Once again, the Philadelphia Eagles are involved in the kind of palace intrigue usually reserved for those 5-11 teams struggling to find a clear identity and direction.
Except for one thing: the Eagles were 11-5 last season. They won a first-round playoff game. At the owners' meetings in March, new Washington Redskins coach Marty Schottenheimer anointed the Eagles as the best team in the NFC East.
|  | | Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has given all power to head coach Andy Reid. |
And no one was more responsible for re-building the Eagles than the team's director of football operations Tom Modrak.
So, why was Modrak fired on Monday, sending the Eagles' front office into the kind of turmoil that marred the first five years of the Jeffrey Lurie regime in Philadelphia?
In a news conference on Monday, Lurie claimed that Modrak was let go because of the constant barrage of unattributed reports in the press that Modrak was looking to leave the organization. A year ago, Modrak demanded that a 30-day window be put in his contract that would allow him to leave after the 2001 and 2002 seasons. Lurie agreed, demanding that the Eagles have the same 30-day option.
Early last month, the stories started appearing that Modrak was not going to return – stories that Lurie intimated on Monday that Modrak was planting and that Modrak strenuously denies.
"I didn't start any of them," said Modrak, who was linked to front-office openings in Chicago, Washington and San Francisco.
"The bottom line here is that the organization did not feel comfortable with the constant questions of whether Tom's commitment to the organization was 100 percent and capable of being a long-term commitment," Lurie said of Modrak, who lasted 19 years in his previous job in Pittsburgh.
Actually, it is Lurie who has had a problem with long-term commitment. To understand what's happened in Philadelphia, it's important to look at the brief, but troubled history of his ownership of the Eagles.
In the spring of 1995, three months into Ray Rhodes' tenure as head coach, Lurie decided to fill out his front office. Lurie wanted to hire then-San Diego Chargers general manager Bobby Beathard, but he wasn't available. Jimmy Johnson, whom Lurie tried to hire to replace Rich Kotite in December 1994, lobbied Lurie to hire an old friend, Bob Ackles.
Rhodes liked this decision because Ackles was more of an administrator and that would give Rhodes more power over personnel moves. But Lurie's longtime right-hand man, Joe Banner, disagreed. Banner wanted to hire Modrak away from the Pittsburgh Steelers because he thought Modrak could help Rhodes evaluate talent. Banner lost the argument.
Rhodes was given final say – something Lurie wouldn't give to Dick Vermeil and was the reason why Lurie never hired Vermeil in 1994.
But Ackles quickly left, joining Jimmy Johnson in Miami. Lurie hired one of Beathard's protégés, Dick Daniels, to run the football operations. And that's when the troubles started. To keep Daniels out of the loop, Rhodes hired an old friend from his days in San Francisco, Mike Lombardi – a brilliant talent scout who is just as adept at office politics.
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The Eagles are about to make a $15 million commitment and hand the keys to their revved up franchise to a head coach who has had one winning season. |
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But the committee structure lacked accountability and the Eagles missed on a number of draft picks and free-agency moves. And as the team slowly disintegrated before his eyes, Lurie finally hired Modrak in 1998 – Rhodes' final year and the season they went 3-13, the worst record in franchise history. Modrak was brought in to rebuild.
Lurie said in an interview the summer before that season: "I'll tell you something I've never said before: Going in, my idea was always to hire a top general manager and take it from there. So, I always felt in my gut that one person couldn't do it all." Then he said: "The debate is about whether a head coach can do it all. He can't."
Lurie now says he was referring to Rhodes, not all coaches in general. But twice before – with Vermeil and Rhodes – Lurie eschewed the idea of giving one guy all the power. That's why Modrak was hired.
Ironically, that's what is happening in the wake of Modrak's firing. Lurie is giving all the power in the organization to head coach Andy Reid. Like his mentor Mike Holmgren in Seattle and his friend Mike Sherman in Green Bay, Reid became executive vice president of football operations and head coach on Tuesday. Perhaps it's no coincidence that Reid, Holmgren and Sherman all have the same agent, Bob LaMonte.
In the current cap-happy NFL, giving one-man control is debatable. In Seattle, Holmgren has had a difficult start. Mike Shanahan did a brilliant job in Denver – but he had John Elway. In Baltimore, a strong front office led by director of football operations Ozzie Newsome and scouting guru Phil Savage built a franchise that was superbly coached by Brian Billick and won a Super Bowl.
Reid will soon get a three-year extension on top of the three years remaining on his current five-year deal. Sources with knowledge of the deal say Reid will be paid about $2.5 million per season. Add it up: The Eagles are about to make a $15 million commitment and hand the keys to their revved up franchise to a head coach who has had one winning season.
That is a big hammer for Reid. It will buy him extraordinary powers of persuasion over Lurie and Banner. And, whether they like it or not, Lurie and Banner are about to pay dearly for something that has eluded them since they arrived in Philadelphia seven years ago: the end, perhaps, of a debilitating run of front-office instability.
Sal Paolantonio, a reporter for ESPN, covered the Eagles during his 15-year tenure at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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 Owner Jeffrey Lurie says the constant questioning of Tom Modrak's commitment led to his firing.
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