Andy Reid faced a monumental task when he was named head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999, taking over a franchise that finished with a 3-13 record the previous season (the worst in the NFL) and a team that won just three of their last 19 games. Reid was tasked with fixing an offense that had averaged just 10.1 points per game the previous season, only scoring 20 points once the entire year. The challenge was monumental and the Eagles went through some growing pains in Reid’s first season, but it was the beginning of a breakout coaching tree that still has branches growing in the NFL heading to this year’s AFC Championship Game — 22 years later.
Reid is still a head coach — of a different franchise in the Kansas City Chiefs — and the seeds of his initial coaching staff on the 1999 Eagles are planted all over the Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills (coached by a Reid protege in Sean McDermott). The 1999 Eagles weren’t juggernauts — finishing last in the NFC East at 5-11 — but Reid’s initial coaching staff is one of the most underrated in NFL history. Seven members of that staff became head coaches in the NFL and a few players on that team became successful coaches and coordinators in the league.
Reid’s footprint is all over the AFC Championship Game and continues to leave tracks around the NFL. Below, we’ll take a look at the 1999 Eagles coaching staff and players on that team and then where they are today.
Honorable mention: Jim Johnson served as the defensive coordinator for the Eagles in 1999, holding the role until his death prior to the start of the 2009 season. Johnson had a top-10 defense in points allowed seven times and a top-five defense five times in 10 seasons with the Eagles.
Andy Reid
- 1999 Eagles position: Head coach
- 2021 position: Kansas City Chiefs head coach
We could write paragraphs upon paragraphs on Reid’s accomplishments, but let’s stick to the basics. Reid has 237 career combined victories (regular and postseason), which is the fifth-highest total in NFL history (Tom Landry is fourth with 270). Reid is tied with Chuck Noll for the fifth-most postseason wins by a head coach (16) in NFL history, one away from tying Joe Gibbs (17) for fourth on the all-time list.
Reid has coached two Super Bowls (winning one) and has made eight conference championship games. He’s one of the best coaches in NFL history with a resume that continues to grow.
Sean McDermott
- 1999 Eagles position: Scouting coordinator
- 2021 position: Buffalo Bills head coach
McDermott got his first coaching job in the NFL under Reid as a scouting coordinator at the age of 25, moving his way up the ranks to defensive coordinator of the Eagles in 2009 and 2010. Reid fired McDermott, who then became a successful defensive coordinator under Ron Rivera (another member of the 1999 Eagles coaching staff) with the Carolina Panthers.
McDermott led the Bills to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since the 1993 season and is 38-26 in four seasons with Buffalo, winning the AFC East title this year (the Bills first division title since 1995).
Eric Bieniemy
- 1999 Eagles position: Running back
- 2021 position: Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator
Bieniemy spent his final season in the NFL playing for Reid in 1999 as the No. 2 running back behind Duce Staley (who also coached under Reid) and as a special teams ace. Bieniemy retired after that season and moved his way up the coaching ranks as a running backs coach with the Minnesota Vikings and as the offensive coordinator for the University of Colorado before landing with Reid’s initial staff with Kansas City in 2013.
Bieniemy became the Chiefs offensive coordinator in 2018 after Matt Nagy took the Chicago Bears head coaching job and has overseen the No. 1 offense in the NFL over the past three years. Somehow, he has yet to land a NFL head coaching job.
Steve Spagnoulo
- 1999 Eagles position: Defensive assistant/quality control coach
- 2021 position: Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator
Spagnoulo earned his first professional head coaching job under Reid (intern for Washington in 1983), moving his way up the ranks as a protege for defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. Spagnoulo was a top assistant for years with the Eagles before becoming the New York Giants defensive coordinator — and the architect of the defense that shut down the unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
Only 11-41 as a head coach, Spagnuolo revamped his career with Reid as the Chiefs defensive coordinator the last two years — winning a Super Bowl in 2019.
Leslie Frazier
- 1999 Eagles position: Defensive backs coach
- 2021 position: Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator
Frazier coached one of the best secondaries under Reid for a number of years in his first NFL job, helping Brian Dawkins, Troy Vincent, and Bobby Taylor become All-Pro players before becoming the Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator in 2003. An assistant head coach for the Minnesota Vikings under Brad Childress (who was on the 1999 Eagles coaching staff), Frazier was promoted to head coach in 2011 (was an interim head coach in 2010) and had a 21-32-1 record in four seasons.
