In 1980, coach LaVell Edwards went to Andy Reid, a junior offensive tackle for the Cougars, and asked him if he had ever thought about coaching.
That simple question sparked what would become a legacy.
Reid took Edwards’ recommendation to heart, even though coaching had never crossed his mind. When Reid’s eligibility expired, Edwards made sure to keep a spot available for Reid to jump on board as a graduate assistant.
His years in that position brought him close to Edwards, allowing him to study and internalize Edwards’ unique style of coaching and leadership.
Even after Reid left Provo, Edwards never stopped being his coach.
“He called me once a week from the time that I left there just to check on me,” said Reid.
Reid said Edwards wasn’t just shaping him as a coach, but he was shaping him as a person. Before Reid took a job at San Francisco State, Edwards pulled him aside and gave him counsel that stuck with him for the rest of his life.
“Now listen, you are becoming a real coach now … When you go to the head coach with a problem, have a well-thought-out answer," Reid recalled. "I have used that as a coach with my staff and players, but I have also used it as a dad, husband, and everything in between."
Edwards and his wife, Patti, served a mission in New York, where Andy happened to be in his boundaries during his time with Philadelphia. Reid got to see Edwards quite often and leaned on him for advice.
Whenever Reid faced a challenge, Edwards listened carefully and then offered steady, thoughtful guidance. The same way he had done years earlier in the BYU facilities.
Reid learned firsthand what it meant to coach and lead a team the LaVell Edwards way.
“He was very composed during tough times in a game. He never really let his emotions get away from him," Reid said. "That was a good lesson for me to learn throughout my coaching career. If you lose your head, then everybody is going to lose their head."
Edwards’ calm manner was just one part of the coaching philosophy Reid would carry with him long after leaving Provo. As Reid spent more time under his wing, he gained a sense of the deeper layers to Edwards’ system.
“As a coach, Andy is tough, but he is patient. LaVell was very patient too, and Andy has that," said former BYU defensive back and athletic director, Tom Holmoe. "But when it’s time to make a move, he’s quick, fast, and strong. LaVell might have given people a long rope, but when it was time to act, he was definitive."
Edwards worked with confidence, creativity, and most importantly, genuine love for his players. Edwards didn’t just teach football. He taught people how to learn, lead and love.
“His leadership was culture driven. His culture was about love. He knew more than just the name of each of his players. He knew all about them. He cared about his players,” Holmoe said.
The lessons Edwards taught Reid didn’t stay in Provo. They followed him into every locker room he has entered since. The love Edwards poured into Reid, Reid began pouring into his own players.
No one understood that connection better than Chad Lewis, who played for Edwards at BYU and then spent seven years in the NFL playing for Reid in Philadelphia. He experienced firsthand how LaVell’s influence flowed through Reid and onto the players he coached.
In many ways, Lewis lived on both sides of the legacy. With both Edwards and Reid, he got to experience the same steadiness, the same belief in players, and the same love for the game that was rooted in Provo.
Lewis remembers Edwards’ program being built on relationships long before it was built on winning.
Edwards cared about who his players were on and off the field. He cared about their families, their classes, and their lives.
His door was always open, and every one of the 125 players on the roster knew they could walk in at any time. He made sure they knew they were loved, valued, and believed in, especially during moments when they struggled.
“LaVell was the most unique coach in all of college football because he focused his energy on relationships with his players and coaches first,” Lewis said. “The X’s and O’s came second.”
Years later, when Lewis played for Reid with the Philadelphia Eagles, he felt those same core qualities come to life.
“Andy was in so many ways a carbon copy of LaVell Edwards,” Lewis said.
These qualities and experiences learned through Edwards didn’t just shape Reid as a young coach. They became the foundation of the leader he would become in the NFL.
Holmoe believes the traits Andy carried into the NFL were unmistakably Edwards'.
“Both Andy and LaVell are meek. That doesn’t mean weak. It means they’re strong in character but humble. They’re powerful, yet respected,” Holmoe said.
The winning success that Reid has experienced in the NFL has been formed from his invested time and love that he builds with each individual player — an Edwards trademark through and through.
Lewis spoke of a day when he was playing with the Eagles, when Reid pulled him into his office and showed him a handwritten notecard from Edwards. The card expressed his admiration for the courage Reid was showing, expressed his love and the belief he had in him.
Reid shared it with Lewis to pass on the feeling of being valued. He left his head coach's office knowing his coach cared about him the same way Edwards cared about Reid.
Lewis reflected on how Reid coached him throughout his time with the Eagles.
Despite the competitive and demanding world of the NFL, Lewis said Reid's priorities never shifted. The pressure to win was relevant, expectations were high, yet Reid never let the business of football overshadow the people inside his locker room.
Players always felt seen. They felt valued. They felt cared for.
“He never makes the business of football overshadow the relationship he has with everyone,” Lewis said. “Everyone understands the importance of winning and being your best. That part never goes away. But Andy’s focus on you as a person is what makes you want to run through a brick wall for him.”
Reid has carried the principles he learned from Edwards and his time at BYU into the cultures he built in Philadelphia and Kansas City.
Edwards passed away in 2016, but his legacy will never end. It lives on every time Reid walks into a meeting room, directs a sideline, or looks a player in the eye and tells him he believes in him.
The legacy that began with a simple question in Provo, “Have you ever thought about coaching?” has produced Super Bowl victories, Hall of Fame conversations and generations of players who feel seen and valued because of the way Reid leads.
Holmoe said both men built relationships that outlasted winning seasons and big games. Lewis felt it every day he played for Reid.
LaVell’s steadiness, LaVell’s love, and LaVell’s belief in people are carried on through Andy Reid every day.
What Edwards taught Reid didn’t stay at BYU. It has become the heartbeat of one of the greatest coaching careers in NFL history.
As long as Andy Reid continues to lead, teach, and love his players, LaVell Edwards’ legacy continues to prevail quietly, powerfully, and exactly the way Edwards always led.