ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Barren white walls behind him in his makeshift office in a snug dorm room at Missouri Western’s Scanlon Hall, play sheets and notepads and an iPad among a few bare essentials on his adjacent desk, Andy Reid on Wednesday morning basked in his habitat for what has become an annual rite.
Free from the glare of cameras and sheer number of mics as he met with eight writers (and several Chiefs staff members) who most regularly cover the team — including four of us from The Kansas City Star — Reid sat back in his chair in the setting he relishes for its cinder blocks. He was about as at ease as we ever get to see him these days.
So much so that his demeanor reminded me of the affable, amusing and passionate Reid I knew when he was a Mizzou assistant coach from 1989-91 — before he made what he at the time told me was a painstaking decision to join his friend and mentor Mike Holmgren with the Green Bay Packers.
Back then, Reid was known for his intensity — MU lineman Brad Funk once told me Reid could get so “red in the face that he looked like his head was going to blow off” — and humor: When a few of his linemen came to his house one Halloween, he cited a potential NCAA violation to refuse them candy — a story he remembered fondly when I reminded him about it a few years ago.
All of that personality remains, as you see more and more in his commercial appearances.
And that disposition still defines him to those who know him best.
But as an NFL head coach, Reid typically prefers to project a brusque poker face, lest he give away, well, anything at all.
A rare exception is this sit-down with reporters he’s known for years and with whom he’s comfortable having more conversational discussion — a year ago, he generally annotated his Super Bowl LVII play-sheet of some 300 options.
Not that we had an entirely unfiltered view: While Reid left a few screens around the room open, a board, presumably featuring a depth chart or some such, was covered. And his alarm clock was set two minutes ahead — which is how we came to leave nearly exactly at the end of our designated 30-minute window.
Still, it was illuminating time, as ever. And in this case, Reid clarified something I’d never heard him give away so directly before — something that will take us to the heart of a looming broader point.
While it’s long been understood that he seldom sleeps much more than three hours a night, as assistant coach Tom Melvin confirmed in February days before the Chiefs won their third Super Bowl in five seasons, Reid won’t ordinarily discuss that, in part because he doesn’t want to be perceived as bragging.
When I asked him if he sleeps more in the spartan conditions he so relishes (his dorm bedroom is no more decorated or spacious) than he might otherwise, Reid said, “Uh, no, not really.”
So … about how much does he sleep?
“You know,” he said, hesitating to elaborate.
When I playfully suggested he just didn’t want to tell us, he finally said, “If I get four hours, I’m good to go. … I’m going to have plenty of time pushing up the daisies. Long sleep.”
