CHIEFS
HEAD COACH ANDY REID
INTRODUCTORY
PRESS CONFERENCE
January
7, 2013
CHAIRMAN AND CEO CLARK
HUNT
Opening Statement: “This is a very exciting day for me and my family
and everyone affiliated with the Chiefs organization. A week ago today, when I
began the search for our next head coach, I outlined a specific set of criteria
that I believe best described the ideal candidate for our job. I knew that I
wanted a proved leader who has built a successful program; I knew I was looking
for an effective communicator, teacher and someone with a high football I.Q.
and a strong work ethic. Finally – most importantly – I wanted a man of
integrity, who would hold himself and those around him accountable to get the
job done. What I didn’t know when I laid out those criteria last week was that
I was effectively describing Andy Reid. Naturally, I was pleased to find
someone who matched what I was looking for. I was even more excited once I
spent time with Andy and got to know him as a person. He is warm and engaging,
down to earth and we hit it off right away. It was fun to talk football with
him; he is intelligent, receptive and you can tell that he has been around the
game a long time. He is also humble, honest and appreciative of the opportunity
to be a head coach in the National Football League. Andy is a proven winner who
built an outstanding program in Philadelphia over the last 14 years. During his
tenure with the Eagles, his teams qualified for the playoffs nine times and his
teams went to the NFC Championship game five times. Andy led the Eagles to six
NFC East division titles and the 2004 NFC Championship. He is fifth in career victories
among active coaches and has been named NFL Coach of the Year three times
during his career. As a teacher and communicator, he has demonstrated a unique
ability to motivate his players. His knowledge of the game and humble,
hardworking approach to his craft has made him one of the most respected voices
in the National Football League.
“In addition to his abilities as a coach, Andy is a man of
integrity who cares deeply about his family and the people that he works with.
He is well respected around the league for his character, humility and the
genuine compassion that he demonstrates for his coaches, players, colleagues
and most of all, his family. We are excited today because we are not only
welcoming Andy to the Chiefs family but also his lovely wife Tammy. Spending
time with Tammy over the last few days, it is already apparent that she will be
an outstanding addition to our Chiefs family and an engaged member of the
Kansas City community. We are so glad to have her here in Kansas City, and we
appreciate her sharing Andy with us.
“I am very excited to begin this new chapter in Chiefs
history today by welcoming the new head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, Andy
Reid.”
HEAD COACH ANDY REID
Opening Statement: “I am very excited to be a Kansas City Chief. I had
a small stint in Columbia, Mo., at the University of Missouri as a football
coach and the offensive line coach. My family and myself, we loved every moment
of that opportunity. When Clark called – I have been in this league a long time
– and there are certain families that stand out. The Hunt family is just top;
they are phenomenal, phenomenal people. When Clark is the CEO and Chairman of
the Kansas City Chiefs, when he called, he immediately had my attention. I
completely understand his values and the organizational values which he
possesses. The fan base here is phenomenal; I came from a fan base that was
tremendous. The Kansas City Chiefs fan base – there is nothing like the sea of
red. I had an opportunity to play here and play against the Chiefs, and it is
tough. I can’t wait to invite other teams in to be challenged by the Chiefs
kingdom; it is a great environment. With that, with the great job they have
done taking Arrowhead Stadium and turning it into this monster with all the
great additions that have been added to it and with all of the community
support, as a head coach, you just can’t ask for more.”
How did Clark Hunt sweep you off your feet when you decided
to come to Kansas City? “Clark and members of this organization paid me a visit. What I thought
would be a three hour meeting turned out to be a nine hour meeting and it
probably could have gone on a lot longer than that. There was a certain energy
that started with Clark and radiated with the people that I had a chance to
meet with. As we talked, you got this feeling that this is the right thing to
do. It made the decision easy. I crossed my fingers hoping that I would be
offered the job, and I was.”
How do you get back to the level you were at from 2000-05 as
opposed to the last few years? “The last couple of years weren’t good enough. I look at
the whole picture of those 14 years, and I take responsibility for each one of
them. I understand the energy that I have and that I can bring to the
organization. We will start from the bottom, and we will start working. I’ll
make sure that I bring a good staff, and we will get down to it. My job is to
be the head football coach, and that is what we are going to do. We are going
to coach hard and make sure that we build a foundation.”
What do you think about this roster? “I have looked at the roster and
there are some good football players on this team. I look to add to that, I
think that’s important. We can all get better – me included. The quarterback
position, I will dig in and look at that and we will build it. We will see how
that works out, we need to spend some time on that – I need to find the next
Len Dawson. It might be right here, it might not. I have to dig in, and I need
a little time on that.”
How long do you think it will take you to settle in and
start player evaluations? “We have to go through that process and we will dig in.
When Clark hires a general manager, we’ll get to that part. We will make sure
that the coaches and the General Manager will get in and analyze the team. The
coaches that were here left evaluations of the team and those will obviously be
taken into consideration. It’s a process, and it will take a little bit of time
to get in there and make sure we do it the right way.”
Was there any thought in your mind of taking a year off? “I’m ready to go now. This is what
I do, so I’m ready to go. I never took that into consideration.”
Do you have any regrets about your time in Philadelphia? “I don’t. I can leave Philadelphia
saying that I gave it my all. I can leave Philadelphia with some great years. I
was there a long time as were some of my staff members. We were blessed to be
there and sometimes change is good; change will be tremendous for the
Philadelphia Eagles and on the other hand, it will be terrific for the Kansas
City Chiefs.”
What is the feature
that you look for in a quarterback? “There are a lot of things and they are all different. You
have got to be able to win football games, and that is what it comes down to.
You can evaluate a lot of different things, but ultimately, what it comes down
to is you have to be able to win football games. That’s how you go about your
evaluation.”
