Herman Edwards

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Herman Edwards
Coach Herman Edwards
Date of birth	April 27, 1954
Place of birth	Eatontown, New Jersey
Position(s)	Head Coach Cornerback
College	San Diego State
Career Record	41-44-0 as of 2006 (including Playoffs)
Playing Stats	DatabaseFootball
Coaching Stats	Pro Football Reference
Coaching Stats	DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a player
1977-1985 1986 1986	Philadelphia Eagles Atlanta Falcons Los Angeles Rams
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1990-1995 1996-2000 2001-2005 2006-Present	Kansas City Chiefs Tampa Bay Buccaneers New York Jets* Kansas City Chiefs*

Herman 'Herm' Edwards is the head coach of the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs. He previously was a player in the NFL, playing the position of cornerback for eight seasons (1979-1986) with the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons. Before being hired with the Chiefs, Edwards was the head coach of the New York Jets from 2001-2005. He is famous for the quote and sound bite, "You play to win the game!", a message that Edwards gave during a New York Jets press conference. It also became the title of his book, a collection of "leadership lessons" for the reader to use as personal motivation. As of 2006, he is also on the national advisory board for the Positive Coaching Alliance, a nonprofit organization based at Stanford University with the mission to transform youth sports so sports can transform youth.

Edwards is sometimes called (with various degrees of affection) "The Preacher".

1 Years as a college and NFL player
2 Early years coaching
3 Head coach of the New York Jets
4 Head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs
5 Criticisms
6 "Hermisms"
- 6.1 With New York
- 6.2 With Kansas City
7 Trivia
8 See also
9 External links
10 References

[edit] Years as a college and NFL player

Herman Edwards playing for the Philadelphia Eagles

The son of an African American World War II veteran and his German war bride, Edwards played college football at the University of California in 1972 and 1974, at Monterey Peninsula Junior College in 1973, and at San Diego State in his senior year, 1975. He graduated from the latter with a degree in criminal justice.

In the NFL, Edwards played nine seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1977 to 1986, making a championship appearance with the team in Super Bowl XV. His 33 career interceptions is just one short of the franchise record, but his lack of speed often led to his being beaten on deep pass routes by opposing wide receivers. Despite this, he appeared in 135 consecutive regular-season games for the Eagles, and then played briefly for the Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons in 1986 before announcing his retirement.

The highlight of Edwards' playing career occurred on November 19, 1978, in the final seconds of a game against the New York Giants at the Meadowlands. The Giants led 17-12 and the Eagles had no time-outs remaining; but instead of simply taking the snap from center and falling on the ball, Giants quarterback Joe Pisarcik attempted to hand the ball off to running back Larry Csonka. However, the ball came loose, and Edwards picked it up and returned it for a touchdown, enabling the Eagles to win 19-17. This play became known in Philadelphia as The Miracle at the Meadowlands and in New York as simply "The Fumble."

[edit] Early years coaching

After his days as a player ended, Edwards became an assistant coach at San Jose State (1987-1989), then was an NFL scout and defensive backs coach with the Kansas City Chiefs (1990-1995). With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1996-2000), he was Tony Dungy's assistant head coach before being hired as the Jets' 13th non-interim head coach in franchise history on January 28, 2001.

[edit] Head coach of the New York Jets

In his five years as Jets coach, Edwards had a 39-41 record, including a 2-3 record in the playoffs. With a strong veteran team in place following Bill Parcells tenure in the organization, the Jets had success in Edwards first two seasons, reaching the playoffs in both. Following a disappointing 6-10 season in 2003, the Jets reached the divisional round of the AFC playoffs in 2004, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers by a score of 20-17. In 2005, a year marred by injuries, inconsistent play, lack of player development, and rumors swirling about Edwards possibly leaving the organization, Edwards led the Jets to a woeful 4-12. Following the end of the season, the Jets traded away the rights to Edwards to the Kansas City Chiefs for a fourth round draft pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, and replaced him with Eric Mangini as their head coach.

[edit] Head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs

On January 8, 2006, Edwards signed a 4 year, $12 million contract to become head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, replacing the retiring Dick Vermeil. The hiring of Edwards by the Chiefs occurred under dubious circumstances. Carl Peterson, GM of the Chiefs, heavily leaked stories to the press about Edwards in a pattern of behaviors that could have been considered tampering. Additionally, some New York Jets fans and players alike felt that the Jets management received too little in compensation from Kansas City. Edwards had two years remaining on his contract with the Jets, for compensation, the Chiefs gave the Jets their 4th round pick (Leon Washington, RB, Florida State) in 2006 NFL Draft. However, it is believed by many observers that Edwards had worn out his welcome with Jets Owner Woody Johnson, and that Johnson welcomed the opportunity to go in another direction. Eric Mangini, a protegé of Bill Belichick, replaced Edwards as the New York Jets Head Coach.

