The biggest task for the Indianapolis Colts this offseason is finding their new leader at head coach, but which coaches should Indy avoid?
So far, the Indianapolis Colts have shown interest in a number of coaches. Most of the coaching candidates are assistants from other teams around the NFL. However, there are at least two in-house candidates that the Colts will evaluate. Only one of the coaches that the Colts have requested an interview with or interviewed has ever been hired as a full-time head coach and that was Raheem Morris. Of those coaches, only two have ever been coaches on an interim basis.
There are more candidates that could be looked at by Indianapolis to fill the vacancy. Some options that have not yet been explored by the Colts are Jim Harbaugh, Brian Flores, and Kliff Kingsbury. So far, the Colts’ have either interviewed or requested interviews with Shane Steichen, Bubba Ventrone, Raheem Morris, Ben Johnson, Ejiro Evero, Aaron Glenn, Eric Bieniemy, Mike Kafka, Wink Martindale, and DeMeco Ryans. There will be other candidates interviewed throughout the process as there are many more candidates out there.
While some of those names would be dream candidates, others would be less than ideal. The NFL has proven time and time again how important it is to have the right coach. So let’s take a look at three of the head coaching candidates that Indianapolis should not hire.
3. The Colts should avoid hiring Lions DC Aaron Glenn
This one almost seems like a no-brainer, but the Colts have shown real interest in hiring Aaron Glenn as the new head coach. Before being hired by Detroit in 2021, Glenn was the defensive backs coach for the Saints from 2016 to 2019. During his time in New Orleans, the Saints finished with a top-fifteen defense in all but one of his seasons there. However, it would not be a stretch to say that he has not been able to replicate any of that success during his tenure in Detroit.
In Detroit, his defenses have consistently been one of the worst units in the league. At one point this season, the Lions were playing incredibly on the offensive side. The Lions had the best offense in the NFL for a stretch. Yet, during this same stretch, the team was winless.
The reason the Lions couldn’t win games early in the season was a direct result of their defense. Their defense was ranked last in the NFL for the first half of the season. That being said, it has not gotten much better.
The Lions went on a run to end the season, but it was mostly despite their defensive performance. After the Lions’ season came to an end, they finished with the 29th-ranked defense, which somehow was an improvement over the defensive performance in Glenn’s first season with the Lions.
In Glenn’s first season with the Lions, his unit finished 31st in the NFL. Glenn has consistently produced defenses that were near the bottom of the league since being in Detroit. In fact, he only produced a top-ten defense once during his tenure in New Orleans.
It seems like this is an odd candidate to even be considered as a head coach next season. Hiring a coordinator to be your head coach already comes with risks. Hiring a coordinator who has had very little success just seems like a disaster waiting to happen.