New special teams coordinator Bobby April has been a hot coaching commodity the past few weeks, ever since opting out of his contract with the Buffalo Bills in early January. April had the opportunity to move on from Buffalo after Bills' head coach Dick Jauron was fired mid-season.

Since becoming a coaching free agent, April, one of the most highly-regarded special teams' coaches in the league, had a lot of options. So why did he choose to come to Philadelphia and join head coach Andy Reid's coaching staff?

"Well my history goes back with Andy Reid, all the way back to his days at San Francisco State and my days at the University of Arizona," April said on his conference call with reporters, evoking a long-term acquaintance with Reid.

Reid was offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at San Francisco State from 1983-1985. April spent time as the defensive line and secondary coach for Arizona from 1980-1986.

"Vic Rowen, (Reid's) head coach at San Francisco State, and I were very good friends," April said. "I used to visit with him often and knew of Andy, met Andy there. Over the years, my connection with Bob Stull, who was Andy's head coach at UTEP and Missouri.

Reid and I "have a long relationship, though we never worked together or anything like that, and my knowledge of the situation from (former Eagles' special teams coordinator) John Harbaugh, a good friend of mine. (Head athletic trainer) Rick Burkholder's there. I know the system. I know Coach. Dick Jauron is a really close friend of Coach Reid's. (Jauron) and I were exceptionally good friends, shared a lot of stuff. And I knew a lot about it. I knew about the man that ran the ship. (I) heard tremendous things about the organization, about the city, about the ownership, but knew about the head coach and knew about the system. I was very lucky to be considered there to be honest."

-- Posted by Bo Wulf, 5:18 p.m., January 14