Philip Rivers Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Philip Rivers explains origins of his infamous bolo tie

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Dan Benton | Last updated 11/16/21

During some of his later years with the Los Angeles Chargers, Philip Rivers made an interesting fashion choice. He suddenly started donning bolo ties — a decision that quickly went viral and became a regular topic of conversation.

As it turns out, however, Rivers didn’t switch to bolo ties simply because he likes them. Rather, he did so in a silent protest against head coach Mike McCoy.

Appearing on Monday night’s ManningCast, Rivers explained.

“I was just trying to buck the system,” Rivers said.

Under Norv Turner, Chargers players had to dress nice on the road. But it wasn’t an overly strict rule and “slacks and a collared shirt” would suffice. That changed under McCoy, who enforced a much more strict dress code.

Philip Rivers reveals he wore bolo ties to stick it to head coach Mike McCoy who had a strict dress code policy pic.twitter.com/ol7mTMWv0v

— gifdsports (@gifdsports) November 16, 2021

“When McCoy got there (in 2013), he said, ‘Coat and tie, no exceptions.’ And Charlie Whitehurst and I got in the quarterback room and he said, ‘Hey, you ought to go bolo tie. He didn’t say what kind of tie.’ So that’s where that originated and then it kind of took off from there,” Rivers said.

Although many got a kick out of Rivers’ bolo ties, his wife, Tiffany, did not.

“She hates the bolo tie. I even teased her about it, I said I should go bolo tonight (on TV). She said you’re crazy,” Rivers said, getting a laugh out of both Peyton and Eli.

Ironically — and perhaps intentionally — Eli was wearing a bolo tie.

“You should have. We could have been matching. That would have been awesome,” Eli quipped.

Instead of the bolo tie, Rivers, who is the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High in Fairhope, Alabama, wore a red shirt with his school’s name and logo on it.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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