3 coaches the Colts should not hire

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.

2. Bubba Ventrone should not be hired as the next head coach of the Colts

Bubba Ventrone has worked as the special teams coordinator in Indy since 2018. Before 2018, Ventrone worked as an assistant special teams coach for the Patriots. Ventrone served in that role from 2015 to 2017. Ventrone also spent 10 seasons in the NFL as a player. He spent most of his time on special teams, never tallying a defensive start in his career.

There are a few concerns with hiring Bubba Ventrone as the next head coach. One big concern is his lack of experience calling plays on the offensive or defensive side. Ventrone would likely have to rely heavily on his coordinators. Relying heavily on your coordinators isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I think in the Colts’ case, it would be. We’ve seen Jim Irsay start to take a much more hands-on role when it came to coaching decisions last season. There would be a lot of concern that Ventrone would not even be able to pick his own coordinators.

This past season, Irsay made the decision to hire Jeff Saturday, bench Matt Ryan, and much more behind the scenes. With that being said, I think hiring Ventrone would only help to give Irsay more say in coaching decisions going forward.

Ventrone’s lack of control over the team would also be a major concern if the Colts decided to draft a quarterback in this year’s draft. A head coach holds a big role in quarterback development and Ventrone would not be the most equipped to handle a young quarterback.

Bubba Ventrone’s relationship with the current players will not help enough

One reason for hiring Ventrone is his strong relationship with the locker room. However, will that really matter for next season’s team? The Colts should look very different next season on both sides of the ball and Ventrone will have to build a relationship with brand-new faces.

His relationship with the locker room is a positive to hiring Ventrone. However, I just do not think it is enough of a positive to justify making him the next head coach.

1. Indianapolis shouldn’t even think about making Jeff Saturday head coach

This past season was one of the more disappointing seasons in Colts’ history. The team came into the season favored by most to win the AFC South. So, it came as no surprise when Frank Reich was fired just nine games into the seasons. The surprise came later when Jim Irsay hired former Colts’ offensive lineman Jeff Saturday to lead the team through the remainder of the season. Jeff Saturday had zero coaching experience at the college or pro level.

Saturday’s only experience as a coach was at a private high school in Georgia. During his time there he produced a 20-16 record. The move was heavily scrutinized by both the fans and national media. It didn’t come as a shock when Saturday’s tenure with the Colts produced miserable results. With just one win in eight games, the Colts regressed in most major categories.

The Colts gave up nearly 31 points per game during Saturday’s Tenure and the offense only scored about 20 points that stretch. The Colts also had more than one historical disappointment under Jeff Saturday. The team was down by two against the Cowboys in Week 13 going into the fourth quarter. The team then got outscored by 33 points in one quarter. The Colts had a huge first half in Week 15 and went into the half with a 33-0 lead over the Vikings. The Colts then scored three points in the second half and lost the game 36-39.

There were also moments where Jeff Saturday clearly just did not know what he was doing. Against the Steelers in Week 12, the Colts had an opportunity to produce a game-tying drive. The Colts had two unused timeouts and somehow let the clock run all the way down.

The Colts consistently hit low points during Saturday’s run as head coach. The team used three different quarterbacks during those eight games with none of them being able to have success.

Jeff Saturday did not take accountability for his time with the Colts

During his exit interview at the end of the season, Saturday stated his case to be made the Colts’ next head coach. He stated that he shouldn’t be judged too harshly for his tenure this season. Saturday came ready with a lot of excuses in his exit interview. He made sure to let reporters know that he had “half of an offensive staff”. He also explained that there would be significant change if he was made the head coach.

Jeff Saturday was given eight games to give the front office one reason to make him the head coach and he couldn’t. The team faced all-time lows during Jeff Saturday’s time as the interim head coach. Saturday’s name should quickly be removed from the list of options to be the Indianapolis Colts head coach.

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