Photos courtesy Philadelphia Eagles

In the world of Nick Sirianni, there is family, and there is football. There really is not much time for anything else. He rarely plays golf and answers questions about it by saying, “Do you want a good head coach or a good golfer?” He isn’t going to sit around and talk with his buddies about pop culture, and while he will occasionally check out some of the other professional sports teams in town, Sirianni is much happier sitting in the stands watching his kids play games for the love of it.

He’s just wired that way. Sirianni embraces the grind. He lives for it.

You double down on what you know to be true, and that’s what I do.

When you are the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, you dig in and you don’t let up. That’s the nature of the job, and it is something Sirianni has done very well, better, in fact than just about every head coach in every city in the NFL. 

Genuine in every way – and we see that with his sideline intensity, his press conferences sprinkled with stories from his life that he uses as teachable moments for his team and the way his players embrace him in the locker room after games – Sirianni is a head coaching success story, one that 12 months ago teetered on the edge, but trended rapidly in an upward direction, where it remains, no matter the 2024 final record.

In his four seasons with the Eagles, Sirianni has won more than 70% of his games and has twice produced seasons of 16 victories – something only eight other coaches in NFL history, dating back to 1920, have accomplished. He has taken the Eagles to four playoff appearances in his four seasons and is not finished. Sirianni reached 50 career wins with the Eagles faster than any coach in Eagles’ franchise history. One of the top, top, top teams in the NFL, the Eagles have much more to accomplish with a roster that averages just over 26 years old, eighth-youngest among the 32 NFL teams, led by Sirianni and his mantra: “Make yourself better every day, just 1%, and you will be pleased with the progress you’ve made by the end of the season.”

What matters to Sirianni is authenticity, and he has stuck to his core principles, even when times have been tough. “You double down on what you know to be true,” he says, “and that’s what I do. I want our players to connect because when you know the person next to you and you’ve been in a spot with that person where you need him to come through, the next time it happens you’re going to trust that, together, the job will get done.”

Sirianni has done it his way since becoming the Eagles’ head coach in 2021. 

He has created a college-like atmosphere with the Eagles hinging everything on his five coaching core values: Connect, Compete, Accountability, Football IQ, Fundamentals. Nothing has changed there. His method is to build connection through competitive and fun games and contests every day, to step forward when he’s done something wrong to demonstrate accountability, to stress the importance of learning the game from the ground up to build a game intelligence, and to take to the practice field and preach about fundamentals – ball security on offense, and proper technique and tackling on defense.

In the auditorium where Sirianni addresses his team every morning at the NovaCare Complex there is a basketball hoop and a rack of basketballs. At any given time you will see a group of players and coaches playing H-O-R-S-E.

Just for fun. Just for connection. Just to build a T-E-A-M.

“At first it wasn’t conventional and I was like, ‘Will this work?’” cornerback Darius Slay said. “Now I know. He brings us together on and off the field.”

And yet, Sirianni is rarely one of the celebrated coaches in the NFL. When discussions were had for the league’s Coach of the Year Award, Sirianni’s name was barely mentioned. He is roundly criticized on national talking heads shows, even as the Eagles were turning their 2024 season around after a 2-2 start to win 12 of their last 13 games in the regular season to storm into the playoffs.

“I could see where he would get under your skin, do some things you wouldn’t like,” former Eagles defensive end and now WIP Sports Talk radio host Hugh Douglas said. “He does some things and says some things that rub people the wrong way. I get that.”

“But he’s ours and we love him. He kind of epitomizes what we are and how we conduct ourselves. We have passion and emotion, and if it sometimes comes out the wrong way, we hope you understand.”

From the perspective of the locker room, the feeling is even more intense for Sirianni, a head coach who, as recently as October – with the Eagles at 2-2 in the regular season – woke up to find this headline in USA Today: “NFL hot seat coaches: Nick Sirianni among those on notice.”

