Chiefs’ Reid says he won’t retire. Here’s his memory of call that started the rumors
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid has no plans to retire this offseason, a message he reiterated many times following Super Bowl LVII and only reinforced during a Zoom interview with reporters Tuesday.
The speculation began when Fox Sports reporter Jay Glazer, during Sunday’s Super Bowl pregame show, said he’d just gotten off the phone with Reid. Glazer reported, in part, that Reid said about his coaching future, “I have a decision I have to make after this game.”
Reid shared on Tuesday his recollection of what he said to Glazer regarding his consideration of retirement.
“I was asked that about 50 times down there, and I think by the time I got to Jay Glazer, I just went, ‘Hey listen. I’ve been asked this about 100 times. I mean, that’s not the direction I’m going,’” Reid said. “But it wasn’t a yes or no answer, I guess. So it came across maybe that way. That’s not what I was thinking.”
During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach also referred to any previous outside discussion of Reid retiring as “total speculation.”
“I’d like to think that other than his wife, Tammy, I don’t think anybody talks to coach or knows coach as well as I do,” Veach told McAfee. “That (retirement) has never come up. So I’d be shocked if he takes time away and comes up with a decision that is something other than coaching football.”
Reid, who just completed his 10th season with the Chiefs, will turn 65 next month. He said Tuesday that the day-to-day process of getting better motivates him to stay in coaching — along with the continued satisfaction he gets from working with players.
“They’re already the best in the whole world at what they do, because they’re in the National Football League,” Reid said. “But giving them an opportunity to even be the best of the best ... that drives me.”
Reid also said having a mindset to improve each day — as opposed to focusing on end goals, like winning a Super Bowl — was one reason the Chiefs had put themselves in a position to compete for championships.
“You get in, you work and give your best effort every day and drive yourself that way. And if the guy next to you is doing that, and the guy next to them is doing that and so on, then you have a strong team,” Reid said. “It’s one thing to talk about it. It’s another thing to get in and do it.
“And so that drives me. I like to test myself that way, and I like to have players around me that do the same thing.“
This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 2:17 PM.
