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Andy Reid Didn't Want Steve Spagnuolo

B-Dub Written by B-Dub, Friday January 20 2012
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Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid didn't want Steve Spagnuolo as his defensive coordinator.  I'm convinced of that.

There is no other plausible explanation for why Spagnuolo just accepted the job as the defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints instead of the Eagles.  Follow my logic here.

I thought that it was obvious that the Eagles were going to hire a new defensive coordinator.  If they were simply going to stick with current coordinator/monumental mistake, Juan Castillo, Reid would have announced that right after the season.  Instead it's three weeks after the Eagles season ended without a trip to the playoffs and Reid has been uncharacteristically silent.

Everyone from the media to the fans assumed that once Spagnuolo got fired from the Rams, he was going to be hired as the new defensive coordinator in Philly.  It made perfect sense.  

Spagnuolo started his NFL coaching career with a 1999-2006 stint with the Eagles.  His wife is from the Philadelphia area and they still have a house in Philly.  He learned his defensive philosophy from the late great Jim Johnson, who was the only reason Andy Reid has ever won anything while Reid has been the coach in Philly.  And Juan Castillo was the worst hire in the history of sports and simply had to be replaced.

Right?

During Jeffrey Lurie's press conference where he spent 13 minutes telling everyone why Andy Reid was a terrible coach that should be fired, only to say he was sticking with Reid, he said that the coach would have final say on his own coaching staff.

There is also the little-known fact that Reid and Spagnuolo share the same agent, Bob LaMonte.  If ever a team had the inside track to hire a coach it was the Eagles.  At the very lest, Reid and the Eagles should have had the chance to top any offer to Spagnuolo, with the inside information provided by LaMonte.  Yet, Spagnuolo is now coaching in New Orleans and the Eagles and Reid are still silent.

Why?

I think it's perfectly clear that the reason Spagnuolo is not the Eagles defensive coordinator is that Reid didn't want him.  Nothing else makes any sense.

I now think Reid is going bring Castillo back as the defensive coordinator for next season.  If he replaces Castillo, Reid would be admitting that he made a mistake last year when he made an offensive line coach, who had never even coached on the defensive side of the ball, his new defensive coordinator.  Of course, everyone else knew that was a bad idea except Reid, but Andy is one of the most stubborn and arrogant men on the planet.

Heck, even Lurie admitted that he wasn't completely sold on Castillo last year.  He admitted that Castillo wasn't their first choice, even though Reid said he was. Lurie was simply allowing Reid to pick his own staff.

The fact that the players, coaches and even the owner all admitted that Castillo had to "learn on the job", cost the Eagles any chance they had at making the playoffs.  Blowing five fourth quarter leads had never been done in a season before, because nobody had ever hired someone so inexperienced as a defensive coordinator before.  Castillo was completely incapable of making in-game adjustments to stop the bleeding late in games that any experienced coordinator would have been able to do.  But that won't stop Reid from sticking with his guy because anything else would be admitting that he was wrong.  That's not going to happen.

I know people think that Spagnuolo chose the Saints job over the Eagles because he didn't want to coach a defense with that horrible "Wide-9" defensive front favored by defensive line coach Jim Washburn, but I don't buy it.

If Reid really wanted Spagnuolo, and Spagnuolo would only come if they scrapped that "Wide-9", then Washburn would be the defensive line coach in St. Louis right now.  You see, Washburn was the defensive line coach for the Tennessee Titans for years under head coach Jeff Fisher, who just took over as the coach of the Rams.  Washburn would have gladly gone to St. Louis to work for Fisher again and saved Reid the embarrassment of firing him after only one season.   

The Eagles defense is also loaded with more talent than the Saints have.  Sure the Eagles will have to upgrade their talent at safety and linebacker, but their defensive line and cornerbacks are perfect for what Spagnuolo likes to do.  

The Jim Johnson defense is all about getting pressure on the quarterback and having the corners cover their receivers one-on-one.  Asante Samuel is going to be traded, which means Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Nnamdi Asomugha are the corners.  Those two excel in man coverage, which means that Spagnuolo could have used all sorts of exotic blitzes and not had to give a second thought to the coverage on the outside.  That was one of the main reasons Johnson's blitzes worked; the corners were good in coverage, which gave the blitzes time to get to the quarterback.

I saw one writer say that Spagnuolo was better off in New Orleans because the coaching staff is more stable there.  That assumes that Lurie is going to fire Reid if he doesn't win the Super Bowl this year and that the entire staff would be swept out with him.  First of all, what makes anyone think that Lurie would ever fire Reid?  I mean, Lurie spent 13 minutes explaining why Reid should have been fired after that debacle last year, only to say that he was staying the course.  And second of all, the Eagles just love to promote from within.  They do it constantly with their coaching staff and with their front office personnel.  GM Howie Roseman, anyone?  So if Spagnuolo was on the coaching staff, he would be the logical choice to be the new head coach in the unlikely event that Lurie ever fires Reid.  He's even got a Super Bowl ring from the year his defense completely dominated the previous undefeated Patriots and Tom Brady in the Super Bowl.  That matters with the players and the fans.

The only snag in that theory is Marty Mornhinweg.  Hopefully the Oakland Raiders or Indianapolis Colts are dumb enough to give Mornhinweg another shot as a head coach after that debacle in Detroit.  That way Lurie wouldn't be tempted to promote Mornhinweg.

I also heard the rumor that Spagnuolo wouldn't come back to the Eagles because he was mad at Reid for blocking him from leaving the Eagles for a promotion years ago.  That was just the misinformed opinion of one writer.  I mean, Reid let Spagnuolo take the coordinator job with the Giants didn't he?  That proves that story has no validity.

No, the one and only reason that Steve Spagnuolo isn't the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles today is that Andy Reid didn't want him.  It's as simple as that.  

My only hope is that this act of extreme arrogance and stupidity finally costs Reid his job after the team underachieves again next year.  Maybe then Eagles will hire a coach who can actually win a Super Bowl.  I mean, Reid passed on a coach who already had a Super Bowl ring as his defensive coordinator for a guy who proved he couldn't handle the job this past year.  Lurie shouldn't make that same mistake.
 


Tags:  Andy Reid, Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts, Jeffrey Lurie, Jim Washburn, Juan Castillo, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, St Louis Rams, Steve Spagnuolo, Super Bowl, Tennessee Titans



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