What similarities do you see between
your situation in Philadelphia and the one you have here? “With the exception of the expansion of the Cleveland Browns at that
time; we were the lowest team with the worst records in the league. That’s the same thing that we are right
now. That would be the similarity
there. I would tell you that there are
some good football players on this team and it is important to continue to
build on that. Every team goes through a
bit of a transition. Teams get old and then they have to start over and
continue to build from the ground up.
That’s what Scott and Clark have committed to so we will continue to do
that.”
Will you have any input in the decision of the new GM. And what part of your staff do you already
have built or will you consider keeping any of the current guys?“As far as the coaches go, I have gone through and met with all of the
guys and I will make that evaluation as we go.
I had a great visit with them, and they are some great guys. Romeo [Crennel] and I are friends, and I have
a lot of respect for him. He built a good staff. As far as the general manager goes, I'm
leaving that up to Clark. I will sit in
on the interviews with him, but the final decision is his.”
On the staff, will you interview them here, what’s the process? “Here’s what I did this morning; I got in early and started the
interview process. I started with the
oldest down to the youngest, that’s the way it went. They had an opportunity to
have a platform to talk and I had the opportunity to talk to them. There was
positive interaction between all of us.
We are all in the same profession together, and they deserve a chance to
have an opportunity. There will be some
that come with, but I’m still in that process.”
Do you have any sense if you’ll go with the 4-3, 3-4, and after meeting
with Scott did you decide that you didn’t want to work with him, how did that
work? “Scott and I are friends,
but that was taken care of before me and worked out between Scott and
Clark. In regards to the 4-3, 3-4, I’M
evaluating that right now. I understand
the values in both. I’ve been a 4-3 guy, and I’ve played against a 3-4 so I got
it and understand it. There has been an
effort to bring in players that work in the 3-4, so I will look at that first
and go from there.”
Clark, you said that you are restructuring the organization. Could you clarify that and how you envision
your role now and does that mean you’ll be spending more time at the
facilities?“We have restructured the
organization. Historically the head
coach has answered to the general manager and the general manager answered to
the CEO. Beginning with Andy joining the
organization, the coach will report directly to me and the general manager will
report directly to me. It will change my day-to-day interaction, I will have a
lot more interaction with the head coach than I have in the past. Most of my interaction has been with the
general manager from a football standpoint. I spend quite a bit of time here,
and I’m not sure if it will go up or down.
Whether I’m here or not it’s easy to be in contact with Andy on a daily
basis in today’s technology world.”
This past year the fans had a difficult time, are you hoping they come
back and what reassurance can you give them? “Absolutely. My job, and the reason I was hired is to produce a productive
football team, one that can challenge these other great teams in the National
Football League and win games. That’s what I’m going to start to do. I welcome them all back. I’m welcoming the
other teams back. I want them to see the sea of red. I want them to see what I
saw when I came here to play, a very energetic and aggressive crowd. I love
that. My job is to get a good product
for them, and I’m going to work my tail off to put that together.”
Who will make the final decision on player personnel? “That would be the general manager, and really the general manager will
pass that through Clark.”
As you put your staff together is it important that coordinators have
head coaching experience?“No,
that’s not important at all. I want to try and get the best guy in that I
possibly can on offense and defense, that’s the way I would like to approach
it.”
What was said in the conversations between you and Dick Vermeil? “Dick is a very close friend; he has called me once a week since I’ve
been in the National Football League. He
considers the Hunt family at the top of the list. He has said nothing but good things about the
Hunts and the city of Kansas City and the organization.”
How are you going to handle the quarterback situation? “I’m going to study the heck out of the guys that are here and have a
chance to meet those guys. Then I’ll have a chance to evaluate that at that
point. We have some guys to be in a
solid position. It might not happen this year, you never know. The important thing is you do the right
thing. We have been blessed with the No.
1 pick in the draft, and you want to make sure you do the right thing and pick
the right guy, not necessarily a quarterback, it has to be the right thing. You
don’t want to force anything. People that do that get themselves in trouble.”
CHAIRMAN AND CEO CLARK
HUNT
How many interviews were scheduled? “We had more interviews scheduled
after Coach Reid, but we made the decision that we didn’t need to pursue those.
Andy also had some interviews, but on Wednesday, we had a pretty good feeling
on the direction which we were headed. By no means was it a done deal at that
point; Andy mentioned to me that he wanted to bring Tammy to Kansas City for a
chance to see the city. He wanted to see the facilities and we did that on
Friday. By the end of the day it was apparent that it was a perfect match and
we were able to get the deal done.”
What was the interview structure like? “We decided to have a fairly large
interview team in large part because I wanted the candidates to get a good feel
for the organization. In today’s NFL, the business side and the football side
need to work closely together, and that has never been more true than it is
today. I felt it was important for Andy to have a chance to speak with some
people on the business side of the organization as well as the football side.”
Was there a moment that you realized something needed to be
done with the organization? “It was a very hard year on all of us – my family, the
fans, and the organization – both on and off the field. I don’t want to say
that there was any one moment where I realized that I had to do something about
it, but when you are not successful in the National Football League, it is a
certainty that change is coming. I’m glad that 2012 is in the rearview mirror
at this point and that we are off to 2013. In Andy, we already have our first
victory.”
Do you have a
timetable to find a general manager? “We have already started that process and we have a list of
candidates. We don’t have a timeline per say, but I do hope that we can have
this wrapped up as soon as we can. One of the advantages of having Andy on
board as quickly as he is, is that it will help us from the standpoint of
attracting assistant coaches. I think the same thing can be said on the GM
front; the GM that we hire will know where we are from a head coaching
standpoint. The sooner the better, but I cannot give a timeframe.”
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