He is 39 years old and has climbed the NFL coaching ladder from the entry level of quality control to position coach to coordinator, and, now, to head coach. He wowed the Eagles in the interview process with his energy, his intelligence, and his edge, sharing a vision with the team in an extensive meeting in Florida earlier this week.
The Eagles assembled their team together shortly after announcing the end of Doug Pederson's tenure on January 11. In the days that passed since that announcement, the team was reportedly involved in nearly a dozen interviews, casting a wide net to find the best man to lead the team. Sirianni's time in front of Chairman & CEO Jeffrey Lurie, Executive Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman, and President Don Smolenski, among others, came toward the end of the process, and the Eagles were impressed with Sirianni. Extremely impressed.
The Eagles certainly performed their due diligence here. They combed the available field of candidates and proceeded with thoroughness and, while "favorites" and "leaders" were discussed publicly, the Eagles kept their intentions close. Sirianni blew the team away in the interview process.
On Sunday, Nick Sirianni was named the 21st full-time head coach in the history of the Philadelphia Eagles. Sirianni is the fifth head coach hired by Lurie and all five of them share at least one trait: They came to Philadelphia to begin their NFL head coaching careers.
Sirianni most recently served as offensive coordinator for the past three seasons in Indianapolis under Frank Reich, who became the Colts' head coach after helping the Eagles win Super Bowl LII. In that role, the up-and-coming NFL coach played a major part in helping Indianapolis reach the postseason in 2018 and 2020.
Similar to Reich's role in Philadelphia under Doug Pederson, Sirianni played a major role in putting the game plan together and then serving as Reich's right-hand man on gamedays. He also worked with Reich in San Diego where he was a wide receivers coach and Reich was the offensive coordinator. Those who have worked closely with Sirianni describe him as a smart football mind who is a football coach to his core. He comes from a football family and is a natural leader and communicator. Sounds like all of the qualities you would want in a head coach.
A native of Jamestown, New York, Sirianni started in the coaching ranks at his alma mater Mount Union as a defensive backs coach from 2004-05, moved to Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he coached wide receivers from 2006-08, and then joined the Kansas City Chiefs' coaching staff as an offensive quality control coach in 2008. He also coached quarterbacks and wide receivers there before joining the Chargers' coaching staff and followed the same pattern – offensive quality control coach, quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach – before he became Frank Reich's offensive coordinator with the Colts in 2018.
Reich and Sirianni guided the Colts to the postseason in those two of three seasons together, winning on the fly with an offense that used four quarterbacks in that time – Andrew Luck in 2018, Jacoby Brissett and Brian Hoyer in 2019, and Philip Rivers in 2020. Indianapolis adopted to its personnel through the years and, in 2020, finished ninth overall it the NFL in total offense, balancing the attack, overcoming injuries, and putting pressure on defenses in a variety of ways.
Sirianni is known as an up-tempo personality with intelligence, as someone who can connect with his players but at the same time is going to be disciplined and demanding. In Philadelphia, of course, there are many questions to be answered about a team that was 4-11-1 in 2020, finishing in fourth place in the NFC East. Sirianni will provide details of his vision for how to turn the Eagles around after such a disappointing season when he meets the media, most likely sometime next week when he arrives in Philadelphia. But now, the "transition" process that Lurie described in his press conference nearly two weeks ago begins in earnest with Sirianni most likely beginning his preparations by filling out his coaching staff and familiarizing himself with his new organization.