Largely because the 2023 Eagles started the season 10-1 and then stumbled down the stretch and were booted out of the playoffs after one round, losers of six of their previous seven games (the final one an embarrassing playoff loss to Tampa Bay), Sirianni was seen as a coach who had a very short leash. Patience is not a strong suit in the NFL, so what would happen, some asked, if the Eagles didn’t bolt forward from the mediocrity of the 2-2 start to 2024?

And that’s what I tried to do. I’ve tried to lead this team like I’ve always tried to lead this team, try to lead the culture …

“To me, it’s ridiculous and I don’t think anyone in this locker room paid any attention to that shit other than understanding that we lost games because of what we’re doing and not because of anything Nick has done,” All-Pro and Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson said. “Nick may come off as somebody who can irritate you if you’re outside of this team, but what does that matter? He’s our head coach. We play for him. He shows how much he loves us and how much he cares and, honestly, I’ve been around a long time [since the 2013 season] and he’s a great head coach.

“If you wanna play it as ‘us against the world,’ fine. What we have here, in this building is something special. There couldn’t be a better head coach for us.”

After much speculation and discussion that Sirianni would be dismissed after the ’23 collapse, Eagles Chairman/CEO Jeffrey Lurie brought him back with a new structure. The Eagles hired new, experienced and successful coordinators around Sirianni – Kellen Moore for the offense and Vic Fangio for the defense – and in effect, made him the “CEO” of the football team. He would no longer have full power of the offense and instead would focus on the macro-elements of the football operations. Sirianni was asked about his role in a press conference.

“If the offensive coordinator is going to be in charge of the offense and the defensive coordinator is going to be in charge of the defense, what is your role going to be?” Sirianni was asked as the media howled and the fans wondered along. 

“All I really took from this is that I had Mr. Lurie’s trust. Howie’s [Roseman, Eagles General Manager] trust,” Sirianni said. “And they said, ‘Hey, let’s go back and let’s do it again.’ So that’s all I thought about. Everything else is – I think it’s really tricky to think about things that you can’t control. Control what you can control.” 

“And that’s what I tried to do. I’ve tried to lead this team like I’ve always tried to lead this team, try to lead the culture, because I know they’re looking at me and looking at our leaders to lead that culture. That’s what I’ve tried to do since, you know, at the end of Tampa last year, and I’m really pleased in the direction. I’m really pleased with our offseason.”

That offseason translated, at the end of the day, into a regular season for the ages. Running back Saquon Barkley rushed for more than 2,000 yards, becoming the ninth player in NFL history to do so. The defense ranked No. 1 in the league. In his new role, Sirianni stayed on top of all aspects of the football team – previously, he had been mostly involved with the offense – structured the daily schedule, addressed the team every day, and continued to build the Sirianni Culture. He is the front man with the media and is, clearly, the touch point with the public. That’s just the way he likes it.

After a hard-fought win in Week 6 over the Cleveland Browns that upped the Eagles’ record to 3-2 (the Eagles had a bye week the Sunday before), Sirianni jawed with some fans at Lincoln Financial Field and caught heat for it. He shaved his head around that time and people wondered why he did. 

“A chance to have some fun and bond with the team,” he said. “It’s just something I wanted to do.”

He showed his players that in tough times he would be there for them, stand by them and, ultimately, lead this team to great heights.

And at just about that time, the Eagles caught fire and won 12 of their last 13 games heading into the postseason. 

“There is nobody who we would rather have,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “Consistency, attention to detail, communication, knowing how to handle us on a daily basis, Nick is the right man for the job with us. The success we have had is directly attributed to him and we don’t care what anyone thinks. We’re the ones who know what is going on in this locker room and with this football team and if the people out there don’t like it, well, they can stay on the outside. We’re the Philadelphia Eagles and he’s our head coach, and there isn’t a better situation in the NFL.”  

*****

Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro has covered every Eagles game since 1987 and is seen and heard throughout the year on television, radio and Eagles coverage everywhere. You can hear his Eagles Live Podcast on iTunes.