Frazier is one of the top defensive minds in the NFL since joining McDermott’s staff in 2017, as the Bills had a top-three defense in two of his four seasons. Another head coaching opportunity may be coming his way in the next year.
John Harbaugh
- 1999 Eagles position: Special teams coach
- 2021 position: Baltimore Ravens head coach
Harbaugh served as one of the top assistants under Reid as the special teams coordinator for nearly a decade, a holdover from Ray Rhodes’ staff with the Eagles in 1998. Harbaugh was hired by the Ravens in 2008 and has been the head coach of the franchise since.
Harbaugh was the first Reid assistant to win a Super Bowl title and has compiled a 129-79 record in 13 seasons with four AFC North titles and 11 playoff wins.
Ron Rivera
Rivera was hired by Reid as linebackers coach in 1999 after two seasons with the Chicago Bears as a defensive quality control coach. He spent five years coaching Jeremiah Trotter and Carlos Emmons into one of the best linebacker tandems in the NFL before becoming the Bears defensive coordinator, earning a reputation as one of the top defensive minds in the sport.
Rivera was hired by the Panthers in 2011 as head coach, taking the team to Super Bowl 50 in the 2015 season and winning three NFC South titles. In 10 seasons as a head coach, Rivera has four division titles — including the 2020 NFC East title with Washington — compiling an 83-72-1 record.
Doug Pederson
- 1999 Eagles position: Quarterback
- 2021 position: Unemployed
Pederson, recently fired by the Eagles, was the starting quarterback of the 1999 Eagles before handing the job over to rookie Donovan McNabb. Pederson spent 14 seasons in the NFL before Reid brought him on his staff with the Eagles and made him his first offensive coordinator with the Chiefs.
Pederson served as the head coach of the Eagles for five years, leading the franchise to its first Super Bowl championship in the 2017 season and winning two NFC East titles. He went 42-37-1 in Philadelphia.
Brad Childress
- 1999 Eagles position: Quarterbacks coach
- 2021 position: Retired
Childress served his first NFL job under Reid as the Eagles’ quarterbacks coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2001. He was hired by the Minnesota Vikings as head coach in 2006, compiling a 39-35 record in five seasons with two NFC North titles.
Childress returned to Reid’s staff in Kansas City as a spread game analyst and offensive coordinator/assistant head coach. He retired in 2019 after two years as a senior offensive assistant with the Bears.
Pat Shurmur
- 1999 Eagles position: Tight ends coach
- 2021 position: Denver Broncos offensive coordinator
Another first time NFL job under Reid, Shurmur worked his way up the coaching ranks after making Chad Lewis a three-time Pro Bowl tight end. He served as Eagles’ quarterbacks coach for several years before becoming the head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2011 (was also St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator for two years).
Shurmur’s head coaching career isn’t great (19-46 record with Browns and Giants), but he is currently the Broncos offensive coordinator — the fourth offensive coordinator position he’s had in the league.
Juan Castillo
- 1999 Eagles position: Offensive line coach
- 2021 position: Chicago Bears offensive line coach
A holdover from Rhodes’ staff, Castillo with Reid as one of the top offensive line coaches in the league for over a decade. A controversial promotion to defensive coordinator got Castillo fired in 2012, but he latched on with Harbaugh in November of that season and won a Super Bowl.
Castillo has been with former Reid assistants in the NFL since as the Ravens offensive line coach under Harbaugh, Bills offensive line coach under McDermott and Bears offensive line coach under Matt Nagy.
Duce Staley
- 1999 Eagles position: Running back
- 2021 position: Philadelphia Eagles assistant head coach/running backs coach
Staley was a 1,000-yard rusher for the Eagles in 1999, playing for Reid for five seasons before continuing his playing career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Staley was hired by Reid in 2011 as a special teams quality control coach and was promoted to running backs coach by Chip Kelly in 2013 — a position he served for the past eight seasons.
Promoted to assistant head coach in 2018 under Doug Pederson, Staley has been passed over for the Eagles’ head coaching position four times. He’s due for a promotion — in Philadelphia or somewhere else.
