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Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has spent decades building a reputation for an intense commitment to football, but one routine from early in his NFL career shows where his priorities really stood.
In 1992, Reid was beginning his first NFL job as the Green Bay Packers‘ tight ends coach after a decade in the college ranks. His mornings started unusually early, with Reid arriving at the office at 3:30 a.m.
The schedule allowed him to put several hours into football before returning home for the part of his morning that mattered just as much.
Why Andy Reid Was Already at Work by 3:30 A.M.
Reid, his wife, Tammy Reid, and their five children lived less than 10 minutes from the Packers’ facility. That made his unusual schedule possible.
According to a Chiefs’ official website, the early arrival wasn’t simply about beating other coaches to the office. He wanted to get his work done without sacrificing his mornings with his children.
Tammy explained exactly how he made it work.
“He would go in at these crazy hours and then he would come home by a quarter to 7 and do breakfast with the kids,” she explained. “He then would drive one group to school and I would take the others.”
The routine meant his workday had already been underway for hours before many people woke up, but Reid still carved out time to be present as a father before returning to football.
Andy and Tammy Reid Raised Five Kids While His Coaching Career Took Them Across the Country
Reid and Tammy are parents to sons Garrett, Britt and Spencer and daughters Crosby and Drew Ann. His coaching career kept the family moving so frequently that each of their five children was born in a different state.
Their oldest child, Garrett, arrived while Reid was finishing his master’s degree in Utah. As new coaching opportunities followed, the family moved from state to state.
By the time Tammy was pregnant with Spencer, their fifth child, she joked that they couldn’t have another baby in Missouri because they had already had one there. Reid soon received the opportunity to join Green Bay’s coaching staff, putting the family on the move again.
“So we have five children all born in five different states!” Tammy recalled in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The moves were part of life as Reid worked his way through the coaching ranks. At San Francisco State, money was tight enough that he sold hot dogs to fund the football program and umpired baseball games to earn extra cash. He even worked three games the night after Britt was born, then visited Tammy at the hospital.
Football Eventually Became Part of the Reid Family Story
As the children grew up, football became more than their father’s profession.
All three Reid sons pursued football-related careers. Spencer eventually worked in strength and conditioning at BYU, Colorado State, and Boston College before joining the Chiefs as an assistant strength coach. That gave Reid opportunities to share highlights from his coaching career with his children.
Tammy summed up what it meant to see football bring her husband and sons together.
“Just to see your husband next to your sons, it’s awesome,” she said.
Reid’s long hours eventually helped produce one of the most successful coaching careers in NFL history. But that 3:30 a.m. routine from his first NFL job showed how he tried to keep football from consuming the part of his life he considered more important.
