Inside Nick Sirianni’s transformation as head coach of the Eagles

The Tuesday morning before the Eagles’ 2023 opener, before months of speculation about the team’s prospects of returning to the Super Bowl finally end, before the coach’s third season begins — one that can only end with a title if he is to “take the next step” — Nick Sirianni was riding an electric scooter.

Sirianni, who often spends time thinking about how to save time, was driving the scooter back and forth from his kids’ school to his home in South Jersey. In his previous coaching stops with the Colts and Chargers, Tuesday “family time” was carved out with dinners at the team facility.

”I was so distracted during those I was like, ‘I can’t do this,’” Sirianni told The Inquirer. “So we changed it to Tuesday morning [when he got to Philadelphia] — take your kids into school or at least have breakfast with them.”

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The 42-year-old coach, despite the looming first game at the Patriots on Sunday, even allowed himself to accompany his wife, Brett, and their elementary school-aged children inside for their first day of school. But Sirianni also had a plan for how to make up the lost time.

”I don’t normally walk in with them, but today I did,” he said just after drop-off. “I actually scootered in because I had to get back to my car as soon as I could.”

Sirianni wasn’t rushing to his car for this interview. He had to get to work. But he used the trip into the NovaCare Complex to discuss how his approach to being the Eagles head coach has evolved since owner Jeffrey Lurie plucked him out of virtual anonymity just 32 months ago.

He borrowed heavily from his mentors, specifically Frank Reich, in his first season. There were a number of alterations — like Tuesday family time, for instance — but since then Sirianni has made only marginal changes to his process.

Why mess with success? The Eagles have gone 23-11 and reached the playoffs — falling just short of toppling the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII — in his first two seasons. But they haven’t yet achieved optimal success and Sirianni is not the type to remain static when improvement is always possible.

So while he divulged little about the points of emphasis in his personal growth as a coach — “How do I get better at the things that I’ve been doing since Year 1 and 2?” was Sirianni’s blanket response — there have been subtle changes upon closer examination this summer.

Several players and assistants — plus a few sources inside NovaCare — confirmed the most obvious: Sirianni has gotten tougher on his team.

While yelling at practice has seemingly been the most outward example of this increasing intensity, Sirianni has always been a yeller, and in fact, did less of it this training camp, according to many. But when he had outbursts, they were so dramatic, they typically made news.

Aaron Moorehead, who is often on the receiving end partly because he oversees the position Sirianni once played, may have the best perspective on his coach’s modus operandi.

”When you really look at it, he’s backed off in a lot of ways,” the Eagles wide receivers coach said recently, “because he knows, (a) I understand every expectation that he has and (b) that I’m going to coach exactly the way he wants it with my own flavor.

”But he’s also ramped it up a notch if something’s wrong because he knows that I know that’s not the way it’s supposed to go.”

It’s why, Sirianni conceded, he rebuked his skill position players during a ball security drill in front of cameras early in camp, why he slammed his megaphone to the ground when the kicking team incorrectly ran on the field, and why he even barked at quarterback Jalen Hurts when he was lackadaisical during a hurry-up drill.

“When I yell, it’s when we make repeated mistakes,” Sirianni said.

”Everybody is accountable,” tackle Jordan Mailata said, “except for Jason Kelce.”

Mailata was joking about the Eagles center — sort of.

”I would agree,” Kelce said. “I don’t get yelled at as much.”

The 35-year-old Kelce, of course, is an exemplary player. The youngsters hear it the most, but veterans also get it because they know the standard.

“That’s,” Mailata said, “when you get [bleeped].”

Sirianni gives his assistants an earful, too, though, because he knows responsibility travels upward. And the buck, ultimately, must stop with the head coach. If there are mistakes, the greatest reflection is on Sirianni.

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Sirianni has always been cognizant of that, but that dynamic — a source close to him opined — is why he has perhaps been more stern with his team. It may seem trivial, but even his T-shirt choices have symbolized this slight shift.

Since Day 1, Sirianni has made wearing the shirts of popular players on the team a part of his almost-daily apparel. He’ll throw in some Eagles legends, and garb from Philly’s other sports teams on occasion, but when he isn’t donning team-issued clothing, he’ll wear shirts with the likenesses of Hurts, Kelce, DeVonta Smith, A.J. Brown, and others.

Some viewed the practice as amateurish and hero-worship that could entitle certain individuals. A year ago, he had on the shirt of a player he didn’t yet know was in trouble with management, and was told to replace it with another before he headed outdoors to practice, a team source said.

”I don’t remember that,” Sirianni said, “but it’s probably true.”

For the most part, though, the shirt bit has had little bearing on the product. Most outsiders have come to view it as Sirianni being himself, and the Eagles’ success hasn’t tested the notion that players will take advantage of his goodwill.

But Sirianni has dialed back on the player shirts. He went several days at the start of camp without wearing one. When a reporter asked why, he said there was nothing conscious about it, and then the next day was sporting a Smith top.

