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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil knows what it&#8217;s like to adjust when your starting quarterback goes down with injury.</p><p>Just have the right backup ready to go.</p><p>While the Eagles sure had the right person for the job this year, winning Super Bowl LII over the New England Patriots with Nick Foles, Vermeil&#8217;s 1999 St. Louis Rams team &#8212; &#8220;The Greatest Show on Turf&#8221; &#8212; was faced with a much different scenario.</p><p>Vermeil, the 81-year-old retired NFL and college coaching legend, was the featured speaker at the 73rd annual dinner of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.</p><p>The dinner, attended by 430 men in tuxedos and suits &#8212; mostly adorned with some wearin&#8217; o&#8217; the green &#8212; was held at the Best Western Plus Genetti Hotel &amp; Conference Center.</p><p>Greg Collins, retired regional president of Wells Fargo, was honored as the organization&#8217;s Man of the Year. Michael Bradshaw, president, served as dinner chairman.</p><p>Vermeil, who has lived in Chester County since the mid-1980s, said he still keeps in touch with the Eagles, having visited with head coach Doug Pederson just last week. He said Pederson had the right background to be successful on the sidelines.</p><p>&#8220;Doug was a backup quarterback and those guys learn more about the game than anybody,&#8221; Vermeil said, noting Pederson had high-profile coaches like Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden and Andy Reid to learn from.</p><p>Vermeil was quick to note that Foles was an ideal backup for the Eagles, and he wasn&#8217;t surprised he led the team to a Super Bowl title after Carson Wentz went down with injury.</p><p>&#8220;Nick Foles can play,&#8221; Vermeil said.</p><p>Vermeil said the Eagles are facing a tough decision regarding Foles &#8212; to keep him as a backup to Wentz, or to go the business route and trade him. Vermeil said Foles is worth a first-round draft pick.</p><p>&#8220;The best would be to get something for him,&#8221; Vermeil said. &#8220;And Foles has the kind of personality that he will go with the flow. I think he would be happy to stay with the Eagles and he would be happy to go to another team where he would be a starter.&#8221;</p><p>As for Foles&#8217; touchdown catch on a trick play on fourth-and-goal in the Super Bowl &#8212; dubbed the &#8220;Philly Special&#8221; &#8212; would Vermeil have been so bold as to call it when he was in charge?</p><p>&#8220;Probably not,&#8221; he laughed.</p><p><strong>Relationship builder</strong></p><p>Vermeil said when his starting QB with the &#8216;99 Rams, Trent Green, was injured in the team&#8217;s third preseason game, he turned to Kurt Warner, who was working in a grocery store in Cedar Falls, Iowa, just a few years prior to playing in the Arena Football League.</p><p>&#8220;Kurt had never taken a snap in the NFL before we put him in as our starter,&#8221; Vermeil said.</p><p>Warner went on to throw 41 TD passes in 1999, capping it all off with a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV over the Tennessee Titans.</p><p>Vermeil said he was going to tell the Friendly Sons crowd how to build a team. He said he still misses coaching and enjoys visiting with the Eagles during training camp.</p><p>Vermeil has a wine business, Vermeil Wines, in California. He said he visits the vineyards from time to time. On the back of a four-page brochure about the wine business, Vermeil lists his seven Common Sense Principles of Leadership:</p><p>&#8226; Make sure your people know you care.</p><p>&#8226; Be a good example.</p><p>&#8226; Create an atmosphere in which people enjoy working.</p><p>&#8226; Define, delegate, then lead.</p><p>&#8226; Bring an energy to the workplace.</p><p>&#8226; Build relationships as you implement your vision, values and process.</p><p>&#8226; Be sincere.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Positive impact&#8217;</strong></p><p>As for Collins, he was humbled to be chosen as Man of the Year.</p><p>&#8220;I just wanted to take my life in a direction to produce a positive impact on the community,&#8221; Collins said. &#8220;And I always wanted to represent my Irish brethren very well.&#8221;</p><p>Friendly Sons president Bradshaw, a mechanic/forklift technician from Duryea, said he was honored to be recently elected to lead the group and to have Vermeil as the featured speaker. Bradshaw said the Friendly Sons group sponsors two scholarships to King&#8217;s College and Misericordia University and also donates to the United Way of Wyoming Valley.