Reid expected to be new Chief in Kansas City

GLENDALE, Ariz. - The time soon will be his again. Central Time.

Former Eagles coach Andy Reid is expected to be announced Friday as the new coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, 4 days after the end of Reid's 14-year Eagles tenure. A source involved in the negotiations said Reid had canceled planned trips to Arizona and San Diego and was working out the details of an agreement with the Chiefs. It is believed Reid will have similar power to what he had in Philadelphia, where he was director of football operations.

Kansas City might be a better fit for Reid than Philadelphia was, stylewise. The Chiefs' fans are relatively mild-mannered Midwesterners who haven't experienced sustained NFL success in four decades. Their media corps is much smaller and less abrasive. The Kansas City Star is the only newspaper that covers the Chiefs on the road (where they are scheduled to face the Eagles next season, by the way, date to be determined.)

Reid took heat from Eagles fans because he hadn't won a playoff game since January 2009. Well, the Chiefs last won a postseason game on Jan. 16, 1994, beating the Houston Oilers, 28-20. Andy lost four of five NFC Championship Games? The Chiefs haven't played in a conference championship game since falling to the Buffalo Bills, 30-13, on Jan. 23, 1994.

Since the Eagles hired Reid 14 years ago, the Chiefs have employed five head coaches, who were a combined 98-126, 0-3 in the postseason. Reid was 130-93-1 in the regular season, 10-9 in the playoffs. In Kansas City, the immediate question is less about whether a coach can win a Super Bowl than about whether he can manage sustained competence.

"He's coached at the University of Missouri," former Eagles and Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil told the Kansas City Star on Thursday. Reid was an offensive line coach for the Tigers from 1989-91. "He's been in middle America before and knows what the people are like. He knows how I feel about it. He's been in that stadium. He kicked my rear - when we were ahead 18-0 [the Eagles winning 37-31 in 2005] - and he knows how the fans are there, and how that Arrowhead Stadium is when it's full.

"And he knows the great respect and admiration people in the NFL have for the Hunt family [which owns the Chiefs], so why not go? There are no negatives."

Of course, the fact that Reid gave the Eagles their longest string of winning seasons and playoff appearances in the 80-year history of the franchise doesn't mean he will do as well in Kansas City. Reid's last eight seasons, he went 66-61-1, missing the playoffs his last 2 years. It was clear he misplaced the touch that brought him so much success early in his tenure, especially when it came to hiring assistants.

"The mistakes he's made, if he has made any, he'll know how to correct them," Vermeil, 76, told the Star. "And he's always had a great offensive football team, and when he's had a real good defensive coordinator, he's always had a good defensive team.

"When you've gone to five NFC Championship Games, you've done a hell of a job."

It will be very interesting to see what sort of staff Reid assembles in Kansas City. On Thursday, the buzz was that he might not take his most recent Eagles offensive coordinator, Marty Mornhinweg, Reid instead opting for Mornhinweg's predecessor, the former Vikings head coach, Brad Childress. A source close to the situation confirmed Mornhinweg, who has coached with Reid in 4 places over the years, thinks it's better for both of them if he pursues other opportunities.

Childress lost his job in Cleveland this week, where he was offensive coordinator for former Eagles assistant Pat Shurmur, the Browns coach fired by Cleveland president Joe Banner, formerly of the Eagles.

Banner also fired former Eagles general manager Tom Heckert, who also held that title in Cleveland. Heckert is said to be likely to resurface with Reid in Kansas City, which might have been one factor in Reid's decision not to see what Arizona or San Diego might offer.

Kansas City has the first overall pick in the April draft, after going 2-14 under head coach Romeo Crennel, who got the job with three games left in the 2011 season when the Chiefs fired Todd Haley and promoted him Crennel defensive coordinator.

On Dec. 1, Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli watched Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher commit suicide at the team practice facility after killing his girlfriend. Reid also grappled with tragedy this past season, when his oldest son Garrett was found dead at Eagles training camp Aug. 5 from a drug overdose.

The Chiefs' president is Mark Donovan, who was an Eagles vice president from 2003-2009, during some of Reid's best seasons. Donovan and Reid are said to be close.