Kansas City, Mo. ? Since Sunday afternoon, when his Kansas City Chiefs fell to 0-3, friends of Dick Vermeil have been calling, e-mailing and sending word through mutual pals.

Everyone seems to have basically the same message: Hang tough, Coach — we believe in you.

He’s heard from Hollywood types, a renowned geologist and a former NBA All-Star, as well as a host of other men who played for him during a football coaching career that began in 1959.

“I get calls from all over the country, from different guys who know me and have been through this kind of routine with me,” Vermeil said Tuesday. “We all need a little pumping-up from time to time. I need it.”

Fred Dryer, the former NFL player who had the lead role in the television series “Hunter,” told him, “Coach, stick in there. I know you can get this thing going.”

Charles Barkley, who became friends with Vermeil when he was playing for the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, called to offer his support.

So did Claude Humphrey, who played defensive end on Vermeil’s Eagles teams of 1979-81 and left a message on his answering machine.

“Coach, don’t change,” the message said. “Don’t let them get you. Stick with your way. It’s always worked before, and it will work now.”

Perhaps no sentiment meant more to the old coach than the e-mail he got from Bobby Christopherson, the captain on the Hillsdale High School team in San Mateo, Calif., in 1960. That was Vermeil’s first head-coaching job.

“He writes the leading textbooks in geology right now in the country,” Vermeil said. “I’ve got his textbooks. They’re way beyond me.”

It was reassuring, Vermeil said, “to know that people who have gone through the adversity with you in the past still believe the way you did it was the right way to do it.”

Kansas City coach Dick Vermeil works the sideline during a timeout. Vermeil is garnering support from friends this season after the Chiefs' 0-3 start.

The Chiefs’ road does not appear to get any smoother, with their next four opponents sporting a combined 10-2 record. Monday night finds the Chiefs at Baltimore.

“I’ve lost eight in a row before. I’ve gone from 0-8 in division play to 8-0 and world championship in a one-year turnaround,” said Vermeil, who coached his 200th NFL game on Sunday. “I’ve seen both sides.”

After so many years, he said, “There is nothing you haven’t been exposed to. And if you don’t handle them right, you don’t get to coach 200 times.”

Compounding the disappointment of an 0-3 start for a team many picked as a Super Bowl favorite have been game-management miscues on Vermeil’s part. Joking that “early dementia” may be setting in, he admitted he had made a few strategic mistakes in the past two games.

The mistakes and the losses have brought heavy criticism from fans and media.

“If you don’t develop some toughness and some resolve within yourself, then you’re in the wrong business,” he said. “But to me it starts with my commitment to my players.”