Andy Reid on His Coaching Philosophy, Communication, Telling the Truth
"I think we all want to be treated a certain way, and if not, I know how I like to be treated, and that’s 'tell me what I need to do to get better at what I’m trying to accomplish.'"
That was the beginning of a long answer from Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid on Tuesday when he was asked to discuss some of the nuances of his philosophy as a head coach. Reid has long been known as a "player's coach," quick to take blame for any of the team's struggles and slow to express public frustration in any direction other than towards himself.
Reid continued his response.
"So, you don’t necessarily have to yell and scream at me to get me to do something better," Reid said. "I don’t think that’s necessarily the best approach. Then, I think after a little while, I know myself, I just would turn that person off and probably not listen to anything that they said. So I just kind of go about it that way. I just say, ‘Listen, try to treat people the way I’d want to be treated,’ and I think whether it’s through what I’ve learned in church or family, I think we’re here as teachers and that’s what I do. So that’s how I look at myself, as a teacher of, in my case, men. And whether it’s on the field or off the field, if I can give them any experience that I might have had to help them become better players or husbands or whatever it might be, fathers, I try to do that."
From many of Reid's players, that aspect of his coaching philosophy is looked back on even more fondly than the on-the-field ingenuity that has fueled his success across multiple decades.
Later in Tuesday's Super Bowl week press conference, Reid was asked about how he handles difficult conversations and what he does to push his players, specifically with quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
"What I do is communicate, and I think if you tell the person the truth, whether it’s a positive with their personality or play, or a negative with their personality or play, I think you keep that open in an open forum," Reid said. "It’s no different than how you’d raise a child, or a marriage, or any relationship with another human being — I think communication becomes important. Once you stop that, now you get into the whole philosophical things of, 'do I have to scream and holler to get across to this person?' — whatever that next step is. But I think if you just keep it open and real, I think that’s the best way to roll with it. That’s how I feel, and so that’s how I’ve been with Patrick. I know he wants to be great."
Expanding past Mahomes and looking across the league and at the teams he's coached, Reid explained more about how he understands the mindsets of the players around him and how he helps them advance to another level in their game.
"I’m in a business where these guys want to be the best, that’s what they want to do," Reid said. "They don’t want to be embarrassed — they don’t want to embarrass themselves or their families — they don’t want to do that. Then, the thing I’ve found with great players is they want you to give them one more thing so they can even be greater, and that’s the way I approach it. Right or wrong, that’s how I approach it."
You'll be hard-pressed to find a player or a statistic to indicate that Reid's strategy hasn't worked over the years. Reid is the sixth-winningest head coach in NFL history with 221 victories, likely to overtake Curly Lambeau (226) for fifth in the all-time wins list early next season.
Read More: Patrick Mahomes Has Ushered in a Golden Age of Chiefs Football — Enjoy It While It's Here
