Nick Sirianni Has a Text Buddy in Jay Wright

The Eagles coach said he receives motivational texts from the two-time national champion and former head coach at Villanova University

Reporters still weren’t allowed inside the team facilities and were participating in a Nick Sirianni press conference early in the season inside a makeshift media tent outside the building where the team’s offices are located, when the Eagles head coach dropped a morsel.

“There goes Jim Bob now,” Sirianni said in words to that effect.

That was when it was learned Jim Bob Cooter, now the passing game coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars, had been hired by the Eagles in an offensive consulting role.

Sirianni did it again on Sunday evening while basking in the glow of yet another win, a 20-17 triumph over the Arizona Cardinals in a so-far, still-unbeaten season.

“Coach Wright always texts me before games, saying ‘You have to claw, scratch, whatever you need to do to take it out in the end,’” said the Eagles coach. “He always says that to me, saying, ‘That’s going to build character.’ I love Coach Jay.”

Just like one-plus-one equals two, Jay plus Wright equals former Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright, who took the Wildcats to two national championships and four Final Fours before retiring after last season.

Former Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright / USA Today

Hmmm…so Sirianni and Wright are old friends?

Did Wright go to Mount Union like Sirianni and have any contact with the Purple Raiders’ former football coach Larry Kehres?

Nope.

“I didn’t know him before this, but I’m so glad he’s an Eagles fan,” said Sirianni. “I’m so glad he wants to give me his knowledge as a coach. He says, ‘Man, you guys just dug and clawed and it’s just going to keep building who you are as a football team,’ and it really does.

“So, those handshakes in the (locker room) mean a little more. We’re dapping each other up, but they mean a little more since we’ve worked so hard to connect. You get in there, you go through that, you bleed and sweat and grind together, and they mean a little more when you win it like that. It will bring us closer.”

It was a bad weekend to be a Cardinal with the Phillies sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals out of the playoffs in two games and the Eagles winning a thriller over the football team in Arizona.

Eagles fans overran State Farm Stadium, too, and Sirianni repped the Phillies wearing an old-school powder-blue Phillis shirt in his postgame press conference.

“What a great time to be a Philly sports fan,” he said. “These fans - I tried to go up to as many as I possibly could (after the game) because it felt like Washington D.C. (when Eagles fans took over FedEx Field in Week 3). These fans are awesome. It’s such a great sports town. We appreciate the heck out of them. It was special.”

Sirianni said he got home from work on Friday and watched the final couple innings of the Phillies' Game 1 win over the Cardinals with his sons and is hoping he can score tickets to Game 3 of the NLDS at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night against the Atlanta Braves.

“Playoff baseball is pretty sweet," he said. "What an awesome time to be a Philly sports fan. We obviously have a job to do, but I’m excited for (76ers) head coach (Doc) Rivers’ team to get going. It's exciting to be a Phillies and Flyers fan.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.