It’s been a long time, but Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid worked together from 1999-2007 with the Eagles.
Harbaugh was retained as Philadelphia’s special teams coordinator when Reid was hired as head coach in 1999. Harbaugh remained in that role until 2007, when he was Philadelphia’s defensive backs coach. The Ravens hired him as head coach in 2008.
Asked about his time with Reid during his Monday press conference, Harbaugh started an answer by expressing appreciation for Ray Rhodes for hiring him in 1998.
“Then, Andy came in, [and] I was hoping to stay, and he gave me an opportunity to do it,” Harbaugh said. “I was young and just figuring things out. That was good of him, and [I] hope he’s glad he did looking back on it.
“One of the things — I tell this story a lot — one of the things with Andy [was] he had this 3x5 card behind his desk on his bulletin board. It said, ‘Don’t judge.’ I got the nerve to ask him about it one time, and he just basically [said] it was a Biblical principle. Take people where they’re at. Assume the best. Try to communicate with everybody on equal terms. I’ve never forgotten that.”
Harbaugh has gone 2-5 against Reid — 1-1 when Reid was with the Eagles and now 1-4 with him coaching the Chiefs. The two last met in Week 2 of the 2021 season, with the Ravens scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter to come away with a 36-35 win.
Harbaugh said coaching against Reid in the AFC Championship Game is “a big deal in terms of the relationship.”
“It goes back a long, long way,” Harbaugh said. “[I have the] utmost respect for Andy [and the] utmost appreciation for what he’s accomplished as a coach. We were together for 10 years — the first 10 years [of my career] there in Philly. We were in a lot of Championship Games [and] a lot of playoff games. I learned so much. I just learned so much as a coach and as a person.
“Then, competing against him now [for] all these years has been really challenging. Andy’s a great coach. He has a great staff. You can name all the guys: [Chiefs tight ends coach] Tom Melvin, [assistant head coach/ special teams coordinator] Dave Toub — all the guys that have come through there that we knew from the Eagles. It’s just a very talented group of people, and [I] have the utmost respect for them.”
