Clark Hunt Discusses Extensions of Head Coach Andy Reid, GM Brett Veach
On January 3, 2013, Kansas City Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt flew to Philadelphia for a meeting with recently fired Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid.
The attempt to fill the Chiefs’ head coach vacancy, which Hunt recalled during a press conference Monday, was scheduled to last three or four hours. It ended after nine hours and stopped Reid from flying to an interview in Phoenix with the Arizona Cardinals.
A day later, Hunt named Reid as the Chiefs’ 13th head coach — the third appointment he made to the position since 2009. The rest is history, with more stories yet to be written.
“The short answer is I smile a whole lot more,” Hunt said of how he's changed as an owner since hiring Reid in 2013. “If you just think about the journey that we've been on over the last eight years, when we hired Andy, we were obviously coming off of several very difficult seasons and the turnaround with Andy was almost immediate, going 9-0 his first season in Kansas City. And to his credit, he’s done nothing but get better, and that’s helped our football team get better.”
Hunt and the Chiefs announced the contract extension of Reid and general manager Brett Veach on Monday, though the deal slated to last until 2025 was originally reported at the end of August.
Veach followed Reid to Kansas City from Philadelphia in 2013. His stay began as a co-director of player personnel under general manager John Dorsey until ultimately replacing him in July 2017.
“When Brett became the GM three and a half years ago, he had some areas that he had to grow into,” Hunt said. “He had to learn the cap management side of the business, and he’s done a fantastic job on that. I think we can all say we’re surprised that he was able to accomplish everything that he was able to accomplish this past summer in terms of signing our veteran players. I also knew that he was a really good evaluator.”
With Reid as head coach, the Chiefs hold an 85-36 regular-season record, with just 15 of the losses arriving after Veach was promoted to general manager. Kansas City has been to the playoffs in six of the last seven seasons.
Together, Reid and Veach replaced and overhauled a defense formerly led by defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, bringing in Steve Spagnuolo along with defensive end Frank Clark and safety Tyrann Mathieu.
That defensive retooling helped lead the Chiefs to win Super Bowl LIV a year after falling to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
“One of the things I think that’s most important to the success that we’ve had is how he and Andy work together,” Hunt said. “And of course, they came with the pre-existing relationship from Philadelphia, so that was something that I knew we were getting, but it’s probably been better than I had thought. That dynamic is really great. A lot of times you can have tension between your GM and head coach, but the two of them really work together hand-and-hand.”
Veach went to work on paving the way to the Chiefs’ third Lombardi Trophy in the offseason, extending the contracts of quarterback Patrick Mahomes through 2031, tight end Travis Kelce through 2025 and defensive tackle Chris Jones through 2023.
Reid has worked towards the same goal, leading the Chiefs to an 8-1 start to the season while guiding his players to avoid complacency.
Hunt said the consistency carried over from last year’s championship gives him the same hope he had when he brought Reid to Kansas City eight seasons ago.
“I’m excited to look to the future because I don’t think there’s been any change in his energy level, and just the way the players respond to him, they’re excited to come to practice every day, excited to play for him and fully on board with our goals to win world championships,” Hunt said.
