PROVO — It's an NFL story few BYU football fans may know, but it involves three famous Cougars.
In 1997, former BYU offensive lineman and assistant coach Andy Reid was an assistant with the Green Bay Packers when he approached a stunning fork in the road. Standing at the fork were Steve Young and Young's former quarterbacks coach with both BYU and the San Francisco 49ers, Mike Holmgren.
By 1997, Holmgren was Green Bay's head coach. The story begins when the 49ers gave their head coaching job to Steve Mariucci. Mariucci had worked with Reid under Holmgren in Green Bay, and he asked Holmgren for permission to hire Reid as his quarterbacks coach — for his former BYU teammate, Steve Young.