Two-time Super Bowl champion Chad Henne returns home to Wilson football sidelines

After playing in the NFL for 15 seasons, two-time Super Bowl champion Chad Henne now finds himself in a new role.

While the position is unfamiliar, the location could not be any closer to home.

Two decades after he played football at Wilson, Henne has returned to the sidelines at Gurski Stadium, this time as a volunteer assistant coach.

“I think I have too much knowledge to give up and just not be around it, to just sit at home and not speak my word,” Henne said. “That’s why I got involved here. Just so much knowledge that I can give back to our kids.”

Henne announced his retirement from the NFL last February following his second Super Bowl title with Kansas City. Weeks later, Bulldogs coach Doug Dahms reached out to the former Wilson standout to see if he would be interested in joining the coaching staff.

Looking forward to spending more time with his family, Henne — who also holds private lessons in the offseason with high school quarterbacks  — was skeptical at first, but eventually decided to join the football program.

“If I can help us win, the more the merrier,” Henne said. “It’s all about them. It’s not about me. I just want to see everybody succeed.”

Henne works with the quarterbacks and the offensive unit as a whole, helping them game plan and prepare for the next opponent. While he brings a wealth of knowledge, he acknowledged that his coaching career is all about the current generation of Bulldogs.

“Coach Henne comes in and just raises our level as an offense, raises the whole team’s level,” Wilson senior quarterback Tommy Hunsicker said. “His intensity, his knowledge of the sport, brings a whole new aspect of the game to the table that really helps us.”

Wilson assistant coach and former Bulldog and NFL quarterback Chad Henne on the sidelines against Reading High Friday at John Gurski Stadium. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)

Henne was a four-year starter at Wilson from 2000-03, setting program records with 7,071 passing yards and 74 touchdown passes. Henne was named the Pennsylvania Football Gatorade Player of the Year in 2003.

“We have a winning tradition here,” Henne said. “We’re just tough, hard-nosed kids that just love to work.”

After starting for four years at Michigan from 2004-07, Henne was selected by Miami in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Henne played four seasons with the Dolphins from 2008-11 before playing six seasons with Jacksonville from 2012-17.

“Challenges that you learn from football that lead over to life is the biggest thing (as to) why I love football so much,” Henne said. “It teaches you so much. You get knocked down, how are you going to get back up and respond? That’s what always stuck with me.”

Henne signed with Kansas City ahead of the 2018 season and played with the Chiefs for five seasons, serving as backup quarterback. With Kansas City, Henne won Super Bowl LIV in February 2020 and Super Bowl LVII in February 2023.

“It’s just like icing on the cake,” Henne said about the Super Bowl titles. “The Super Bowls definitely kept me coming back and obviously getting that Super Bowl at the end; (I) just can’t believe it.”

With a desire to spend more time with his two children and wife, Henne announced his retirement after his second Super Bowl title last February. He spent 15 years in the NFL, throwing for 13,379 yards and 61 touchdowns.

“My kids are getting older,” Henne said. “They’ve been supporting me for quite a while, and now it was just time where I wasn’t around and I just wanted to get a chance to see them and be around my wife as well.”

Henne has since been offered a chance to return to the NFL. Following the season-ending injury to New York starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Monday, Sept. 11, the Jets reached out to Henne with a contract offer. While Henne said he was excited, he ultimately declined.

“I hung them up for the right reasons,” Henne said. “I didn’t want to go back and put my body into it.”

Henne and his family now reside full time in Sinking Spring. Henne’s wife, Brittany, is also a Wilson graduate.

“I wanted to raise my kids in this community,” Henne said. “This is where I grew up, this is all I know. Family is here, and family means the most to us.”

Henne met with fans and signed autographs during a meet-and-greet session held by the Wilson Football Tradition Club prior to the Bulldogs’ win over Reading High on Friday night at Gurski Stadium. He was also honored at halftime.

“The Wilson community is great,” Henne said. “I really enjoy being back.”

Former Wilson and NFL quarterback Chad Henne acknowledges the crowd as he is honored at halftime Friday by the Wilson Football Tradition Club at John Gurski Stadium. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)
Wilson graduate Chad Henne (left) signs the shirt of 1974 Wilson graduate Thomas Hoover (right) at Gurski Stadium. (MATTHEW KNAUB – READING EAGLE)
Wilson graduate Chad Henne (center) poses for a photo with fifth-grade Wilson students Cayden Kovalchick (left) and Grant Dickinson (right) at Gurski Stadium. (MATTHEW KNAUB – READING EAGLE).

With Henne providing new insight, the Wilson offense has found success. The Bulldogs have scored at least 35 points and Hunsicker has thrown for at least 250 yards in three of the team’s first four games.

“He’s a good addition,” Dahms said. “He’s been great.”

Four games into his coaching career, Henne is loving the next chapter of his life in football.

“I don’t know where it’s going to take me,” Henne said. “Right now, I’m enjoying the heck out of it.”