Andy Reid had his share of ups and downs during his tenure as head coach of the Eagles. That’s to be expected for someone who roamed the same sideline in Philadelphia for 14 seasons. For the most part, he was successful – the winningest coach in franchise history with 130 wins.
Apparently, he isn’t getting the same treatment in his new city. On Tuesday, a Kansas City sports radio host was suspended indefinitely for taking aim at Reid’s parenting skills and calling into question the untimely death of his son who died from a drug overdose.
“We are aware of the controversial comments made by Kevin Kietzman during yesterday’s broadcast of Between the Lines,” the radio station said in a statement. “We have decided to take the immediate step to take Kevin off the air until further notice as we review this matter.”
The incident stemmed from comments made Monday night when Reid was attacked by the local sports radio host for lacking discipline in the handling of the Tyreek Hill situation. The Chiefs star has been banned from the team’s training facility as police investigate possible child abuse by Hill after his 3-year-old son broke his arm.
Kevin Kietzman, who hosts a show on Kansas City’s Sports Radio 810 WHB, called Reid out for not cutting Hill and blamed the coach’s lack of discipline for his son’s death. It seems like quite the leap to make a connection between a person being charged with criminal activity and a loved one who lost a battle with addiction. However, Kietzman did just that as he debated Reid’s “track record of fixing players.”
“Andy Reid does not have a great track record of fixing players. He doesn’t. It did not work out particularly well in his family life,” Kietzman said. “That needs to be added to this as we’re talking about the Chiefs. That needs to be added to this. He’s had a lot of things go bad on him, family and players. He is not good at fixing people. He is not good at discipline. That is not his strength. His strength is designing football plays.”
Kietzman immediately came under fire from Reid’s former players and his friends in the media who defended the longtime NFL coach and called for the sports talker to be fired on the spot, including inflammatory posts from Louis Riddick, Tony Bruno and Chris Long. The 20-year veteran of sports talk radio did offer a clarification of his comments, via an email to Awful Announcing.
“I never once mentioned anything about Andy Reid’s son’s death and never once had it on my mind,” he wrote in an email. “A caller called in later and said something about the death and I quickly corrected him and pointed out that I was referencing two sons that were convicted drug dealers and drug addicts that he chose to try to fix by hiring them to work for his football teams.”
Kevin Kietzman from sports radio 810 just said this. What are your thoughts on this, #ChiefsKingdom
Reid was treated with dignity and respect by both fans and media after Philadelphia finally relieved him of his duties. It was a tribute for all the excitement he brought to a city starved for a championship football team. Despite never bringing the Super Bowl trophy home, everyone acknowledged all the pain he had endured. Reid lost his son, Garrett, to a heroin overdose in 2012 and his other son, Britt, had served time in prison on gun and drug charges. Through it all, Reid dealt with the trials in his personal life with grace and humility.
Kietzman also took to social media to defend himself in a three-part post that tried to explain his stance. His main point being that Reid’s decision to let his sons work for the Eagles — Garrett overdosed and died at training camp — was the major problem.
Holy hat what’s going on here? I never mentioned one word about the tragic death of Andy Reid’s son and quickly corrected a caller who did. I was talking about the owner’s record of “fixing” players, the team’s record and Andy’s record. I was referencing the drug (1/3)
But Kietzman failed to mention all the players Reid did indeed rehabilitate, namely convicted dogfighter Michael Vick. Not many people were willing to take a chance on Vick when he was released from prison in 2009, but Reid did. The Eagles signed the quarterback and paraded him out in front of the cameras where Vick showed true repentance for his crimes.
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Back in 2017, Reid was asked specifically about the Vick situation and how it impacted his decision to draft Hill. The Chiefs selected the problematic wide receiver in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, with domestic violence issues already on his plate.
“You mentioned Michael (Vick), and that’s kind of where Michael was,” Reid told Philly Voice. “He found out the people that really cared about him and didn’t, and he wanted to fix the problem. There was no doubt with Michael that he wanted to fix the problem. And I felt that way with Tyreek. There was no doubt that he wanted to fix the problem.”
Two years later, some are jumping on Reid for not being able to fix the problem.
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Kansas City Sports Host Suspended for Taking Shots at Andy Reid’s Parenting Skills