunity. I mean, I’ve worked for Mike Holmgren for seven years. And I had a hard time believing anybody did it better. And I still feel that way.
“He’s a great head football coach, a great offensive mind. So, I was very fortunate to get into that situation. I knew him from BYU, where he’s coaching the quarterbacks. Professionally, it was easy. Personally, it was tough because of the relationships I had with the Missouri staff.”
Reid joined Holmgren’s Green Bay Packers staff in 1992, the same year they acquired future Hall of Fame QB Brett Favre. After spending the first four years as the assistant OL and TEs coach, which culminated in a 1996 Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots, Reid transitioned to the QBs coach.
Marty Mornhinweg had left the position to become the offensive coordinator for his predecessor in Green Bay, Steve Mariucci, with the San Francisco 49ers. Mariucci initially tried to poach Reid for the position, but Holmgren refused, recognizing his value and potential.
“I said no,” Holmgren said. “I blocked it and said, ‘Look, I need you. I can’t let you go.’”
Reid was rightfully irritated, but Holmgren promised him a future head coaching role. First, he had to work with Favre, something the QB wasn’t all that excited about.
“I started thinking, ‘What is Andy going to teach me about how to be a better quarterback?” Favre recalled in 2016. “This guy played offensive line at BYU.”
However, after only two seasons with Reid in the QB room, Favre changed his tune.
“I could not have had a better coach than Andy. That guy was tremendous. We didn’t really meet that long, not as long as the tight ends, but it was productive. I really enjoyed and learned a lot from Andy.”
Holmgren once again made good on his promise to Reid and helped him land the Philadelphia Eagles head coaching job in 1999. However, he was almost one-and-done there, and not because of a lack of success.
In former BYU athletic director Val Hale’s book titled “Out of the Blue,” Hale detailed how the program nearly poached Reid from Philly to become its head coach.
“Andy loves BYU, and we knew he would have some interest in the position. The question was whether he would be willing to take a huge pay cut to come to BYU and if he would walk away from an NFL head coaching position to become head coach of his alma mater.”
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With Edwards ready to retire, Hale and BYU vice president K. Fred Skousen felt it would be administrative malpractice not to approach Reid about the position.
“Andy agreed to interview with us. Again, finding a way to interview an NFL head coach during the season is tricky,” Hale wrote. “Andy suggested Fred Skousen and I fly to Phoenix, where the Eagles were playing the Cardinals. We could secretly interview him and (wife) Tammy in their hotel suite.
“Our interview with Andy was exceptional. He said he was interested in coaching at BYU, that it was something he had always wanted to do. Salary wasn’t a significant issue. We talked about the BYU job and his current situation in Philadelphia for about an hour. When we left, it was clear Andy was a strong candidate.”
Yet, as Hale arranged for a private jet to officially interview Reid for the job and close the deal, the head coach “put on the brakes,” telling the school’s leadership his loyalty to his staff and players in Philadelphia came first, particularly after he led the franchise to an 11-5 record and a spot atop the NFC East Division after the Eagles went 5-11 the year prior.
“Then there was the trust the Eagles organization had placed in hiring him, and now that the team was enjoying success, he felt it would be disloyal to leave and force them to start over. Essentially, it boiled down to timing,” Hale said.
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Reid’s loyalty kept him in the NFL, and the decision paid off. He built a powerhouse in Philadelphia, then an unstoppable dynasty in Kansas City.
From his days at BYU to hoisting Lombardi Trophies, Reid’s journey is filled with what-ifs. But in the end, it led him exactly where he was meant to be — one of the greatest coaches in football history.
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