On September 10, 2006, Edwards made his regular season coaching debut with the Chiefs. In a lackluster performance, the Chiefs lost at home, to the Cincinnati Bengals, by the score of 23-10.

Edwards first win with the Chiefs came on September 24, 2006 with a defeat of the San Francisco 49ers 41-0 in the third game of the season.

[edit] Criticisms

Herman Edwards' performance as a coach has drawn a variety of criticisms.

Teams coached by Edwards have typically started most seasons with poor performances, leading to speculation that Edwards does a poor job of preparation in the preseason. With the exception of the 2004 season with the New York Jets, no team coached by Edwards has had a winning record after 6 games played.
Edwards has committed a variety of time management decisions that vary from perplexing to embarrasing. These gaffes have been quite frustrating to the fans of the teams coached by Edwards.

[edit] "Hermisms"

Edwards is known for his motivational speeches and soundbites given at press conferences. Edwards' popularity among motivational speaking has even led to the publication of his own book of quotes.

[edit] With New York

"This is what's great about sports. This is what the greatest thing about sports is. You play to win the game. Hello? You play to win the game. You don't play it to just play it. That's the great thing about sports: you play to win, and I don't care if you don't have any wins. You go play to win. When you start tellin' me it doesn't matter, then retire. Get out! 'Cause it matters." - Following a reporter's question on the team's ability to win, on October 30th, 2002 after a Week 8 loss to the Cleveland Browns left them at 2-5. This quote is a favorite of ESPN most notably PTI.

[edit] With Kansas City

Instead of calling workouts without pads “shells,” which consists of shorts and jerseys, Herm refers to them as “spiders.” [1]
"This is where you build your toughness and your camaraderie because it’s an even playing field. It doesn’t matter if you’re a first-round draft pick. It doesn’t matter if you’re a five-year veteran or a Pro Bowl player or a Hall of Famer. We all sleep in those dorms. We all eat in the food line. We all go to practice every day. The fancy cars won’t help you. You start to become accountable to each other." — Edwards on the importance of training camp [2]
"“I told them when I grew up, we didn’t have air conditioning. So guess what? Go to bed. You’re not leaving, you’re not going anywhere.” — Edwards on what he told the players after they arrived from Minnesota early Saturday morning to stuffy dorm rooms because of a power outage at their training camp facility. [3]
"“I did a lot of preaching this week. I had my sermons ready. The good part is the congregation was listening. I wish I had passed the collection plate. I would’ve made a lot of money. But I did it for free.” — Edwards, following a win against the Chargers in 2006.

[edit] Trivia

Edwards was signed by current Chiefs General Manager Carl Peterson as a rookie free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1977. Peterson served as the Eagles Director of Player Personnel at the time; twenty-nine years later, Peterson signed Edwards as the Chiefs' tenth head coach in 2006. [4]
Edwards is undefeated in the playoffs against coaches he has previously worked for, but winless against those he has not.
Instead of wearing athletic sneakers with his coaching attire, Edwards wears dress shoes. Before every game, Edwards polishes the shoes himself.[5]
Known widely for enthusiasm and faith-based personality, Edwards was born and raised Southern Baptist, but converted with his family and is now a practicing Roman Catholic.
Edwards went to Monterey High School in Monterey, CA
Edwards is known to love Fig Newtons, and usually has a package of them "close by." [6]
Edwards' favorite movie is The Ten Commandments. [7]
At a press conference on October 31, 2006, Herm Edwards’ weekly news conference was running late when Larry Johnson emerged wearing Edwards’ trademark garb of NFL sweatshirt, shorts and red cap pulled over his eyes. He flailed his arms, pounded the table and went into a “play to win the game” rant. Johnson amused the reporters with his impersonation. In response, Edwards said “I’m glad Halloween is only one time a year." Edwards finished the press conference himself and referenced to the bond he had made with Johnson in the offseason. ^[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

^ The lighter side of LJ Kansas City Star, 1 November 2006.

Preceded by: Al Groh	New York Jets Head Coach 2001–2005	Succeeded by: Eric Mangini
Preceded by: Dick Vermeil	Kansas City Chiefs Head Coaches 2006–	Succeeded by: Current Coach

Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs Head Coaches
Stram • Wiggin • Bettis • Levy • Mackovic • Gansz • Schottenheimer • Cunningham • Vermeil • Edwards

New York Titans/Jets Head Coaches
Baugh • Turner • Ewbank • Winner • Shipp • Holtz • Michaels • Walton • Coslet • Carroll • Kotite • Parcells • Groh • Edwards • Mangini

Current National Football League head coaches
Belichick • Billick • Childress • Coughlin • Cowher • Crennel • Del Rio • Dungy • Edwards • Fisher • Fox • Gibbs • Green • Gruden • Holmgren • Jauron • Kubiak • Lewis • Linehan • Mangini • McCarthy • Marinelli • Mora • Nolan • Parcells • Payton • Reid • Saban • Schottenheimer • Shanahan • Shell • Smith

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