CLEVELAND — Even though the Bengals and Browns are not playing in the Super Bowl, there are still ties to Ohio in this year’s championship game.
Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles head coach, is a former University of Mount Union football player and assistant coach. Sirianni’s former coach, Larry Kehres, is excited for Sirianni.
“I think we feel like we kind of share in the success that he’s having,” he said.
Kehres said he wasn’t sure what Sirianni would end up doing, but knew it would be something important.
“We stayed in touch as he, his career in the NFL was growing, so once he became an NFL offensive coordinator well then I started thinking maybe Nick will get an opportunity to be a head coach when his time comes, and it did,” he said.
He said he taught Sirianni and his team values such as loyalty and hard work and he can see that Sirianni is teaching the Eagles the same thing.
“Nick is a product of that environment and he’s demonstrating that loyalty to us time after time after time. Yeah, I’m really proud of Nick for being that type of guy,” he said.
Sirianni also earned the respect of his former teammate, Jason Candle, who said he would be cheering for the Eagles on Super Bowl Sunday.
“We’ll certainly be all in rooting for him to do really really well, so really happy for him,” he said.
Candle is currently the head football coach at the University of Toledo, but he used to play wide receiver with Sirianni and they coached together, so he’s proud to see his friend succeed.
“To see him at the pinnacle of the sport here about to play in the Super Bowl obviously a major accomplishment for him. Somebody that, you know, you root for from afar because you know the commitment, time, energy he’s put in to getting to this point in time”
Super Bowl LVII is scheduled for Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m.
