Dick Vermeil Impressed With Chiefs Practice
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Former Kansas City Chiefs head coach, Dick Vermeil, attended the first day of the team’s mandatory minicamp yesterday and said he was very impressed with what he saw.
“Well, Andy’s a good friend,” said Vermeil. “We developed a good relationship in Philadelphia through coaching and mutual respect. I admire the guy, I respect him, he’s a great football coach. All you have to do is watch this practice today. First, I’ve seen this practice before in Philadelphia, but a very impressive football practice – very, very impressive. John Dorsey has done a nice job with the talent here now and Andy’s having a lot of fun. He’s rejuvenated. You can tell. I’ve been with him through all different moods over the last few years. You’re very, very fortunate to have Andy Reid.”
It was recently revealed that Vermeil had a hand in Reid being hired by the Chiefs. Clark Hunt called Vermeil for advice when the Chiefs were searching for a new coach and Reid called Vermeil to ask about what it is like to coach in Kansas City.
Vemeil recounted his conversation with Reid to the media yesterday.
“Oh yeah. He called me and asked me about Kansas City,” said Vermeil. “I just said ‘Go. Just go.’ Other than putting up with Bob Gretz once in awhile for the radio show. As you all know, Kansas City is a great place to live and a great place to work and coach and there’s no better family to work for than the Hunt family, for me.”
It is clear that Vemeil believes Andy Reid is the coach to finally turn things around for the Chiefs. When asked what intangibles Reid brings to the organization, Vermeil said that “wisdom” was at the top of the list.
“There’s no substitute for wisdom. There won’t be anything that happens on game day that he hasn’t been exposed to. It’s just like a long time ago as a young coach I hired Sid Gillman. All of the sudden I got a lot smarter because I had somebody with tons of wisdom and nothing surprised him. You’re not going to surprise Andy Reid or his staff. He’s seen it, he’s done it, he’s been there and he’s proved he could do it in big games. Granted, they didn’t win a Super Bowl, but there are a lot of guys that haven’t done that, that doesn’t mean you’re not a better coach than somebody who’s already won one.”