By Jordan Long
The Indianapolis Colts still have a coaching vacancy. They let go of Frank Reich following a 3-5-1 start to the year. Of course, the interim Head Coach was Jeff Saturday. Owner of the Indianapolis Colts, Jim Irsay wants Saturday to take over the full time gig.
The Colts hired Saturday on November 7th, 2022 and he became their interim Head Coach. Saturday had never been a coach at the NFL level before. He knew the game since he played for the Colts from 1999 to 2012. Saturday was the center for Indianapolis. After that, Saturday spent time at ESPN doing NFL coverage.
This was a perplexing move at the time. The Colts’ defensive coordinator, Gus Bradley, had NFL Head Coaching experience. Bradley coached the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2013 to 2016. His record was an awful 14-48. Still, that was 62 more games than Saturday. It just felt like Irsay wanted a guy who knew him and that was Saturday.
Under Saturday, the Colts went 1-7. They finished the year at 4-12-1. They own the 4th pick in the NFL Draft. With that, Irsay wants to hire Saturday as the full time Head Coach.
According to CBSsports.com, Saturday said, “I’ve never heard of a player having the opportunity to go be a head coach. First of all, I would want it because I love this organization. I care about not only the players and coaches but the organization, right? My adulthood was forged here. It is my home. Indianapolis totally changed the direction of our lives. So how do you say no to this? So I said I’m gonna do it.”
This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for the Colts to go after Saturday. He coached 8 games and failed. That is more than enough to show he doesn’t have the experience to be an NFL Head Coach. Saturday should really start as a coordinator.
Irsay has Saturday as the front runner for the job though. This goes back to Irsay’s relationship with him. There are other candidates they are going to consider who make more sense than Saturday. Those are Dan Quinn, Shane Steichen, Eric Bieniemy, and Raheem Morris. The Colts are going to do what they feel is best for them. It would be a mistake for them to hire Saturday.
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