Nick Sirianni - Head Coach

Started by PhillyPhreak54, January 21, 2021, 02:13:03 PM

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QB Eagles

Nothing more vapid than an introductory PC. Of course the media asks him specific questions about the team and of course he has to give vague responses about a roster he hasn't even begun to evaluate.

After a few months he'll probably learn that it's ok to be a fleshpop to some of these reporters and maybe we'll get to see his real personality more.

Diomedes

It was something of an adjustment for me when I passed the age where there were zero players my age or older on the Eagles.

Then that became true of the NFL entire.

Now I'm older than the Eagles head coach. 
There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists." - Yosemite Park Ranger

PhillyPhreak54

I've learned to not give a rip about press conferences.

Just win football games.

General_Failure

Quote from: Diomedes on January 29, 2021, 03:24:47 PM
It was something of an adjustment for me when I passed the age where there were zero players my age or older on the Eagles.

Then that became true of the NFL entire.

Now I'm older than the Eagles head coach. 

There's still Brady and Brees for me.

The man. The myth. The legend.

Rome

If I banged his mom while I was in high school I'm old enough to be Sirianni's sperm donor.

ice grillin you

I wasn't going to watch but was watching around the horn where it got it's own segment and they were all just straight clowning him

I have to say it was really hard to watch...I felt sorry for the poor guy
i can take a phrase thats rarely heard...flip it....now its a daily word

igy gettin it done like warrick

im the board pharmacist....always one step above yous

PhillyPhreak54

I got two texts on the way home from people commenting how zesty the PC seemed.

Meh

Call plays and fix the ginger.

ice grillin you

i can take a phrase thats rarely heard...flip it....now its a daily word

igy gettin it done like warrick

im the board pharmacist....always one step above yous

MDS

he was just stuttering and stammering a lot....i mean not great from a public speaking perspective but

1) still better than doug
2) he was previously a position coach in either SD or division III where maybe once or twice he talks 1 on 1 with a reporter, then as colts oc at most hes doing small breakouts with like the 5 people who cover them. this was his first time ever talking on camera to 100+ people with 1000s watching and he was more or less alone in a room at a podium looking at a screen. its weird! i wouldnt read too much into it

the bigger issue for me is howie running and hiding, jeff ranting for 20 minutes about how he loves duce so much then peacing before anyone can ask him why he settled on this guy, and sirianni being on the job for a week and seemingly having no understanding of any of the players. seemed like a guy who couldnt believe he got an nfl job was like still in shock. maybe because...he was.
Zero hour, Michael. It's the end of the line. I'm the firstborn. I'm sick of playing second fiddle. I'm always third in line for everything. I'm tired of finishing fourth. Being the fifth wheel. There are six things I'm mad about, and I'm taking over.

Diomedes

There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists." - Yosemite Park Ranger

PhillyPhreak54

This is the first time where I really am annoyed with Lurie.

He's been a good owner. But he's getting annoying.

MDS

he got a taste of that asian poon and it went all downhill

how they won the super bowl is beyond comprehension
Zero hour, Michael. It's the end of the line. I'm the firstborn. I'm sick of playing second fiddle. I'm always third in line for everything. I'm tired of finishing fourth. Being the fifth wheel. There are six things I'm mad about, and I'm taking over.

ice grillin you

Nick Sirianni's recruiting days in Philly: How IUP job prepped him for Eagles

Nick Sirianni arrived in Philadelphia this week via private jet, with an SUV waiting on the tarmac to take him to his new office. His trips here 15 years ago were different.

Sirianni coached wide receivers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a top Division II program located between Pittsburgh and Altoona, from 2006 to 2008. His recruiting territory was Philadelphia. Sirianni's trips started in the school parking lot, where he'd take a car from the state fleet — usually a white Ford Taurus with a blue government tag. It was a lucky day when a newer model was available.

About 90 minutes into the nearly five-hour ride to Philadelphia, he needed to navigate through a mountain range that could be unforgiving during the December and January recruiting season. There were trips that started at 3 a.m. There were times he needed to return to the school for a 9 a.m. meeting. There were no private airports. Just rest stops.

Sirianni and fellow assistant coach Jim Smith, who was then the passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach and is now the defensive coordinator, would set up shop at a King of Prussia hotel to review prospects and itineraries. Smith had experience recruiting in the area and warned Sirianni about Philadelphia traffic, which the native of Jamestown, N.Y. (population of about 30,000), wasn't prepared for on his first visit. He was awestruck by Philadelphia's version of rush hour. General manager Howie Roseman has a lot to cover in bringing Sirianni up to speed, but the Schuylkill Expressway won't need to be on the list.

Sirianni might be new to Philadelphia. Philadelphia isn't new to him. He walked through many of the top area high schools — from those in the city limits to stretches of Montgomery County, up to Bucks County and down to Delco.

