Lurie's final walk to Reid's office
How the Lurie-Reid conversation went.
Lurie's final walk to Reid's office
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
His office? Your office?
“His office,” Jeffrey Lurie said. “When Andy and I talked, especially about these kinds of things, it was usually in his office. I just thought you showed respect by doing it that way.”
It was coming up on 9 o’clock on Monday morning. That is when the Eagles’ owner took the walk down the hall, the walk that he had been dreading. Out the door, down the hall, into a common area and then over to the football side of the NovaCare Complex. Maybe the walk took 15 seconds. Maybe a little bit more.
Fifteen seconds. Fourteen years.
Lurie had known he was going to fire Andy Reid for weeks. After 14 years, he was gong to dismiss the man who did more than anyone in the building to change the culture of the Philadelphia Eagles. It is not like firing a baseball manager or a hockey coach. When you fire a coach in the National Football League, you end up fundamentally altering just about everything involved on the football side of things. It isn’t like you’re just changing the bunt sign.
You say to Lurie that, given everything, it must have been such a weird and uncomfortable conversation. But he brightened at the memory. The press conference was over, and the post-press conference press conference was over, and he was swigging from a bottle of water and smiling what seemed to be a grateful smile -- grateful for Reid’s final act.
“It was so comfortable,” Lurie said. “Oh my God. We were both prepared for this in our own individual ways. We’re close. We’re friends. We knew, both of us. It was unspoken, but we knew. Part of me dreaded it but part of me just knew it was going to be comfortable. You work with somebody for 14 years and you just know.
“We knew it needed a change. It was time for him to have a change. He needs a change even though he was still fired up about the future here.”
We have not yet heard Reid’s side of the conversation. He talked to his players, and then to the entire front office staff, but he offered no public reaction to his firing. Maybe soon, maybe never -- with Reid, you can never be sure.
After today, all of the news looks forward -- to the search for a new coach, and to the decision on how the new coach and general manager Howie Roseman will work together, and to the ritual dismantling of the roster. Because no matter how much the players and Roseman spent Monday talking about a lack of chemistry and leadership in the locker room, Roseman acknowledged that the Eagles did overrate their talent in 2012. As he said, “You’re 4-12. It’s not just chemistry.”
Still, even though the future is more important now, this final day deserves to be respected. The man did win more games than anyone in franchise history. And while Lurie and Joe Banner were the ones who got the stadium and the practice facility built, it was Reid who turned the team into a winner on the field and who kept it there for more than a decade.
But even though it was time, and everyone knew it, that walk down the hall must have been hell. Pretty much every good thing that has happened to the Eagles under Lurie has happened with Reid as his coach. That is a mouthful, but it is true. You can foresee a hopeful future and still recognize everything Reid did. The walk down the hall had to have been hard.
“I don’t know,” Lurie said. “Maybe we’re just so comfortable with each other that, even under the duress of having to do this, it was OK. We were just honest with each other. We’ve been honest with each other forever.
“I was honest when I said that I was just so disappointed and felt like a change was necessary. He accepted my honesty. I accepted his honesty back.”
It was reported that Lurie actually fired Reid on Friday. Lurie said that was not true, but that there was a philosophical conversation between the two men that day.
“We did speak twice,” Lurie said. “We spoke on Friday but there was no decision made. He spoke about his hopes for the future. He offered me a great analysis of where we’re at, and his optimism about the future.
“Today? It was almost sort of a fait accompli. He knew, and I knew, that it was time. That was all.”
With that, for Jeffrey Lurie, there is a final reality on the last day of the Andy Reid era: that while this was certainly the right move, there are no certainties after today.
PhillySubsMac I could not say it better . We will never get the job done when you have this putz in charge.— d1955h- PhillySubsMac I could not say it better . We will never get the job done when you have this putz in charge.— d1955h
- PhillySubsMac I could not say it better . We will never get the job done when you have this putz in charge.— d1955h
If Lurie had any backbone and foresight, he would have had that conversation 5 or 6 years ago, as most good owners have done.
