Doug is Done, Nick is Next

After nearly two weeks of interviews, almost a dozen candidates, hundreds of rumors, thousands of tweets, and even more hot takes; the Philadelphia Eagles finally have a new head coach. Nick Sirianni ,the offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts, has been tasked to lead this team into the very uncertain future. With so much uncertainty and drama regarding the quarterback situation, the aging roster, the salary cap and the general direction of this team; its nice to have a little clarity on who will be the captain of the ship.

Sirianni was not on the average NFL fans radar when it came to filling one of the several coaching vacancies this offseason. After nearly a week of many assuming the job would come down to either Josh McDaniels or Duce Staley this hire truly came out of far left field. The QBFS team ourselves discussed multiple names on our show and in our blog and none of us had him anywhere near our radar.

As sports talk radio, fans and pundits try to digest their emotions after their favorite team hires a mystery candidate, one thing is certain. Sirianni is the new head coach so we should take a few moments to learn about him. What this guy is all about and what he can bring to the organization we all love will have a direct impact on the success or failures of this team for years to come.


Early Years

Nick Sirianni is a football lifer. He hails from Jamestown, NY where the Siranni family name carries some serious cache. His father Fran Sirianni was a decorated high school coach at Siriannis' alma mater, Southwestern Central High School. His two brothers are also both coaches at the high school and collegiate level. Sirianni attended The University of Mount Union, as a wide receiver and won three straight Division III national titles between 2000 and 2002; and soon after graduating took a job coaching defensive backs at Mount Union. In 2006 he took a promotion at Indiana University of Pennsylvania as a wide receivers coach.


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During his short stint at IUP he must have caught the eye of Kansas City Chiefs GM Scott Pioli and former head coach Todd Haley. He was hired by the team as an offensive quality control assistant (in layman terms, an assistant to the assistant) and was promoted to the WR coach in 2012. 2012 brought about the firing of Todd Haley and the beginning of the Andy Reid era in Kansas City so, unfortunately Sirianni was let go with the rest of the Haley regime.
He wasted no time bouncing back and found a job with the Chargers where he met his mentor and friend Frank Reich. When Reich was promoted to OC of the team in 2014, Sirianni was made the teams QB coach. In 2015 he coached future hall of fame QB, Phillip Rivers, to career highs in passing yards and completions along with his second best TD:INT ratio. He also served as the teams WR coach and helped to develop Keenan Allen into one of the premier receivers in the league.


A Big Promotion
After the Chargers and Reich parted ways, the organization retained Sirianni until 2017. Frank Reich's masterclass of a season in 2017 earned him the head coaching job in Indianapolis, his first call was to his old buddy to offer him a promotion. Reich made Nick Sirianni the offensive coordinator of The Colts in the 2018 season. The Reich/Sirianni duo immediately turned things around for the team.
In 2017 Indy was 4-12, ranking 30th in points and 31st in yards, in 2018 they jumped up to 10-6 finishing in the top 7 in both yards and points per game.
Outside of the 2019 campaign, where Andrew Luck abruptly retired right before the season, the Colts have been one of the best and most efficient offenses in the league.


What the League is Saying
The new head coach has many fans around the league. Former Chargers running back/swiss army knife, Danny Woodhead went on 94WIP to voice his support of Sirianni.

"The thing about Nick is he’s obviously been under Frank, he’s been under (Whisenhunt), he’s been under a lot of great coaches. The dude works tirelessly and he does an unbelievable job explaining what he wants or what he needs.”
Woodhead also added
"I got along with him great, but is he gonna coach guys hard? Of course he is. His first job in the NFL was Kansas City, the (GM Scott Pioli) years, that was under (head coach) Todd Haley, and they would get after guys. But he’s also been with a lot of other coaches. He’s not gonna be afraid to call people out, but he’s also gonna communicate why he’s calling them out. I think he’ll do a great job with that."

Danny Woodhead isn't the only one heaping praise on the coach.

Per former exec of the Saints, Dolphins and Chargers Randy Mueller
"If you know Nick (Sirianni), you know his attention to detail. Players develop when they know what they're doing. His players always know what they are doing"

Frank Reich himself had this to say
“He is a brilliant offensive mind. He is a tireless worker. He pays attention to detail. He has a dynamic coaching personality. I think he is going to be a great head coach in this league... It is hard for me to have a higher opinion of Nick”


Of course not all of the reactions were as sparkling as the ones above.
Jeff Mclane per one of his infamous anonymous sources tweeted
“Good guy, solid candidate. Fairly smart but not super smart. Concern is he is likely to top out at a B-level coach for team that is in the mix to make the playoffs, but not a real SB chance."

We also can't forget our favorite hot take artist, crackpot, and frequent Philadelphia coach slanderer Mike Lombardi. Lombardi seems to think Sirianni was an unqualified and downright bad hire.
On a Boston sports radio outlet he said
"There's no way Josh McDaniels is in a room and Nick Sirianni's in the same room and they're talking football and you're going to pick Nick over Josh. There's just no way. There's no way. It's not even close. Because I know Josh so well that his level is far exceeding most people."
Lombardi famously lambasted the Eagles in 2016 after hiring Doug Pederson calling him "Possibly the most unqualified head coach I've ever seen."
The good news is, that all but guarantees Sirianni will win a Superbowl here.

The Final Verdict

We truly can not say how Nick Sirianni will do leading the boys in midnight green. With no head coaching experience and only three years of experience as an offensive coordinator he is an enigma of sorts. Taking away the uber high profile hiring of Chip Kelly in 2013, hiring enigmas seems to be Jeff Luries' style and it has brought about excellent results. Andy Reid and Doug Pederson were both seen as unconventional hires, and they both brought this city great success. Regardless of how the fans, players, or media feels; the only true way we will know what he is made of is the tried and true test of time. One thing is certain, if he helps Carson Wentz recapture his MVP form and leads The Birds back to the promised land; they might have to make room for another statue at The Linc.

A special thank you to Michael "Blanco" Parks and Joe Casey of MIP Scouting for their editorial work and contributions to the article

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