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Former Soul coach Munsey now with Eagles

Bret Munsey has been hired as a the Birds' college scout for the Mid-Atlantic region.

Bret Munsey during Arena Bowl XXII in 2008. (Alex Brandon/AP file)
Bret Munsey during Arena Bowl XXII in 2008. (Alex Brandon/AP file)Read more

IF IT is the goal of just about everybody in the Arena Football League to make it to the NFL, former Soul coach Bret Munsey sure took the long way.

Munsey has been hired by the Eagles to be a college scout for the Mid-Atlantic region. For a football lifer like Munsey, this is a golden opportunity.

"I left Philadelphia with a championship, and then to get the call to join an organization like the Eagles is the ultimate dream," Munsey said.

Munsey was the Soul's coach from 2006-08. His first child, son Graydon, was born the same weekend in 2008 when the Soul beat San Jose for the ArenaBowl title. A lockout by owners forced the cancellation of the 2009 season and Munsey moved on to a player personnel position in the United Football League when the Soul resumed playing in 2011.

"Philadelphia is a special place for us," Munsey said, mentioning wife Yvette. "We won a championship there, our first child was born there We have a lot of special, special memories there."

Munsey got a strong recommendation from his former boss, Soul owner Ron Jaworski.

"Knowing how well he worked with Jaws was certainly a plus," Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. "His success as a coach demonstrates his feel for the game and with his background in personnel, he's certainly not starting from scratch."

As Jaworski pointed out, life as a scout is about as rugged as it gets in the NFL: lots of fast-food, long drives and studying miles of film just to hopefully find a good special-teams player.

Bring it on, says Munsey, who was fired last year after just one season as head coach of the AFL franchise in Orlando.

"I guess everything happens for a reason," Munsey said. "I just want to learn from coach [Chip] Kelly, Howie Roseman and everybody else in that organization. For me to be sitting there out of work and then to latch on to the Eagles is a dream come true."