Brett Ashley Cantwell
Brett Ashley Cantwell has been married to the Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach, Nick Sirianni, since 2013. However, despite her proximity to A-listers and the spotlight, little is known about the down-to-earth brunette’s personal life, upbringing, or related details.
According to old interviews and media publications, Nick met his future wife in Kansas City, Missouri, while he worked for the Kansas City Chiefs. At the time, Brett – who was born in Springfield, Missouri, on 26th August 1986 – was employed as a teacher and had absolutely no interest in sports.
Despite the future couple living in the same apartment complex while Nick worked with the Chiefs, their relationship didn’t progress much further than the occasional ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’. When the head coach finally worked up the courage to ask Brett out on a date, she was hesitant to say yes and had to be convinced by her sister to do so.
Eventually, Nick won Brett over and they embarked on a serious relationship. In May 2013, the couple became engaged after dating for two years; it’s evident that neither party wanted to waste any time, as they tied the knot at Schweitzer United Methodist Church just one month later.
Although the couple have moved several times due to the nature of Nick’s NFL career, they’ll always have fond memories of Kansas City. ‘When you have something as significant as meeting your wife there in that city, that place, that time frame, that city is always going to carry a special place in my heart because of that,’ the coach stated during a 2023 interview with The Athletic.
Children
Nick and Brett’s first child, Jacob, was born in 2015 while he was working for the San Diego Chargers. As it happens, the youngster is a huge baseball fan – and despite his busy schedule, Nick does his best to participate in his son’s Little League team. Although the head coach doesn’t want to pressure any of his children into sports, he’s as supportive as can be, and often attends his son’s games and offers him advice.
Nick Sirianni doing his postgame presser with family. #Eagles pic.twitter.com/AbJZnHEsH8
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) October 30, 2022
Taylor, the middle child and only daughter of the Sirianni family, was born in 2017 and is described by her father as having ‘a lot of personality’. Although she and her brothers have attended plenty of sports events with their dad over the years, Taylor stole the show in January 2023 during a pre-Super Bowl press conference in which she became restless and started mimicking Nick’s hand gestures and facial expressions as he spoke.
As soon as Nick realized what his daughter was doing, he told her to stop – however, the adorable moment had already gone viral, with one news station captioning the video: ‘Nick Sirianni just made the Super Bowl, but he still has to be a Dad too.’
Last but not least is Miles, the baby of the family who was born in 2020. We don’t have much information about the youngest Sirianni sibling just yet, but every time he’s spotted at a game or conference, his vibrant personality and enthusiasm shine through. When the Philadelphia Eagles secured their spot in Super Bowl LVII, Nick and his three kids all celebrated on the field, with Miles rolling around in confetti and excitedly jumping up and down.
Nick Sirianni
Nick was born to a Catholic Italian family in Jamestown, New York State, in June 1981. Aged 18, he matriculated from Southwestern Central High School, where his father Fran was head coach.
From 2000 to 2002, Nick won three consecutive national championships playing wide receiver at Division III Mount Union. Despite his promising college career almost coming to an end after a calf injury and compartment syndrome, Nick continued to play, and eventually graduated with an education degree.
Prior to being hired by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009, Nick coached defensive backs at his alma mater, and wide receivers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for three years. Nick’s Kansas City gig was thanks to head coach Todd Haley, as they had originally got to know each other while attending the same youth organization in the early 2000s.
When Todd left the Chiefs, Nick was retained under replacement head coach Romeo Crennel and also promoted to wide receivers coach position. However, he joined the San Diego Chargers in 2013, and climbed up the ranks during his four years with the team.
In 2018, Nick switched teams yet again as he was hired as offensive co-ordinator of the Indianapolis Colts. From 2018 to 2020, the Boston native helped the Colts make the NFL playoffs twice; nevertheless, he received the opportunity of his lifetime in January 2021 as he was hired to become the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles following the firing of Doug Pederson.
Nick made sure to shake the table and fire a handful of Doug’s staff members, replacing them with a staff of young coaches such as Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon. It’s important to note that Nick was the only first-year coach to lead a team to the playoffs in the 2021 NFL season. In 2022, the Eagles ironically lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, so were eliminated from the play-offs.
2023 was perhaps Nick’s worst year with the Eagles, as he lost two trusted staff members and was blamed for the team’s defensive and offensive regression. Apart from the Eagles being eliminated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2023 NFL Playoffs’ Wild Card Round, Nick also received hate from sports fans after replacing defensive co-ordinator Sean Desai with Matt Patricia, a move which backfired and led to the team finishing second-to-last in total defense. At the end of the season, Nick fired Sean, Matt, and offensive co-ordinator Brian Johnson.
‘I didn’t do a good enough job,’ a despondent Nick stated during the post-game conference following the Eagles’ elimination. ‘We’ll have to look at ourselves in the mirror and accept that and find answers, find solutions.’
Despite the Eagles’ disastrous year and numerous changes in staff, it looks like Nick’s head coach position is safe for the time being. However, his future almost certainly depends on the 2024 NFL season.
