From ‘Andy Who?’ to Mt. Rushmore of coaches: How Chiefs’ Andy Reid won 300 NFL games

Twenty-six years ago last week, the Philadelphia Eagles hired a largely obscure Green Bay assistant coach named Andy Reid as their head coach to justifiable skepticism.

Reid was just 40 years old and wasn’t interviewed by at least seven other teams with openings at the time — including Green Bay.

He had never so much as been an offensive or defensive coordinator in the NFL or called plays. And he was less than a decade removed from being an offensive line coach at Mizzou — where he recently joked he might still be working if then-Packers coach Mike Holmgren hadn’t made good on an old promise.

No wonder the Philadelphia Daily News front page featured a photo of Reid embellished with the words “ANDY WHO? Can this guy you never heard of save the Eagles?”

At his introductory news conference, Reid felt less a need to speak to the matter of “Andy Who?” than to basically say watch me work.

“Over time, hanging with me a little bit, you’ll know who Andy Reid is,” he said. “The more you’re around, the more you’ll understand. To sit here and give you a Picasso of Andy Reid, I’m not sure I can do that. I might be the worst one to do that.

“But come hang with me for a little while, and you’ll know what I’m about.”

All these years later, through prosperity and tragedy and a rebirth with the Chiefs, Reid has become what might be considered a coaching version of Picasso — one of the most influential and successful forces ever at their craft.

And he put another astounding exclamation point on that Saturday:

He seized his 300th victory when the Chiefs defeated the visiting Houston Texans 23-14 in an AFC Divisional Round game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

In the process, the Chiefs advance to their seventh straight AFC Championship Game as they seek to become the first team — ever — to win three straight Super Bowls.

While Reid with three Super Bowl wins has long since established himself as destined for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, this milestone establishes something further yet:

His own place on the Mt. Rushmore of greatest NFL coaches, at least in terms of the ultimate measure of total wins, with Don Shula (347), Bill Belichick (333) and George Halas (324).

Chiefs linebackers coach Brendan Daly, who previously spent five seasons with the Patriots and is seeking his seventh Super Bowl ring and ninth trip to the game, sees plenty of commonalities in leadership and organization between his old boss, Belichick, and Reid.

But one of those also speaks to their differences.

“I think what might be the biggest takeaway to me is them being genuine to who they are as individuals,” he said. “Not trying to be somebody else or do something different, but being who they are and accentuating the positive traits of their personality.”

Considering the 66-year-old Reid’s Chiefs have won an average of 15-plus games a season (including playoff games) in Patrick Mahomes seven seasons as QB1, he is on a fine trajectory to overtake Halas, Belichick and even Shula in the next few years — if his health is willing and his future teams can approximate a pace that seems unsustainable.

But gauging that likelihood is a matter for another time.

Because this ascension is an amply lofty place for celebration.

Biased as he might be, Chiefs guard Trey Smith last week matter-of-factly called Reid “the greatest coach of all time.”

“It goes without question how unique he is, how he approaches the game, how he approaches his players individually,” Smith said. “He knows what makes us tick. He has a true sense of genuine feel for his players.

“That’s what separates him and makes him the best coach of all time.”

That still-developing case is in substantial part because of Reid’s time in Philadelphia, where he took the Eagles to a Super Bowl and went 130-93-1 with 10 postseason wins. He was fired after his 2012 team went 4-12 in the wake of the death of Reid’s son, Garrett.

But Reid’s profile is most distinguished because of his time in Kansas City, where he enjoys tremendous organizational harmony with CEO Clark Hunt, president Mark Donovan and general manager Brett Veach — who began his NFL career as a personal assistant to Reid.

Here, at what Hunt once called a crossroads where “the stars aligned,” Reid found himself not only revived but also fulfilled as never before through his symbiotic relationship with Mahomes, the superstar he was born to coach — and who animates Reid’s offensive genius in a way that could be likened to that of a composer and performer.

Maybe Mahomes put that all best after the Chiefs, appropriately enough, beat the Eagles 42-30 in 2021 to make Reid the first coach ever to guide two different franchises to 100 or more wins.

Sure, Philly was where he “kind of became Andy Reid, in a sense,” Mahomes said.

But …

“I think when you look back on it, you’ll know him as a Kansas City Chief,” said Mahomes, later adding, “No offense to Philly, but I’m glad they let him go and he’s here coaching us in Kansas City.”

At any of his stops, you could point to any number of reasons for Reid’s immense success. Maybe even 300.

But the twist is that it really goes back to, in fact, who he is.

A fascinating fusion of pragmatic rigor and the creative, befitting the son of one of the first female radiologists and a Hollywood set designer.

A man of many talents, from carpentry to welding to sketch art that shows up on the thousands and thousands of note cards on which he still draws plays.

But maybe most of all, a man who knows how to connect and engage and inspire loyalty and synergy behind the scenes in ways we seldom see in his guarded public persona.

After the Chiefs defeated the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, I found a snapshot of that charisma following Reid around the locker room and hearing one term over and over amid the celebrations and hugs.

Appreciate you, Coach.

And that went far beyond the obvious impacts he’s had on his most visible players, Mahomes and Travis Kelce, who often credits Reid for helping him grow up.

Among several others, here was the flaky Kadarius Toney, who scored a touchdown and had a stunning 65-yard punt return:

“He gave me opportunity. I mean, most coaches, anything (goes) wrong, they hissy-fit, cry, complain or whatever, you know? Him, you mess up anything, he’ll come over and crack a joke with you. You know what I’m saying?

“He’s coming back to you if you mess up anything. He’s just a coach that you want to play for. You want to go out there and do all you can for him.”

In another part of the room was assistant coach Porter Ellett, who alluded to having his right arm amputated in high school.

“He saw me and obviously my weaknesses, and he chose to ignore them and see my strengths,” he said. “And he does that same thing with all the players. He knows the weaknesses, but he works hard to find the strengths. And you see it on every play.

“Every play we design, he’s working to find guy’s strengths.”

And, it seems, in everything else he does.

By knowing his own all along — even when what he was about remained to be seen.

Vahe Gregorian

The Kansas City Star

816-234-4868

Vahe Gregorian has been a sports columnist for The Kansas City Star since 2013 after 25 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He has covered a wide spectrum of sports, including 10 Olympics. Vahe was an English major at the University of Pennsylvania and earned his master’s degree at Mizzou.