Super Bowl LVII: Why Kansas City means a lot to Nick Sirianni
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Kansas City means a lot to Nick Sirianni.
Fourteen years ago, Sirianni, fresh off a coaching stint at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, got his first crack as an NFL coach in Kansas City as an offensive quality control coach in 2009.
But, that's not the sole reason Sirianni admires the city home to the Chiefs.
"I met my wife there," the Eagles' head coach said Tuesday in a news conference. "When you have something as significant as meeting your wife there in that city, that place, that time frame, that city is always going to carry a special place in my heart because of that."
Sirianni and his wife, Brett Ashley Cantwell, got married in Springfield, Missouri, he said.
Sirianni and his wife might have never met if it wasn't for him picking Todd Hayley's brain while he was home in Jamestown, New York, during summer break.
Hayley, who's currently the head coach and general manager of the USFL's Memphis Showboats, was with the Chicago Bears as a receivers coach when he met Sirianni.
The two were introduced to each other by someone at the YMCA that told Hayley Sirianni played college football at Mount Union.
Because Sirianni was still playing at the time, he picked Hayley's brain about becoming a better wideout. He even started going to the YMCA at the same time Hayley did to get as much knowledge about football as possible.
"As far as the stalking goes, yeah, I think sometimes I would go there – I wanted knowledge," Sirianni said. "You guys know me. I'll do anything to make myself better at what I do, whether it was a player or whether it was a coach. I remember the times he would go there and I just so happened to lift some of the times there when he was there at those times. Hey, it worked. It worked."
Following playing college football at Mount Union, Sirianni became the school's defensive backs coach and then coach wideouts IUP from 2006 to 2008.
Sirianni stayed in touch with Hayley during those jobs for advice, and it paid off in 2009.
Hayley, who was the Chiefs' head coach from 2009 to 2011, hired Sirianni as the team's offensive quality control coach -- his first job in the NFL.
Hayley was fired after the 2011 season in Kansas City, but Sirianni was promoted to wide receivers coach in 2013 in Romeo Crennel's lone year with the team.
Crennel was fired after the 2013 season, and the coach Sirianni will face in Super Bowl LVII became the team's head coach: Andy Reid.
Instead of deciding to retain Sirianni, Reid brought in David Culley to be the Chiefs' wide receivers coach.
Sirianni didn't take that decision the wrong way.
Sirianni said Reid was honest about the situation, had heard good things about him and let him go ASAP in order to help him land another job the following season.
"Got a ton of respect for Coach Reid and who he is as a person and who he is as a coach," Sirianni said. "His record speaks for itself, but you talk to anybody, and they think even higher of him as a person."
About 10 years have gone by since that meeting, and Reid is getting ready to head to his third Super Bowl in Kansas City.
This time, it will be against the coach he didn't retain.
