Chicago Bears coach Matt Nagy offered lessons about football and about life in Normal on Thursday night.
Nagy spoke to a gathering of more than 1,000 guests at the Red Cross Evening of Stars at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center.
Nagy credited his mother with instilling values in him that he still preaches today.
“I just told our team on Monday and I repeated it, it’s the ‘thank yous’ and the ‘pleases’ that go a long way,” Nagy said. “You hold a door for somebody, you let somebody go first and no matter who you are or where you are at in life, you never lose that. She taught me that.”
Nagy admitted he's learning how to juggle being a father of four boys ages 10 to 14 while handling the demanding job of coaching in the National Football League.
How it all started
Nagy recalled after his football playing days were over, he had planned to spend his career coaching high school football while he was selling homes for a construction company in his native Pennsylvania.
That’s when he got a call from the Philadelphia Eagles to serve as an intern under then coach Andy Reid.
“When I was done playing, I knew football had to be a part of my life,” Nagy said. “I was in real estate, I won’t say I loved it, I really liked it, but then I got the phone coach from coach Reid and he offered me the position and I loved that and I gotta do it.”
Nagy recalled his boss, who was a ‘diehard’ Chicago Bears fan, encouraged him to follow his passion.
He stayed with Reid from Philadelphia to Kansas City in 2013 and eventually became his offensive coordinator before taking over the Bears before last season.
Turning around the Bears
As Bears players and coaches returned to Halas Hall this week to begin the team’s voluntary offseason program, Nagy said he revisited some of the highlights and lowlights of the last season. The 2018 campaign featured a 12-4 record, an unexpected surge to the NFC North title and a stunning exit on a missed field goal in their first playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles in January.
“Failure is the condiment that gives success it’s flavor. That’s powerful,” Nagy said. “That’s what we all need to live by.
“There’s a lot more lows than there are highs and we all remember the lows. I am going to make sure what we went through last year, we are going to take any of the lows that we had and we are going to turn that into a positive. That is the only way we are looking at it.”
Nagy said he was humbled to be named the NFL’s Coach of the Year in his first season as a head coach at any level, but he considers it a reflection of the work of his players and assistant coaches.
He also considers it a sign of unfinished business.
“I won’t even put that (trophy) up in my office,” Nagy said. “I appreciate it, but there’s a better one we all want and we know what that one is.”
Nagy playfully dodged questions about the Bears prospects at the NFL Draft which begins next Thursday.
He said he appreciated the passion of Bears' fans, who provide the team a distinct home-field advantage which he hopes to capitalize on more in the coming seasons. Some of those fans hollered 'Go Bears!' and 'Let's Go Nagy!' during his 45-minute discussion with broadcaster Dick Luedke.
"It's absolutely unique and I think anybody that coaches in the National Football League, you need to understand the history and the tradition of this founding franchise," Nagy said.
The Evening of Stars event is the largest annual fundraiser for the Red Cross’ Central and Southern Illinois regions. The Red Cross projects the event raised close to $300,000.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers headlined the event last year.
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