At his news conference on Friday, Philadelphia Eagles coach vowed that he would not be resigning from his post despite the fact that two of his adult sons had recently been sentenced to up to 23 months in prison for drug and weapons crimes. Reid who did not answer questions admitted that his family had been struggling with his sons’ problems for several years. He asserted that his family would continue to support his sons in hopes that someday they would be able to lead normal lives.

Reid’s discussions of his family’s struggles seem in many respects to minimize the severity of his children’s self destructive behavior. Moreover, he seemed to not fully appreciate the severity of his children’s acts. Media accounts of the Reid children’s crimes suggest that they were not only damaging themselves but were also dealing drugs in the streets of Philadelphia and at the Reid’s home.The sentencing judge declared that the Reids were a “family in crisis” and the Reid home was a “drug emporium”. It is clear to me that given the severity of this family’s crisis if Reid will not resign, for his sake and sake of his family he should be fired.

To let Andy Reid continue in his current role as Eagles coach is to continue to enable the Reid family to fail to deal with its own destruction. Media reports say that there are three other Reid children living at home. For the sake of these children, Andy Reid needs to use the time and talents which have made him such successful football coach to at least make sure that the children who are still at home are protected from the dangerous environment created by the older Reid children. At best Coach Reid needs to seek help and guidance in what will be a lifelong struggle for his two older sons to live strong, healthy, and fulfilling lives.

The professional football world needs to stop being enablers. To a man the Sunday commentators on ESPN, Fox, and CBS, expressed their support for Coach Reid by saying that his is a private matter and it is essentially none of the public’s business. This is “enabling blabber“. For the millions of dollars that NFL players and coaches are paid and the pervasive media attention the NFL receives, the example set by Andy Reid is a very public matter. And for those who say that the judge should not have taken the Reid family to task publicly, I urge them to attend any criminal court sentencing and listen to what judges have to say when they sentence drug dealers. In a number of reported cases, families have had their homes taken from them by the criminal justice system because their children were selling drugs in the residence.

For goodness sake and the Reid Family’s sake, “Fire Andy Reid”.