Ex-Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan is battling cancer again.
Buddy’s son, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, told the New York Daily News that his father has cancer.
Rex didn’t reveal what type of cancer Buddy has but did say that it wasn’t a form a melanoma – a cancer the 77-year-old beat twice already.
"It's going to take more than this to get rid of him," a surprisingly upbeat Rex said. "That's what he always says."
Rex said his dad was diagnosed a “couple of weeks ago” and “was getting a second opinion,” according to the NY Daily News.
The elder Ryan was 43-35-1 while coaching the Eagles from 1986 to 1990. Before that he was a Super Bowl winning defensive coordinator for Mike Ditka’s Chicago Bears.
In Philly Buddy led a defense that included feared players like Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, Jerome Brown, Seth Joyner, Andre Waters and Eric Allen.
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But despite a feared D, Buddy never won a playoff game in Philly despite winning 10-plus games for his last three years in Philly.
Buddy would later coach the Arizona Cardinals from 1994 to 1995.
Despite a lack of playoff success as a head coach Buddy taught so much to his son Rex.
"I learned so much from my dad. I learned the game of football, the way you do things," Rex, who has back-back years taken the Jets to the AFC Championship Game told the NY Daily News. "The way he would build his team on passionate, physical, aggressive people. I'm taking all those things from my father."
