Chiefs’ Steve Spagnuolo is known for other jobsites, but Philly’s fundamental to his ID

Through dozens of coaching jobs in three countries, the District of Columbia and nine states, Steve Spagnuolo has retained an amiable and distinguishing New England accent.

Perhaps he’s still best-known for his marquee moment with the New York Giants, when he orchestrated a shutdown of the previously 18-0 Patriots in a 17-14 victory in Super Bowl XLII.

And considering his time as defensive coordinator of the Chiefs, head coach of the St. Louis Rams and the pivotal connection he made with Andy Reid visiting the Mizzou coaching staff in the Bob Stull era, Missouri has been a momentous part of his career marked by extremes: the misery of his 10-38 record with the Rams and his storybook revival with the Chiefs.

In Kansas City, his defenses that typically peak late in the season have helped the Chiefs into three of the last four Super Bowls. Nine games into this season, he’s coaxed that unit to the pinnacle of the NFL (tied with the 49ers) as it has allowed 15.9 points a game.

If Spagnuolo remains most identifiable for his native tongue, nomadic career and highlights with the Giants and Chiefs, though, his most essential NFL job and enduring ties remain with Philadelphia.

The topic is top of mind with the formidable challenge posed by the visiting Eagles (8-1) for the Chiefs (7-2) entering their Super Bowl LVII rematch on Monday night.

Much of the connection attention Monday naturally will be focused on Reid, the former Eagles head coach, and the Brothers Kelce. But Spagnuolo, like offensive coordinator Matt Nagy and special teams coordinator Dave Toub, began his NFL coaching career under Reid in Philly and remains entwined with the area.

And, most notably when it comes to football itself, he remains a disciple of stellar late Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson.

Spagnuolo met his wife, Maria, in Philadelphia, where she grew up and they still have a home. When he was at a career crossroads and out of the NFL for a year before Reid hired him again in 2019, Spagnuolo found solace and direction in a Philly-area institution, NFL Films, just across the bridge in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey.

Albeit in his latest capacity with the Chiefs, Spagnuolo has made it a habit to visit the captivating cultural curiosity of Big Charlie’s Saloon, a Chiefs bar in South Philly, and, among other gestures, presented a Super Bowl LIV replica Lombardi Trophy.

The couple still has a home, too, “downtheshore,” as the saying goes there, in Avalon, New Jersey.

Having beaten the Eagles in the Super Bowl, of course, made this offseason back there a little different than others.

Not that he was flaunting it.

“It wasn’t like we were flying ‘Super Bowl, Kansas City Chiefs’ flags or anything,” he said, smiling, in an interview with The Star on Thursday. “We steered away from that.”

He took “a little ribbing,” to be sure, but figured it beat what it would have been like if the Eagles had won. As it was, he lost track of how many times he was asked “did you think that was a penalty?” late on Philly’s James Bradberry (whose admission of holding after the game later was confirmed by NFL Films footage).

Still, he appreciates why the loss stung many around something of an adoptive region for him.

But his ongoing affection for what he calls “eight years of a real key time in my life” isn’t just about life outside football.

It’s about the opportunity first provided by Reid, who initially met Spagnuolo when he was visiting another assistant coach, Steve Telander, on Stull’s staff at Texas-El Paso and continued to do so at Mizzou before Reid left to join the Green Bay Packers as an assistant coach.

He kept in touch with Reid, who called him to offer a defensive assistant job just as Spagnuolo was about to begin his second season with the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe.

The Chiefs game against the Dolphins in Frankfurt two weeks ago, in fact, was Spagnuolo’s first time back since he was preparing for his second season there by taking German lessons …

Only for Reid to intervene and change the trajectory of his career when his only direct NFL experience had been in personnel with Washington 16 years before.

That’s when Johnson, who played for Dan Devine at Missouri, also became a profound influence on Spagnuolo while Reid’s Eagles reached five conference title games and a Super Bowl in the decade before he died from cancer in 2009.

During the last nine of his 10 years with Reid, Johnson’s defenses ranked second in the NFL in sacks (390) and fourth in fewest points allowed (17.7).

Creativity and innovation underscored the work of Johnson, of whom Spagnuolo always speaks with reverence and who also mentored current NFL head coaches John Harbaugh, Sean McDermott and Ron Rivera.

Last week, Spagnuolo smiled as he recalled friends of Johnson saying that late in his career he was engineering what might be called “retirement defense” — the willingness to take chances on exotic schemes that he wouldn’t have when he was younger.

For the impressionable Spagnuolo, though, that influenced an imagination and aggressiveness early in his NFL coaching career.

Reid had been grooming Spagnuolo to become Johnson’s successor, but Spagnuolo was hired away to become the Giants’ defensive coordinator in 2007 and took with him that Johnsonesque approach to the game that resonates to this day.

The first words of the Associated Press obituary of Johnson say he “frustrated opponents and confused young quarterbacks with his complex defensive schemes, always looking for a new way to disguise a blitz.”

Sound familiar?

Just the other day, Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt told his room of players he’d pay any of them $100 if they ever played for a coordinator who presents a more difficult system than Spagnuolo does.

“There’s no other coordinator in this league that’s going to give you the amount of volume that Steve gives these players every week,” he said. “And it’s constantly, constantly changing, and it’s fluid.”

You could say the same of Spagnuolo’s career itself, which may or may not have another head coaching opportunity awaiting as he turns 64 next month.

But for all the stops and places he could consider home, there’s a certain fusion of it all to be found here and now between the Philly factor, Reid and Kansas City — where Maria now has joined him in-season after spending much of the last few years caring for her parents in their final years back home.

Per the AP upon Johnson’s death, Reid said, “This whole Eagles-Andy Reid regime here that’s taken place wouldn’t have been possible without Jim.”

To be sure, starting with Patrick Mahomes and general manager Brett Veach, there are plenty of other reasons for this “whole Chiefs-Andy Reid” regime to have become what it has.

But Spagnuolo sure has been fundamental to it … even as he honors his time in Philly and Johnson’s legacy in his own way.