A look back at Joe Banner's time as president of the Philadelphia Eagles

Here is a look back at some of Joe Banner's time with the Eagles:

The Eagles have been in the NFL playoffs 11 times in 16 years.

Only Indianapolis has made more playoff appearances than the Eagles since 1995.

Only two franchises - New England and Pittsburgh - have won more playoff games and appeared in more conference title games in that time span.

The odd couple

The genesis of the relationship between Eagles coach Andy Reid and Banner was fairly atypical by NFL standards. The pair had never met until 1999, when Banner and Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie interviewed Reid, then the Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach, for their vacant head coaching job.

"We didn't know each other at all," Banner said in 2010. "I knew about him, but other than the fact I had researched him, trying to figure out who to interview, we had no foundation. "

Reid was the second coaching hire for Banner and Lurie after Ray Rhodes, and Banner said he tried to give Reid confidence in him by not undermining Reid's decisions or second-guessing how he used personnel or how he coached.

In 2001, after Reid had led the Eagles to their greatest turnaround in franchise history, improving from 5-11 to 11-5, Banner and Lurie promoted him to executive vice president of football operations. It was the beginning of an unprecedented run for the Eagles, culminating with an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIX in February 2005.

- Mike Jensen and Ashley Fox, July 18, 2010

Out with the old

After [a player's career with the Eagles is] over, Banner knows he usually gets the blame for not offering a new contract, or a sufficient one. Within the Eagles, Banner is, in effect, the designated adult. You don't usually see him walking around shaking hands or trading jokes with players, or sales staffers for that matter. That's not his personality anyway, but he consciously doesn't cultivate friendships in the locker room, acknowledging a certain distance, knowing there is always an end. Reid typically deals with the players. Banner typically deals with their agents.

"They remember the guy who's responsible for somebody leaving much more frequently than how I am also the guy who gave the contract to the guy that stayed," Banner said. "There are a number of players who we eventually lost who had two or three or four contracts here. I'm actually the guy who gave them those contracts. That gets forgotten in the end."

- Mike Jensen and Ashley Fox, July 22, 2010

Banner on his dislike of losing, in 2010: "It doesn't matter what it is. It can be a little debate. I don't even like losing a little debate."

Banner on being a tough negotiator, in 2010: "I am, by definition, the bad guy. It's OK. I get that, intellectually. . . . Sometimes I am the bad guy. Sometimes I'm just perceived to be the bad guy."

Gov. Ed Rendell on Banner's manner, in 2010: "I think Joe is a fairly easy person to get a handle on. He's exactly as he appears. There's no guile there. He's a hard-charging, no-nonsense business guy. . . . He's an easy guy to read, not so easy to negotiate with."

Mark Donovan, president of the Kansas City Chiefs and senior vice president of business operations of the Eagles from 2003 to 2008, on Banner, in 2010: "He has the same level of intensity, in terms of interest and detail, in brand marketing as he does in ticket sales, in HR policies as he does in sponsorship, in what our television shows look like, what our website looks like. There's just a natural interest, wanting to know what we are, where we are. There are a lot of executives out there who are [mostly] numbers guys or marketing people. Joe has a knack of not only being interested, but wanting to be intensely involved."

Mike Tannenbaum, New York Jets general manager, on Banner, in 2010: "In these jobs, you have to make the right decision, not the easy one. [Banner] deserves the lion's share of the credit" for the success achieved by the Eagles since Jeffrey Lurie bought the team in 1994. "If you don't make the tough decision, you're not going to have sustainable success. There are so many things in our league designed for you not to have sustainable success. We copy a lot of what [the Eagles] do to get better."

Age: 59

Born: Feb. 13, 1953

Grew up: Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Education: Bachelor's degree from Denison University

Family: Lives in Haverford with his wife, Helaine. Has a daughter, Jill, and two sons, Jason and Jonathan

Banner took over day-to-day operations of the Eagles on May 6, 1994, and was named team president on Aug. 1, 2001.

Since 1995, the Eagles have been in the NFL playoffs 11 times in 16 years. Only Indianapolis has made more playoff appearances than the Eagles since 1995, and only two franchises - New England and Pittsburgh - have won more playoff games and appeared in more conference title games in that time span.

Legacy: Banner is credited by many with both an early mastery of the NFL salary cap and with being the chief architect of the Eagles' philosophy of re-signing their own younger players well in advance of their contracts' expiring, thus locking up talented players before they hit the open market in the prime of their careers.