Vic Fangio isn’t technically from Philadelphia, but he’s really about as Philly as they come.
He grew up going to Phillies games at Connie Mack Stadium and the Vet. Was a huge Richie Allen fan, so he was thrilled when he finally made the Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Fangio followed the Eagles as a kid – the great linebacker Bill Bergey was his favorite and he remembers going to an Eagles-Cowboys game as far back as the Franklin Field days.
Fangio, the Eagles’ first-year defensive coordinator, grew up in Dunmore, just outside Scranton, and attended East Stroudsburg University, which is about 100 miles up Route 611 from the NovaCare Complex. He didn’t play football in college, but he sure got the coaching bug, and in 1984 he joined Jim Mora’s staff with the USFL Philadelphia Stars.
Just like that, he had an office at the Vet, where just a few years earlier he was watching Phillies games.
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“I grew up a Philadelphia sports fan in all sports,” Fangio said in a chat with NBC Sports Philadelphia Tuesday. “Was here for the 1976 Major League All-Star game. Mark ‘the Bird’ Fidrych was the starter. That was a thrill.
"Came to a lot of Phillies games - a lot considering I was two hours away. And really always enjoyed them, especially since I lived through some of the lean years. And then when they got good in the mid to late 70s, that was enjoyable.
“When I got to be with the Stars and driving into work every day and Veterans Stadium was my office? That was a thrill, and I really, really enjoyed that. Got to know everybody that worked at the Vet. That was our homestead.
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“It’s nice to be back home. You know, pseudo home. I have a lot of family within a couple hours and they've been able to come down and watch some games, stay at the house, and that’s been really nice. Something I haven’t had in a long time.”
The Stars moved to Baltimore in 1986 after two years at the Vet, and Fangio didn’t return to Philadelphia for 3 ½ decades.
He’s had success wherever he went. Top-10 defenses his first two years with Dom Capers and the expansion Panthers. Four straight top-5 defenses with Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers. The No. 3 defense in the NFL with the Bears in 2018 – yeah, he was on the wrong end of the double doink. And top-10 defenses with the Broncos in 2021 and Dolphins in 2023.
He spent 2022 with the Eagles as a consultant between coaching jobs, but his dream of returning to coach here looked like it would never happen.
“I always wanted to come back, and over the last 15 to 20 years or so, there were a couple times where they inquired about me coming back,” he said. “But I was under contract with another team and the timing was never right. Either on my end or their end.
“And when I went to Miami (last year), I thought that would be my last job and I thought then it would never happen.”
But Miami just wasn’t a good fit, and even though the Dolphins finished with the No. 10 defense in the league, both sides agreed to move on after last season ended. And as soon as the Eagles fired defensive coordinator Sean Desai – who Fangio worked with in Chicago – it was a no-brainer that he would finally join the Eagles.
It took all of four days after Desai was let go for the Eagles to hire Fangio.
“When the opening occurred, I really wanted to come back,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 38 years now, so when you get to this point in your career, you’re looking for the perfect situation. That it happened now, it was such a blessing.
“I always wanted to come back here and this will be my last coaching job, and I’m thrilled to be here.”
Fangio has worked wonders this year.
The Eagles ranked 30th in points allowed and 26th in yards allowed last year, and 13 games into this year they’re second in points allowed and first in yards allowed.
And that’s with the youngest defense in the NFL and seven new starters.
The Eagles haven’t had the No. 1 defense in the NFL since Bud Carson’s legendary 1991 group, which finished No. 1 against both the run and the pass.
The NFL uses total yards allowed to officially rank defenses, and no team in NFL history has ever finished No. 1 after being as low as 26th the previous year. The biggest jump ever was by the 2020 Patriots, who ranked first after they ranked 21st in 2019.
The defense has held nine straight teams to 20 or fewer points, something the Eagles last did in 2003. It’s No. 2 in passing yards allowed, No. 8 in sacks, No. 4 in first downs allowed, No. 3 on third down and No. 6 in the red zone.
So this 2024 group is on the brink of some pretty special things.
The Eagles have had some exceptional veteran defensive coordinators over the years. They were No. 1 in points allowed in both 1980 and 1981 under Marion Campbell, they had that historically great group in 1991 under Carson and seven top-10 units in 10 years under Jim Johnson, who Fangio had a long-standing professional friendship with.
But what Fangio is doing is up there with any of them.
“I've always felt a part of Philadelphia, even though I didn't live here other than the two years with the Stars,” he said. “And so, I've enjoyed this year a lot. Any time you can play good defense, it's always gratifying, and we've been doing that up to this point. I'm happy for our players because the players are what makes it go. I'm happy for our fans and our organization. And I’m just happy to be home.
“I was always a bigger Phillies fan than Eagles fan. The Eagles weren’t very good for most of the 1960s and 1970s. And once I started coaching, they were just another one out of 32 teams. But whenever I’m done, I’ll be an Eagles fan forever.”
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