The Kansas City Chiefs kickstarted Nick Sirianni’s NFL coaching career, and also allowed him to meet his wife, who gave up her dream teaching job to continue their relationship
Brett Ashley Cantwell quit her role as a teacher for Nick Sirianni(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni celebrated his first Super Bowl success last year after steamrolling the Kansas City Chiefs, but he will always feel grateful to the organization, as he met his wife while working for them in Missouri.
Sirianni and the Eagles will look to retain the Super Bowl championship this season, after beating the Chiefs 40-22 in New Orleans. On Sunday, the Eagles begin their 2025 postseason run against the San Francisco 49ers, after finishing with an 11-6 record in the regular season.
The Eagles handed Sirianni his first head coaching role, but it was made possible after his wife agreed to give up her job as a teacher and travel around the country. His wife, Brett Ashley Cantwell, loved her role as a teacher, but decided that she loved Sirianni more and didn’t want to impact his dreams.
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Sirianni began his NFL coaching career with the Chiefs in 2008 and worked his way up over four seasons before agreeing to join the San Diego Chargers in 2013. Before moving to California, and later Indianapolis and Philadelphia, Sirianni met his future wife.
They met in the same apartment complex and got married in June 2013, having dated for two years. Sirianni then landed a role with the Chargers, and Cantwell quit her job as a teacher in Springfield, MO, to facilitate the move.
“I loved my job. I loved everything about Kansas City,” she said to Colts.com in 2019. “I loved Nick more. So, it was all worth it.
Sirianni and Cantwell married in 2013 and have three children together(Image: 2023 Getty Images)
“I was from Missouri and had never moved out of Missouri. I hit reality and realized I’m in the most beautiful place ever, but it’s kind of difficult because he works all the time.”
After bumping into each other at their apartment complex on several occasions, Sirianni was interested, though Cantwell wasn’t initially. “I didn’t remember him, but he remembered me,” she added.
“He was like, ‘I work with the Chiefs.’ I didn’t care at all.” Cantwell’s sister eventually convinced her to go on a date, and they’re now happily married with three children: Jacob, Taylor, and Miles.
Sirianni won his first Super Bowl ring with the Eagles last season(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
Despite forming a rivalry with the Chiefs since becoming Philadelphia’s head coach, Kansas City will always feel special to Sirianni. “Obviously, meeting my wife there, that will always be a special place to us because of that,” Sirianni told The Athletic in 2023.
“Then professionally, my first stint in the NFL. 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.”
Cantwell agreed to move to California in 2013, and five years later, they relocated to Indianapolis, as Sirianni landed the Colts’ offensive coordinator role. In 2021, he became the Eagles’ head coach, but support from the wives of other coaches has helped Cantwell adapt to the lifestyle.
“We’re all in the same situation. That’s what makes it easier, I think,” she said. “There are so many other coaches’ wives that have kids, and that’s an instant connection right there.”
