The Chargers have hired former NFL quarterback Frank Reich (pronounced “Rike”) as the team’s new quarterbacks coach, Head Coach Mike McCoy announced today.
Reich has spent the last seven seasons coaching with the Indianapolis Colts (2006-11) and Arizona Cardinals (2012). He landed a coaching internship with the Indianapolis Colts in 2006. After two seasons (2006-07) as an intern, the Colts promoted Reich to offensive assistant in 2008 and he worked with the team’s wide receivers and quarterbacks through the 2011 season. In Indianapolis, he worked with a talented cast that included quarterback Peyton Manning and wide receivers Reggie Wayne and Pierre Garcon. Reich spent the 2012 season as the wide receivers coach for the Arizona Cardinals where he worked with six-time Pro Bowl pass-catcher Larry Fitzgerald.
“Frank Reich has extensive experience as both a quarterback and a coach in the NFL,” said McCoy. “He’s an outstanding addition to our staff.”
A third-round pick of the Bills in 1985, Reich played 14 NFL seasons, including 10 with Buffalo (1985-94), one with Carolina (1995), one with the New York Jets (1996), and two with Detroit (1997-98). He retired in 1998 and didn’t return to the NFL until 2006.
Reich was involved in two of the greatest comeback victories in football history, one as a collegian and the other as a pro. During his senior season at the University of Maryland in 1984, Reich led the Terrapins to a 42-40 win over the University of Miami in a game that his squad trailed 31-0. At the time, it was the largest deficit ever overcome in a college game. Nine seasons later as the backup quarterback for the Buffalo Bills (1992), Reich started for an injured Jim Kelly in an AFC Wild Card Playoff game against Houston and rallied the Bills from a 35-3 deficit in the third quarter to a 41-38 win over the Oilers. To this day, it is still the greatest comeback in NFL history.
A native of Freeport, New York, Reich and his wife, Linda, have three children.