”Definitely less T-shirts,” Kelce said on Friday. “But we haven’t started playing yet. He’s still wearing a lot of our ‘Underdog’ [Kelce’s brand] stuff. I appreciate that.”

Winning can cover any cracks that may be in the foundation. But if the Eagles were to regress or even slip into a lull, that’s typically when certain players take shortcuts on and off the field. That’s when some will push the envelope if they think the coach isn’t going to hold them accountable.

Sirianni’s nature is to be the good guy, but he’s established his bona fides and shouldn’t have to care as much about being a friend to players. And he should know that at this point if his players cut corners — specifically, away from NovaCare — he has only one person to blame.

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By 2020, Doug Pederson’s Eagles had regressed in the two seasons following the Super Bowl. Players were getting in trouble away from the team and Pederson had to read them the riot act on more than one occasion.

Sirianni’s predecessor could lay the hammer when necessary, but he had lost some control by his last season and the rest is, well, where Sirianni’s story in Philly begins.

When he was hired away from Indy, Sirianni arrived with a bit of a reputation for having a temper and being a taskmaster. He smoothed out some of his rough spots, but he promised himself that he would stay true to himself.

Which has meant, for better or worse, the T-shirts, the yelling at referees, and other such sideline antics that may include trash talking, head bobbing, or taunting fans of opposing teams.

”I think people see through it when you’re not yourself,” Sirianni said. “I’m finding more and more that I like these coaches that I see, whether it’s Saturday, Sunday, or even Friday night, that are unapologetically themselves.

“I have a new appreciation for that. Deion Sanders — I appreciate that he’s himself [as Colorado’s new coach]. He’s not doing anything differently than when he was playing, except he’s being a great coach.

”I think people think you get into this role and you have to be somebody you’re not.”

Jonathan Gannon has already faced such claims in his new role as head coach. The Arizona Cardinals released a video of the former Eagles defensive coordinator addressing his players, saying at one point, “Be who you are, but understand I’m looking for [bleep] killers,” with reaction shots of players that suggested his speech didn’t have the intended effect.

Fair or not, it felt fake, and at the least not the way a new head coach with zero experience should challenge professionals.

Gannon also got himself embroiled in controversy when he made several comments to The Athletic, the most suspect being that he suggested to Sirianni the idea to hand over play-calling duties to former offensive coordinator Shane Steichen in October 2021.

Multiple sources have said he did not.

Sirianni took the high road on Friday and declined to respond to Gannon’s boast.

Maybe Gannon said something to Sirianni, and maybe he even assisted in the decision, but strong leaders don’t take full credit in collaborative settings, and they definitely don’t embellish — unless it’s at their expense.

Sirianni loves to tell a story. And he loves to incorporate them into his planned speeches before the team, particularly the ones on the eve of games. He spends part of the offseason using his walks around his neighborhood pre- and post-workout — or when he’s looking to avoid putting the kids to bed — coming up with the speeches.

He said he has about 20 ready for this season, although he’ll hand some off to select vets later in the season. He wouldn’t reveal the subjects, but there will be tales in there, some of them tall.

”I’m a good storyteller, I think,” Sirianni said. “There are probably times when I embellish the truth. I know players have said to me a couple times, ‘Is that really your story?’ I think they know when it’s not my story and they know when it is my story.

”And my wife will be like, ‘That’s not how it really happened.’ And I go, ‘I know, but the heart of a good storyteller is to embellish a little bit.’”

He stretched the truth before his first game as head coach two years ago. Sirianni wanted to convey what “Dawg mentality” meant to the players, so he told a story from his high school days in Jamestown, N.Y., when he was “the guy” on his basketball team and his coach drew up a last-second shot for him.

”Well, I wasn’t ‘the guy,’’” Sirianni said. “We had a 6-10 kid on our team. He was really ‘the guy.’”

The rest of the story was true. Sirianni took the shot and lodged the ball in between the backboard and the rim and Southwestern Central lost. But in the rematch, three days later, his team rebounded and won convincingly.

What Sirianni had failed to mention was that he had shown up at the gym two hours before the second game to work on his shot — and maybe deliver a message to the opposing team. His competitiveness doesn’t need to be embellished.

In June, he told a story about attending a party in which drinking games were being played and his wife got angry at him.

”I was being overly competitive,” Sirianni said. “I’m like, ‘You brought me to this game party. You knew what was going to happen.’ And she goes, ‘You’re right. I did know. I knew exactly what was going to happen.’”

Sirianni used the story to illustrate his desire to have players who have competitiveness in their blood, but he could have easily been referencing his genuineness. If he’s tougher on his team this season and moving forward, he’s started to build up capital so that when there is affirmation, his players and assistants will better understand his motives.

”I may be a yeller and screamer at times,” Sirianni said, “but to me, and I really do believe this, my favorite type of accountability and my favorite type of molding the standard, is when the standard is met and the praise is there, and you just say, ‘Man, that’s exactly what I want.’

”I think that goes a long way.”