Brad childress offensive coordinator pittsburgh
Brad Childress is well-known, but who is Matt Nagy?
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- One of the coaches the Kansas City Chiefs plan to use to fill their vacant offensive coordinator’s job is well-known, the other not so much.
Brad Childress was an NFL head coach for 4½ seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and before that was Andy Reid’s offensive coordinator for four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.
But Matt Nagy? The year-old Nagy has been the Chiefs’ quarterback coach since he came to Kansas City along with Reid in Otherwise, there isn’t much in his coaching history. Nagy was an entry-level offensive assistant coach for Reid and the Eagles for three years before coming to Kansas City. Other than that, all of Nagy’s coaching experience has been at three high schools in Pennsylvania.
Clearly, though, Reid thinks a lot of Nagy. Reid gave Nagy his first NFL coaching job, then after the move to Kansas City trusted him with a most important project, working daily with Alex Smith.
Nagy also has helped develop young Chiefs quarterbacks Aaron Murray and Tyler Bray. It’s possible one of the two will be the backup next season since Chase Daniel’s contract is soon to expire.
Now the Chiefs plan to give Nagy bigger responsibilities.
The Chiefs are replacing Doug Pederson, a former NFL quarterback who left the coordinator’s job to become head coach with the Eagles.
Like Pederson, Nagy is a former pro quarterback. That often commands respect in and of itself in the locker room and not just with the quarterbacks.
Nagy never played in the NFL, but he put up big numbers in his six seasons as an Arena League quarterback.
Childress, 59, served as the Eagles’ quarterback coach for Reid from through He was also the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns in before joining the Chiefs the next year as an offensive assistant with the title of spread game analyst and special projects.
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Childress had been with Reid for seven seasons in Philadelphia (), while Nagy had been with Reid as a coaching assistant in before being promoted to quality control coach () for their final two years together in Philly.
But Childress and Reid go back further than their time together in Philadelphia, as they were on the staff back at Northern Arizona in —Childress was the offensive coordinator and Reid was the offensive line coach.
"We've seen each other through highs and lows," Childress explained of his relationship with Reid. "The lows of getting fired, the highs of getting jobs. Our families were close. Then he moved away and his family grew. I ended up with four children before I left NAU. He had five by time he got to Missouri (just three years later)."
Reid spent just one season at Northern Arizona before he was called by Dirk Koetter (the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), who at the time was at the University of Texas El-Paso but had spent a year with Reid back in at San Francisco State.
"That's kind of a neat part; the families—Tammy [Reid] and Drew [Childress] were able to stay close," Childress explained of how they stayed in touch throughout the years. "The kids are similar in age. He has a daughter Drew; my wife's name is Drew. I mean, lots of similarities."
Both Reid and Childress also have sons involved with the team as Britt Reid is the assistant defensive line coach while Kyle Childress is Reid's assistant.
As Childress and Reid's paths wouldn't come together after NAU until Reid hired him when he took the head coaching job with the Eagles in , that doesn't mean they weren't close.
When Reid joined the Green Bay Packers in after a three-year stint at Missouri (), Childress was right down the road at the University of Wisconsin, where he worked as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator from
Every Memorial Day, they would get the families together, eat some b
Brad Childress marvels at Kevin Stefanski overcoming challenges on way to NFL Coach of Year
Brad Childress exchanged text messages with protege Kevin Stefanski the night of Aug. 17 because it had been a rough day for the new head coach of the Browns.
Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb suffered a concussion when linebacker Mack Wilson delivered a high hit in the first padded practice of training camp.
Childress knew Stefanski could use a sounding board because establishing how meetings, walk-through sessions and practices should be conducted is crucial, and Wilson's blow to Chubb created an unnecessary setback. Stefanski demoted Wilson to the second-team defense for the next practice.
“You don't want it to happen, but it's got to be a teachable moment,” Childress said last week during a phone interview with the Beacon Journal. “If you go back, there's probably many teachable moments when he was able to get their attention and get them to buy in.
“All those kinds of buy-ins had to happen. It's about [Stefanski] walking the walk, being consistent about what he wants, and also getting offensive and defensive coaches to coach it the way you want it coached. [You can't have assistants] high-fiving Wilson, saying, 'Hey, that was a great hit. Keep playing that way.' You've got to get the whole troop [to follow].”
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Childress watched the Browns closely as Stefanski navigated countless obstacles — related and unrelated to the pandemic — in the season. Stefanski guided them to a record of , including in the playoffs, their best season since They qualified for the postseason for the first time since and captured their first playoff victory since Jan. 1, , with a triumph on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Stefanski's 12 wins were the most by a first-year Browns coach since Paul Brown in the club's inaugural season of
The achievements culminated Saturday in Stefanski being named the Associated Press NFL C KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When Andy Reid got his initial head coaching job with the Philadelphia Eagles in , he hired an assistant off the staff at the University of Wisconsin by the name of Brad Childress to be his quarterbacks coach. Philadelphia’s starting quarterback that season was a journeyman, Doug Pederson, who had played for Reid when he was an assistant with the Green Bay Packers. A few years later, Childress became the Eagles’ offensive coordinator and other than 4&#; seasons as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings and one as the coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, he’s been with Reid ever since. “I’ve seen this thing from its infancy from back when I was coaching Doug as a quarterback,’’ Childress said. Childress will again help Reid run an offense. An assistant for the Kansas City Chiefs for the past three seasons, Childress is now co-offensive coordinator along with quarterbacks coach Matt Nagy. They will replace Pederson, who moved on to the Philadelphia, where he will be the Eagles’ head coach. “Matt’s got a great mind and obviously Andy has a fertile mind and I’ll be able to add to that,’’ Childress said. On game day, Reid will be the primary playcaller, Childress will provide a set of eyes from up high in the press box and Nagy will be on the sideline and the voice in Alex Smith's ear on the coach-to-quarterback headset. Other than that, specific duties are yet to be handed out. Childress doesn’t see himself bumping into Reid or Nagy on game day or during the week when the game plan is being hammered out and dispersed to the players. “I really don’t think that’s a big issue,’’ Childress said. “It’s not like everybody’s sneaking to the microphone at once when the play comes up. All that stuff kind of gets worked out beforehand. Sit
An Andy Reid staff stalwart since the beginning, Brad Childress eager for next role