Apparently it was the reason he gave to BYU at the time. With BYU ending up with Gary Crowton it makes me wonder if Reid was consulted at all? Seems like with his time in the NFL maybe could've provided a better coaching recommendation to BYU than Gary Crowton was.

"As Hale arranged for a private jet and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve to fly to Philadelphia to make it easy for Reid to be interviewed so BYU could close the deal and get on with recruiting, Reid “put on the brakes,” telling BYU folks while he had high interest to coach at BYU someday, his loyalty to his staff and players in Philadelphia, and the worry that his staff wouldn’t be able to find jobs for two seasons were heavy on his mind.

“Then there was the trust the Eagles organization had placed in hiring him, and now that the team was enjoying success, he felt it would be disloyal to leave and force them to start over. Essentially, it boiled down to timing,” Hale writes."