‘Best place to be’: KC Chiefs’ assistant coaches celebrate another Super Bowl
Sometimes the best job is the one you have, not the next one.
So it is for some Chiefs coaches who were asked about their future at Super Bowl LVIII, where the Chiefs will meet the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
Assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Dave Toub, 61, has interviewed for head coaching jobs while serving on the Chiefs’ staff since 2013. That quest to lead a franchise has ended.
“Special teams is where I want to finish up,” Toub said. “I want to be the best special teams coach I can be.”
Maybe things would be different if Toub was somewhere else. But the Chiefs are playing in their fourth Super Bowl in five years and bidding for their third championship.
It’s a great gig.
“At end of the day, with Super Bowl after Super Bowl, it’s hard to argue this isn’t the best place to be,” Toub said.
Defensive backs coach Dave Merritt, 52, served on three NFL staffs before he was hired in Kansas City in 2019. He doesn’t foresee leaving anytime soon, especially with two kids in high school.
“A lot of times coaches jump around, and I get it,” Merritt said. “You want to elevate your career and make the next move. My deal is this: I’m happy where I am. For me to jump around and look for the next payday, that not in my makeup.”
Merritt said he’d like to become a coordinator some day.
“Not a head coach,” he said. “That’s not something that I want. My next goal is to become a coordinator. I never envisioned become a head coach. Sometimes it’s OK to be the best assistant coach you can be.”
Eight head coaching jobs have changed in the NFL during this hiring cycle, and at least two Chiefs assistants have been mentioned with other openings. ESPN has reported that linebackers coach Brendan Daly interviewed with the New York Giants, a job that went to Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Shane Bowen.
Defensive line coach Joe Cullen’s name has come up with defensive coordinator jobs with the Seattle Seahawks and Michigan.
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said with the progress of this season’s defense he would have expected more assistants to be in the mix for other jobs.
“I’m surprised many of them haven’t moved on to coordinators jobs,” Spagnuolo said. “What happens, when you’re as fortunate as we are to play as long as we have over the last five seasons, a lot of those opportunities go away. You’re at the end of the season and there are no openings.”
The Chiefs’ defense went from middle of the pack to one of the top units this year, ranking second in points and yards allowed. It’s a defense that returned all of its primary position coaches from last year’s Super Bowl victory season.
“The greatest example of how good our staff is, we’ve had a lot of guys get hurt this year, and somebody else has go in, maybe in the middle of the game, and they haven’t had all the reps,” Spagnuolo said. “These guys to a man have been prepared to do that.”
In the Andy Reid era, two coordinators and a former assistant have gone on to head coaching positions. Offensive coordinator Doug Pederson took over the Philadelphia Eagles in 2016, won the Super Bowl in his second year, and was fired after 2020. He just finished his third season as the Jacksonville Jaguars coach.
David Culley was the Chiefs’ wide receivers coach and eventually became head coach of the Houston Texans for a season.
Matt Nagy was the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator in 2017 before he was hired by the Chicago Bears. After playoff seasons in his first two of his first three years, Nagy was fired after the fourth. He wants another crack at a head coaching job.
“I would love an opportunity, whenever the time is right,” said Nagy, 45.
Chicago was Nagy’s first NFL head coaching job. He was sharpened by the experience that he says should prepare him for the next opportunity.
“I remember going into the interview and there were questions I got and said, ‘Yeah, I’d do it this way,’” Nagy said. “But I had never experienced it. Four years in Chicago as a head coach I went through every one of those experiences two or three times. I think I can be much better at it.”
But like other Chiefs coaches, Nagy relishes the present and values the staff continuity. He was part of Reid’s original Chiefs staff. So were Toub, offensive line coach Andy Heck and tight ends coach Tom Melvin.
“What’s amazing is, coach (Reid) has had guys who have stayed, through a lot of good years,” Nagy said.
Including some by choice.