It was clear even during the glory years that Reid could be easily outcoached. He lost the biggest games. But Lurie knew that his future wealth was predicated on you believing that Reid could do it, and he was going to stick with Reid as long as he could maximize the extraction of your money.- Your post is dead on (although I think more like 3 years ago). The people in this city put too much stock in a SB trip 8 years ago, not realizing that it was Reid's assistants (especially Jim Johnson) who got him into the big games, in which he was usually out coached.
I will add that I'm not sure if Reid ever realized Donnie Mac's limitations when he made his terrible offensive game plans in the playoffs.— Phils_World_Champs - Honestly, what the hell took him so long to fire his buddy? You know, the same guy he set up for failure by saying that a repeat of 8-8 would be unacceptable.
Hence, my nickname for Lurie: Dimbulb.— Atomic Fury - Simply ignorant. I lived through Joe Kuharich, Ed Khayat, Jerry Williams, Mike McCormack, Buddy Ryan, Rich Kotite, Marion Campbell and Ray Rhodes...Andy Reid is the most successful coach in the post-Greasy Neale era of the Eagles. He needed to go but I respect his work here too much to kick him as he is going out the door. Thanks Coach...— JoeyMax
- I tried to work up some genuine sadness for the dismissal of Andy Reid today but found it hard to do. I watched the piece on how he was lucky to get four hours of sleep a night and was back there in the office watching tape at 4:30 a.m. And meanwhile, back at Reid ranch...
It was quite revealing when I saw Comcast put up the actual stats showing how during Andy's golden years here, the Eagles largely fattened up on the downtrodden Giants, Cowboys, and Skins.
Listening to Jeff Lurie continue to pontificate about how the Eagles are such an elite franchise, how his wunderkind Roseman is such a great evaluator, how everything that's green and silver is just so exceptional, it made me wonder how they've managed to win only no Super Bowls during his stewardship. He is such an egotist, although in a sensitive, warm and fuzzy, Renaissance Man kind of a way. Gag!— dasher - Is apparently a really swell guy, but never bought into the AR coaching style. Would rather have a Jimmy Johnson, Bill Cowher, Bill Parcells stlye. No gimmicks, no baloney - just some tough, smart football. Think the Tampa loss was bad. If there was one single year that should have been theirs, that was it.— phillygarcon
- Thanks to Andy Reid for 14 years and making Philadelphia Eagles football relevant again. He WILL WORK again. Think it will be in Arizona. Something of note, Reid and Dirk Koetter are GREAT friends. Not sure DK would want to follow his friend. Jeff Lurie will make the RIGHT choice. Think Chip Kelly's name is a SMOKESCREEN. Remember the names Mike Zimmer (Not on it), and Jay Gruden already on it. There WILL be a WILDCARD candidate coming out of nowhere. I am sure Jeff has a person in mind and WILL make a GREAT hire. Bruce Arians is interesting name. Like his years at Temple following Wayne Hardin. Again, Andy Reid, THANK YOU!— dudega
Eh, I don't know about Lurie's handling as being classy, maybe. If I owned the team, and even with that Mormon thingy and all, I would have walked in with some Johnnie Walker Blue and two ice-filled crystal tumblers. Then I would have poured us each a stiff one, delivered the bad news, told him to keep the bottle, and left for the press conference. There is nothing like facing the media with a good Scotch buzz.— Eagle1Vegas- As Philly sports fans we were living large for a few years. Andy and Charlie had to have SOMETHING to do with it.— noontime
- It was definitely time and after the performance that those players gave on Sunday, required.
I wish Andy Reid would have shown his human side, unfortunately, he will never be fully appreciated here because we (the fans) never knew him. I hope he learns that in the future.
Go Birds— lgm4885 - It's like putting a beloved pet down. Not a pleasant decision, but something that is best for all concerned.
— phillygwm