"It's awesome to know that he's going to be back in those areas, those places where we used to drive through, those school districts and those neighborhoods," Smith said.

The DII recruiting circuit can be challenging. Sirianni needed to convince Philly-area players, including some who might have hoped for a bigger name, that he offered the best opportunity. More than a decade later, he must do it again.

Sirianni agreed to become the Eagles' coach last week, emerging as a surprise choice to replace Doug Pederson after an impressive interview. Soon after he accepted the job, he sent a message to Lou Tepper, who was the head coach at IUP during Sirianni's three years with the Crimson Hawks.

"I can't thank you enough for giving me Philadelphia as my recruiting area 15 years ago," Sirianni wrote, according to Tepper.

Sirianni owes his start at IUP, in part, to medical sales.

Tepper, who had coached five seasons at Illinois in the early 1990s, left Edinboro for IUP in 2006. After he formed a new staff, his offensive coordinator left for a job in medical sales. Smith, who had moved from linebackers coach to wide receivers coach, was promoted to passing game coordinator.

Tepper needed to find someone to coach wide receivers — and do it on an entry-level salary. Sirianni, who played at Mount Union and worked with the defensive backs for the Division III powerhouse for two seasons, was recommended by IUP assistant D.K. McDonald.

"When he interviewed with us, he blew us away," Tepper said. "Even in a Division II environment, there were 20 people who would have taken that job even at the low pay. ... But he was by far and away the best interviewer."

Sirianni was knowledgeable, confident and prepared. He brought written material, which Tepper said wasn't as common at the time. He controlled the interview despite being only 24. He didn't act like he knew everything, but he showed that he would work to learn anything. Tepper predicted this week that Sirianni came across to the Eagles' decision-makers the same way he did that day to the IUP staff — "smart, energetic, a direct guy."

"Hire him before he leaves the building," then-defensive coordinator Paul Tortorella told the other assistants.

"He hit a home run, basically," said Tortorella, who's now the IUP head coach. "He was knowledgeable. He answered all the questions that he was asked. Very humble. Just really had a way about him that said we can use this guy to help us get better."

Although Sirianni had not coached wide receivers, it was thought that his time working with defensive backs at Mount Union had enhanced his understanding of the position he played in college. It was also evident that he grew up in a coaching family.

"You go into New York and mention the name Sirianni, which one of the guys are they going to talk about first?" Tepper said.

McDonald became Sirianni's closest confidant on the staff. McDonald, an Ohio native who is now the safeties coach at Iowa State, had known Sirianni since his Mount Union days. They even lived together — "coaches not making a whole bunch of money, we were trying to find a way to survive," McDonald said. They were in their 20s with ambition and talent. McDonald was later a groomsman in Sirianni's wedding; Sirianni was in McDonald's wedding, too.

"Hopefully his wife got him to clean up a lot more than he did when he lived with me," McDonald said.

Cleaning came secondary to coaching. Sirianni's best player was Norristown native Ken Witter, who totaled 133 catches for 1,550 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2007 and 2008, finishing his career No. 3 in program history in receptions and in the top 10 in receiving yards.

"He maximized Ken Witter's talent," Smith said.

It wasn't just players atop the depth chart. Roy-Al Edwards, a Media native, redshirted as a freshman in 2007 and spent that year on the scout team. Sirianni coached Edwards as if he played Witter's role on the team. Edwards was supposed to give the defense certain looks. But if Edwards ran 9 yards on a 10-yard route, Sirianni noticed. They watched film of the scout-team snaps, dissecting every one. They went to the racquetball court to catch tennis balls with one hand to work on hand-eye coordination.

"I'll be honest: He was the best coach I ever had, and I'm not just saying that," Edwards said.

One of Edwards' teammates was cornerback Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, a DII All-American who was a 2010 fourth-round pick by the Dallas Cowboys.

"The way that you practice made me a better player," Owusu-Ansah once told Edwards.

"That's only because of Coach Sirianni," Edwards responded.

Sirianni's duties, at least in his eyes, didn't end with coaching. There was a running joke among the coaches that he also fancied himself as a trainer. Sirianni, who suffered a bad calf injury in college, would have his receivers perform an ankle stretch he developed that included resistance bands. He was convinced it could reduce high-ankle sprains. The effectiveness of this part of his repertoire remains up for debate more than his ability to develop receivers.

"He had a treatment that was off the wall," Tepper said. "It was kind of his own home-brewed treatment, and he believed in it sincerely. Our trainers kind of looked at him cross-eyed, but they allowed him to use it with his receivers. And sure enough, it was effective. ... He got ripped a little bit about not only being a wide receiver coach but being a trainer as well — an ankle trainer."

"It actually worked," Tortorella said. "But you had to follow it from A to Z. The players were looking at him like he was crazy."

