Jim Irsay promises the Colts will have an unorthodox coaching search
The Indianapolis Colts will hire a coach this offseason and Jim Irsay plans on looking at more than just the traditional candidates.
When the Indianapolis Colts fired Frank Reich and hired Jeff Saturday to be the team’s interim head coach, the NFL world was shocked. Saturday himself admitted he was shocked. Although Jeff was a dominant player with the Colts for many years, his only coaching experience was in high school, and he was an analyst for ESPN when he got the call to coach for Indy. While this was an unconventional approach, it was just a preview of how unorthodox Indy’s actual coaching search will be.
In a recent conversation with the media, Colts’ owner, Jim Irsay, admitted that Jeff Saturday will likely be a candidate in a deep pool of quality candidates. However, Irsay went on to argue, “I think the pool needs to be broadened somewhat more. There’s some great college coaches that may be capable. There’s some unknown coaches that may be capable.” Considering that Irsay just hired a former player without high-level coaching experience, the “unknown” part of Irsay’s statement sparked a lot of curiosity.
Will the Colts hire an unknown coach?
Jeff Saturday has already expressed his desire to remain the team’s head coach. With three games left, Jeff Saturday has a chance to strengthen his resume as a candidate. He’s had somewhat of a head start over other candidates by being interim head coach, so he must continue making the most out of the opportunity.
There have also been talks about former Indianapolis quarterback and current Michigan head coach, Jim Harbaugh, as a probable candidate for Indy. However, it’s largely unclear what other college coaches Irsay and the team could be interested in, and the unknown coaches are just a massive mystery.
Does unknown mean coaches that are currently assistants in the league but are considered to be years away from being a head coach, or does it mean people that haven’t coached in college or the league but Irsay believes in them, similar to Jeff Saturday? Who knows. Surely, it will all come to light once Indy starts its official coaching search after the season.
