Anyone who has watched a Nick Sirianni press conference knows that he is all business with the focus being on the Philadelphia Eagles.
Sirianni is the type who doesn't even go into too many details about injuries and usually says, "You all read the report." He is very close to the vest on things, but one moment in his last press conference before the Eagles face the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 14 saw him get a bit more personal.
During his press conference, Sirianni talked about new Penn State Nittany Lions head football coach Matt Campbell and new UConn head football coach Jason Candle after they were hired. Sirianni wanted to express how proud and excited he was of them.
"I'm really excited for him and the opportunity he has. Well-deserved. Phenomenal, phenomenal football coach. Phenomenal person, great family. I've been an Iowa State fan for the last 10 years.
"When you're coaching football yourself, you're not a fan of anybody really. And so you lose that ability to be a fan. But [Washington & Jefferson College], I'm checking their score every week for my brother. Mount Union, I've checked them every week. I would always check my nephew's football team, Southwestern. Always check Iowa State and Toledo. But I got to switch Toledo now, too, because Jason Candle got the job over there at UConn. Yeah, I think the guy who probably doesn't get enough credit, now he does from us, is we all went to school at Mount Union. For the various degrees that we went for, we didn't know we'd leave in a doctorate degree of football coaching. So [former Mount Union head coach] Larry Kehres deserves a lot of credit for all of us being in these positions right now.
"Really excited to be able to take a drive down there and talk football with him even more. We can do it on our phones, but now I can go watch a spring practice or something like that. If the rules allow you to. I don't know how that actually is. Really looking forward to watching him, and yeah, I just think he's a great football coach."
Sirianni and Campbell-Candle's connection goes behind football
Sirianni, Campbell, and Candle have known each other for over two decades, as all three played together at Mount Union, where they won multiple national championships together. Campbell and Candle went on to have college coaching careers from Toledo together to their respective schools.
As for the Eagles head coach, he took a different approach, going the NFL route after his first five years of college coaching, with most of those years with the Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers, and Indianapolis Colts, before the Eagles head coaching gig.
Since taking the Eagles job, Sirianni has won 70% of his games with a 56-24 record and has taken Philly to the Super Bowl twice, with one win. He's become one of the winningest head coaches in NFL history.
Read more: It took six minutes for Chris Simms to look foolish with his Jalen Hurts take
It's great to see three former Division III players succeed in their coaching careers, and now Sirianni will be able to see his old college buddies more often, with Campbell and Candle being closer to him.