"He swore by it," McDonald said. "I don't know if it was medically proven that it necessarily worked. I think it was more of a placebo effect than anything."

Regardless, it was an example of the way Sirianni thought about his players. Multiple people who were interviewed remarked how much he cares about those around him and the effect that had on the players and coaches. McDonald noted that Sirianni wasn't a "cookie-cutter coach" — the way he connected went beyond coaching.

Edwards tore an ACL, an MCL and a meniscus during his second year on campus. He lived five hours from family and faced a long recovery.

Sirianni waited for Edwards at the hospital. Sirianni brought Edwards to his house and watched over him, making sure Edwards ate and recovered as required.

"I never had a coach care so much," Edwards said.

Before Edwards arrived on campus, Sirianni arranged a meeting for him with Witter at the Bahama Breeze in the King of Prussia Mall to make sure Edwards would have a mentor and familiar face at IUP.

"When Nick left," Smith said, "(the wide receivers) room suffered a big blow because they loved him, man."

Sirianni was never shy about the possibility of leaving. He encouraged his players to dream big — even at a DII school. It might require outsized ambition to think one will go from wide receiver at IUP to the NFL, but it takes a similar ambition to go from coaching wide receivers at IUP to head coach in the NFL.

"He would talk about it because that was a goal of his," Edwards said. "He would say, 'If it's a goal of yours to get to the NFL, I'm going to try to get you there. Because it's a goal of mine.'"

Sirianni developed a relationship with Todd Haley that stemmed from a chance encounter at a western New York YMCA during his college playing days. When Haley became the Kansas City Chiefs' coach in 2009, Sirianni wondered whether he should reach out. Smith told him to send an email. Haley responded the next day. They eventually met at the combine that February to discuss a quality control job. Sirianni prepared for the interview with the other IUP coaches, breaking down offensive protections.

"They're hiring you as the quality control — they're not going to want you to come in there and install their protection!" Smith told him. "They want to meet you, know you can work."

Sirianni earned a job offer. His colleagues weren't surprised. Tortorella had suggested that IUP needed to hire Sirianni before he could leave the building during his first interview, and his conviction only strengthened during Sirianni's three years with the program. Tortorella had worked at IUP for 11 years before Sirianni arrived and had seen coaches advance to the NFL. He made another strong declaration when Sirianni's chance came.

"He's on his journey now," Tortorella said at the time. "He's going to be going to places."

Tepper had a strict policy that coaches on the recruiting trail had to wear a coat and tie during school visits.

"Nick was always dressed to the T, man," Smith said. "He used to have this gray pinstripe suit that he wore."

They were meeting at Strath Haven High in Delco to try to convince a wide receiver who had a competing offer as a preferred walk-on at Penn State. Smith had been recruiting the prospect and wanted Sirianni to get time with him, too. It was an unseasonably warm Thursday afternoon and the last visit on their schedule. Smith turned to Sirianni and said they should ditch the jackets. Sirianni was reluctant to go against the rules.

"It's both of us," Smith said.

"If you're going to do it, I'll do it," Sirianni said, according to Smith.

After all, Tepper was on the other side of the state. How would he find out?

Except the IUP coaches weren't the only ones visiting that day. They bumped into a Penn State assistant, which in itself could flummox any recruiter from a DII school. But the competition was less of an immediate concern than the fact that the Nittany Lions assistant had once worked for Tepper.

He exchanged pleasantries and told them to say hello to Tepper. He added that when he coached at Illinois, the assistants needed to wear a coat and tie on the road.

"He must be getting easy on you guys," the assistant said of Tepper.

Sirianni and Smith looked at each other thinking, "He's not going to tell Tep, right?"

"So we go in and we see this kid and come back out and Nick was so nervous about Coach Tepper finding out about whether we had our coat and tie on," Smith recalled with a laugh.

In the room, though, Sirianni hit the right notes. He outlined the opportunity at IUP. He discussed how the player would be coached. He showed why he and IUP offered the best fit for someone from the Philadelphia area who had other options.

It worked. That player was Edwards.

Fourteen years later, this much remains true: Sirianni could always nail the interview.
i can take a phrase thats rarely heard...flip it....now its a daily word

igy gettin it done like warrick

im the board pharmacist....always one step above yous

Rome

It's no secret that the Philly sports media are a collection of cynical bullying iceholes.  That's why I cringed several times yesterday.  The guy seems like a nice, even-tempered man but he has no clue about what he's wandered into.  I don't see any way Lurie could have prepared him for what's coming and maybe in the end it really won't matter.  If he's successful he will stick around and if he isn't, the jackals will be there to tear him to pieces. 

ice grillin you

all that's true but if that presser is any indication he doesn't seem ready for the Jacksonville media
i can take a phrase thats rarely heard...flip it....now its a daily word

igy gettin it done like warrick

im the board pharmacist....always one step above yous