</p><p><ins><strong>About Dick Vermeil</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>&#8226; Vermeil coached the Philadelphia Eagles, St. Louis Rams and Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL and UCLA in the college arena. </ins></p><p><ins>&#8226; He retired from professional football in January 2006, after spending 15 seasons as an NFL head coach. </ins></p><p><ins>&#8226; He had a prestigious career as a football broadcaster, analyzing both NFL and college games. </ins></p><p><ins>&#8226; Vermeil coached the Philadelphia Eagles from 1976 to 1982. In seven seasons with the Eagles, Vermeil engineered four playoff appearances, highlighted by an NFC Championship win over the Dallas Cowboys and a trip to Super Bowl XV against the Oakland Raiders in 1980. </ins></p><p><ins>&#8226; Vermeil is a member of three college sports halls of fame &#8212; Napa Community College, San Jose State and UCLA; two NFL teams&#8217; Halls of Fame &#8211; Philadelphia Eagles, St. Louis Rams; three states&#8217; halls of fame &#8212; Pennsylvania, Missouri, and California; and the Rose Bowl HOF. </ins></p><p><ins>&#8226; Vermeil and his wife have three children, Rick, David, and Nancy, plus 11 grandchildren. </ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Toastmaster for the evening John Corcoran gives a speech during the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick banquet at Genetti's in Wilkes-Barre.  3/16/18. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons5-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Toastmaster for the evening John Corcoran gives a speech during the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick banquet at Genetti's in Wilkes-Barre.  3/16/18. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySonsMAIN.CMYK_-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil stands next to toastmaster John Corcoran after Man of the Year Greg Collins was introduced at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Friendly Sons of St. Patrick&#8217;s dinner at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySonsMAIN.CMYK_-3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil stands next to toastmaster John Corcoran after Man of the Year Greg Collins was introduced at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Friendly Sons of St. Patrick&#8217;s dinner at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons2-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jeff Cusat, mayor of Hazleton, far right, talks with guest Bob Riley at the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick dinner at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons2-4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Jeff Cusat, mayor of Hazleton, far right, talks with guest Bob Riley at the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick dinner at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons4-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Guests at the Friendly Sons dinner mingle during cocktail hour at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons4-4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Guests at the Friendly Sons dinner mingle during cocktail hour at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre. </caption3><photoCredit3>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons3-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pat Kerrigan of Wilkes-Barre, left, gets a photograph taken with former Philadelphia head coach Dick Vermeil at the Friendly Sons dinner at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons3-4.jpg</photo4><caption4>Pat Kerrigan of Wilkes-Barre, left, gets a photograph taken with former Philadelphia head coach Dick Vermeil at the Friendly Sons dinner at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre. </caption4><photoCredit4>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons1-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Past president of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Jim Conahan of Wilkes-Barre, gets a photograph taken with former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre on Friday during the Friendly Sons dinner. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons1-4.jpg</photo5><caption5>Past president of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Jim Conahan of Wilkes-Barre, gets a photograph taken with former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre on Friday during the Friendly Sons dinner. </caption5><photoCredit5>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit5></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons6-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil stands next to toastmaster John Corcoran after Man of the Year Greg Collins was introduced at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Friendly Sons of St. Patrick&#8217;s dinner at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo6>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL031718FriendlySons6-3.jpg</photo6><caption6>Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil stands next to toastmaster John Corcoran after Man of the Year Greg Collins was introduced at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Friendly Sons of St. Patrick&#8217;s dinner at Genetti&#8217;s in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </caption6><photoCredit6>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit6></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Greater WB Friendly Sons host ex-Eagles coach Vermeil