One of David Girardi's biggest highlights as Geneva's starting quarterback was leading the Golden Tornadoes to a thrilling, come-from-behind victory in the closing moments of the 2009 National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Victory Bowl, 29-28, against Greenville (IL) to capture the NCCAA Championship. Eleven years later, Girardi was again part of a thrilling, come-from-behind victory in the closing moments, this time as an assistant coach for the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, 31-20, over the San Francisco 49ers. Those memories will be hard to top, but he believes there will be many more highlights yet to come in his coaching career.
Girardi's journey over those 11 years took him from a quarterback at Geneva, followed by coaching stints at Seton Hill University, then back to Geneva, to Northwestern University, to Lafayette College, and then on to the Kansas City Chiefs where he was a part of the ultimate football victory, a Super Bowl title.
Girardi joined the Chiefs prior to the 2018 season as an offensive quality control coach, working primarily with the quarterbacks. That was the first season Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting quarterback for the Chiefs, and it was a season that ended in heartbreak with an overtime loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship, narrowly missing out on a Super Bowl berth, which would have been the franchise's first in almost 50 years. Mahomes was named the NFL's Most Valuable Player at the conclusion of that season.
A year later, the Chiefs broke down the Super Bowl door, and Girardi was there in the press box on that historic night in Miami when Kansas City won its first Super Bowl in 50 years. A game-sealing interception with just over a minute remaining allowed Girardi and the rest of the coaching staff up in the box to make a quick descent so they could be on the sidelines for the final kneel down by Mahomes and celebrate with the team.
"The whole experience of the Super Bowl was just awesome," says Girardi. "They try to tell you it's just another game, and once it gets into the game it starts to feel that way. But early on, pulling up to the stadium with the amount of people, and media, and all the events behind it, you can tell it's just different. But you have to focus beyond those things and onto the game itself to make sure you come away with a victory, and thankfully we were able to do that on that night."
At the beginning of the following season (the 2020 season), Kansas City Head Coach Andy Reid asked Girardi to spend the season focused more on the wide receiver group, so that gave Girardi the opportunity to work with the Chiefs' receivers, including Pro Bowler Tyreek Hill.
"Coach Reid likes to move some of his younger assistants around a little bit to expose them to different areas. That allows us to grow and to see things from a different perspective. It was good for all of us to be in a different room and see how those other guys learn and process things."
The 2020 season also brought the challenges of operating within the COVID-19 pandemic. Every morning Girardi, along with every player and coach, received a COVID test and had a temperature check before entering the facility. Not only did they wear masks, but they also wore tracers that recorded each person's proximity to others. If anyone was within six feet of each other, the tracer would blink as a warning, so it required some significant logistical challenges for everyone as the season progressed. Despite those challenges, the Chiefs managed to return to the Super Bowl, unfortunately falling to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In many ways the offseason for the upcoming 2021 season mirrors the offseason prior to the 2019 season when the Chiefs were coming off a loss in the AFC Championship game. Kansas City and Girardi enter the season with a renewed focus to get back to the Super Bowl for a third straight season, adding another Lombardi trophy to its collection.
Girardi was recently promoted to a new position, Pass Game Analyst/Assistant Quarterbacks Coach. He will be returning into the quarterbacks room where he spent his first two seasons with the Chiefs, working closely with Quarterbacks Coach Mike Kafka, Offensive Coordinator Eric Bienemy, Reid and Mahomes. The new position will still entail some of his prior responsibilities, but Girardi will have increased responsibilities to help game plan for upcoming games. He will be watching more tape of opponents, helping to prepare for schemes they might see and areas the Chiefs might exploit. Girardi will also be keeping an eye around the league for any new schemes teams are using in their passing offense and how the Chiefs might incorporate any things that would fit their strengths.
Girardi definitely feels blessed to be in the position that he is in, working under some of the best coaches in Kansas City that the sport has to offer, alongside of one of the best quarterbacks the game has ever seen in Mahomes. He also knows he's been fortunate to work under a lot of great men during the past decade.
"I've had great mentors to learn from throughout my years," says Girardi. "From Coach DeMarco, to Coach Fitz (Pat Fitzgerald) at Northwestern and Coach Reid here in Kansas City. Those are great football coaches, but they're even better people. So for me, to learn from them, it's been tremendous to see how they treat people, how they manage their time and how they excel at everything they do."
Girardi's goal is still to be a head coach someday, though he hopes to remain with the Chiefs for a while. Kansas City has proven to be a great organization to grow and develop as a coach, and he knows that if he continues to work hard and have success, additional opportunities to move up will work themselves out. Whether that is at the NFL level or college, Girardi doesn't worry about, but right now he's solely focused on his responsibilities with the Chiefs.
He's also blessed to be in an organization in Kansas City whose owner, Clark Hunt, has been outspoken about his faith and the importance of giving people the opportunity to grow in their faith. The NFL schedule doesn't afford great opportunities for Sunday morning worship, so Hunt makes sure his players and staff have chapel opportunities on Saturday evenings, whether the team is home or away. Beyond that, Girardi sees that faith reflected in how coaches and administration with the organization treat each other with kindness and respect.
"Beyond the chapel services, it's just as much about servant leadership when it comes to faith," says Girardi. "Being who God wants you to be and having an impact in the places God has called you to be. I see that here in the way people act and the way they treat each other.
This summer also brought about a significant event in Girardi's personal life, with Girardi getting married to his girlfriend, Kristen, with the two going on a honeymoon in the Barbados. He calls Kristen his rock, managing the home around his busy schedule, which often requires him to work long hours and be away from home during the season.
Girardi still follows Golden Tornadoes throughout the season. The spring season for Geneva last year enabled him to watch almost every game via live stream, something he doesn't always get the chance to do during a normal fall season.
"I take pride in where I came from and the fact I played at Geneva," says Girardi. "Even though our quarterback room has people from Texas Tech and Michigan, some of the biggest schools in college, they know about Geneva as well. The fact that Coach DeMarco is still at Geneva, who continues to have an impact in my life, he's just such a special person and has been such an important mentor to me during my playing days and now as a coach. So I want to know not just how Geneva is doing, but also how he is doing through the ups and downs of a season."
"So all of those Geneva memories and those experiences I had as a Golden Tornado are still so important to me," Girardi continues. "You talk about those memories from the Super Bowl, but there's still nothing like playing football. I'm fortunate to have a Super Bowl ring, but I also have a Victory Bowl ring from 2009, and I carry those things with equal weight. I cherish those accomplishments along with the friendships and relationships I gained during my years at Geneva. All of those things still make Geneva feel like home to me."
Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 145 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. Geneva has one of the top 100 undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, according to
U.S. News and World Report. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and IACE (International Association for Christian Education).
