Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Eagles introduce new coach to city
It took owner Jeffrey Lurie almost 16 minutes Friday to introduce Nick Sirianni as the 25th head coach of the Eagles.
Lurie used a chunk of that time praising Duce Staley, who he considers like a son, just not someone he would hire as his head coach. Staley was given permission to join Dan Campbell’s staff with the Detroit Lions.
Let’s just say the 44-year-old Campbell, who said the Lions would take on the identity of Detroit, had a better first day than Sirianni. And Campbell’s first presser included a rant in which he said his team was “going to kick you in the teeth and when you punch us back, we’re going to smile at you and when you knock us down, we’re going to get up, and on the way up, we’re going to bite a kneecap off.”
Sirianni was skewered on social media and on the streets by Eagles fans for everything from showing up to the presser in a sweat suit instead of a shirt and tie, to looking like he’d been up all night celebrating or preparing his speech, to mispronouncing the name of Eagles president Don Smolenski (called him Slowinski).
Oblivious to the painful drama that played out last season, Sirianni lost a ton of credibility when he praised Roseman and the players that the controversial general manager brought in.
Sirianni used a Villanova basketball anecdote as his rallying cry, which is going to offend Temple, Saint Joseph’s, La Salle and basically every program in the Philly area.
Sirianni recalled ‘Nova’s 2016 NCAA Tournament championship win over North Carolina on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Kris Jenkins, the ball kicked to him by Ryan Arcidiacono.
“One of the players interviewed said we were ready for it because Coach (Jay) Wright has put us in that situation over and over,” Sirianni said. “We were ready for anything that the defense threw against us. And that’s our job right here with the Eagles, to make sure we go through these situations with them and create a smart football team.”
The 39-year-old Sirianni also revealed his fascination with the late Kobe Bryant, who starred at Lower Merion. Fundamentals were big with Bryant, per Sirianni, as they will with the Eagles.
Those were among Sirianni’s teaching points.
Sirianni needed about 10 minutes to thank the owner, Roseman and just about everyone he ever met for doing something to help him get the job. He praised the Eagles organization. He also provided a synopsis of how he would make the players compete, play smart and fundamentally, follow instructions and be accountable.
Twenty-eight minutes of questions later it was over — mercifully for Eagles fans who hammered the new guy on social media.
The substance came at the very end when Sirianni said Roseman has final say on the 53-man roster but that he retains control of the game-day roster. Doug Pederson didn’t have either, and it frustrated him until the day he was fired after a 4-11-1 season.
When Sirianni also said he looks forward to working with Roseman to get the players the Eagles need, both offensively and defensively, you could see eyes roll on the video conference.
The Eagles have allowed Sirianni to hire a much younger staff than Pederson had. The exception is 58-year-old offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.
But Sirianni sidestepped questions about how he would manage the quarterback position, where Carson Wentz expressed unhappiness at being benched by Pederson in favor of Jalen Hurts. Pederson was fired, just three years after winning the Super Bowl, at least partly because of his contentious relationship with Wentz.
Asked point-blank if Wentz would be back in 2021, Sirianni got serious.
“I can’t answer that,” Sirianni said. “Again, I’m evaluating everything. Evaluating everything. And there’s a lot of things that go into evaluating everything.”
Nor would Sirianni say he’d taken the Eagles’ job with the expectation that Wentz would be his quarterback in 2021.
“What we need to do is evaluate the entire roster,” Sirianni said. “We have a lot of things to go through in these next couple weeks of evaluating the entire roster in every position: quarterback, wide receiver, defensive back. That is what we’re going to be diving into here. It’s great. We have two quarterbacks in Carson Wentz and Jalen Hurts that are top-notch. They’re topnotch quarterbacks. A lot of teams don’t have any. Just really excited to work with both of them.”
Eagles fans were left with questions, and only the owner’s (lengthy) assurances that the organization stuck the landing with the hiring.
“Football IQ, off the charts,” Lurie said. “Leadership, it goes hand-in-hand with what I’ve been talking about. Can command a room. He has an edge. I think he’ll be himself and at times it will be with an edge. I think that’s great. I encourage that. Independent thinker. Not tied to a particular scheme that’s in fashion at any moment but wants to maximize the individuals on the team. Bring everybody together for a common good. With all that, the most important, a teacher who wants teachers around him at all times.