‘What’s Your Assist:’ Inside Nick Sirianni’s Coaching Mind

“It's always players [first],” Sirianni noted, often tracing that philosophy back to his former college coach and mentor, former Mount Union legend Larry Kehres. “…  I think the best coaches, in my opinion, are the ones that have core philosophies of their scheme, but fit that to their players, because that's what it's always about. 

“I learned that from Larry Kehres a long, long time ago. ‘You may think that you want this,’ he always says, ‘Players, plays, formations,’ and you may want to run this certain scheme, or you may want to run that certain scheme, but does it fit your players the best?”

It’s a simple lesson that can be learned at any level of football, but too many coaches, even at the highest level, lack the humility to learn while basking in the pride of “scheme.”

“I'm bragging on my brother for a second. My brother, Jay [Sirianni], went far in the playoffs in the Pro system, got a new group of guys, ran a spread system, won two state championships that way,” the Eagles’ coach said. “Those guys graduated, didn't have the same type of guys, and then they went to the state championship running the Wing-T. 

“That, to me, is how I was raised in this. To me, it’s always players over plays. Always, always, always, always.”

Inside that sentiment comes the sliding scale of role from a superstar like Saquon Barkley down to a practice-squad elevation like Cameron Latu.

“A lot of people get caught up in stats. But what’s your assist?” Barkley said when discussing Sirianni’s messaging this week. “In football, you don’t really have an assist category … He’s showing plays of me running down the field, seeing how Smitty [DeVonta Smith] or AJ [Brown] are blocking, or Jahan [Dotson] running (deep) or the O-line is doing this.”

For tight end turned fullback and special-teamer Latu, he was told to play into his size and physicality entering Week 2 at Kansas City and delivered with a crushing block in the fourth quarter that pushed Chiefs edge defender Charles Omenihu back into the end zone and allowed Barkley to gain four yards, helping set up a Jalen Hurts sneak that essentially sealed the game. 

“A common theme always comes back to the fact that it takes a team,” Barkley said. Just continue to fall in line with that.”

The virtual bar rooms across social media are often filled with debate about this coach vs. that coach, and Sean McVay’s reputation often dwarfs Sirianni’s, even though the Rams’ well-regarded coach, whose mere orbit can generate head-coaching interviews, is 0-3 against the pilot so many can’t figure out.

You can have the scheme, the Eagles will take the relentlessness.