Earlier this year, the Indianapolis Colts suffered a major blow when longtime owner Jim Irsay suddenly died. After his father, Robert Irsay, suffered a stroke in 1996, Irsay took over the day-to-day operations of the team, and after Robert's death in 1997, he became the youngest NFL owner in history.
Irsay's death was a huge blow to the Colts franchise, as well as the Indianapolis sports community as a whole. His memory and legacy have been honored by the team, including with his induction into the Colts Ring of Honor, and in the meantime, his daughters - Carlie Irsay-Gordon, Casey Foyt, and Kalen Jackson - are sharing joint ownership of the team.
Irsay-Gordon stepped into her father's shoes, though, as principal owner and CEO. Yet even before taking over as CEO, she was a regular presence on the sidelines, sporting team colors and a headset at each game. And she's now revealed exactly why.
Educating herself to 'spot the stupid' for the Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Star's Joel Erickson reported that Irsay-Gordon has known a long time that she would eventually be taking over the management of the team, and so she began wearing the headset on the sidelines for a simple reason: so she could learn everything she could about the team and the game.
“It was the hiring cycle where we hired Chuck (Pagano) and Ryan (Grigson), and I just realized that through that interview process, I couldn’t really sit there and be able to say, What does this person have to be able to know how to do? You can ask them a ton of questions, but I mean, they could have just given me a bunch of buzzwordy things,” she said. “I need to at least be able to learn, be able to identify, stupid. Not to be crass, but is this person even good?”
Irsay-Gordon would study film, participate in the draft process, deconstruct plays, and even participate in coaching meetings. And it has paid off - as Shane Steichen said when she was named CEO,
"When you talk football with her, she gets it. She goes over the defensive stuff, the offensive stuff, she’s been involved since I’ve been here. From day one, very hands-on, and she’s been tremendous. I think she’s going to do a phenomenal job."
Irsay-Gordon said she wanted to be able to "identify stupid," and that may have been at the forefront of her mind as the Colts began to prepare for the 2025 season. She made it clear that there would be no rebuilding season, issuing frank warnings to both Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard.
"As my dad said before he passed, Chris and Shane know that they have things they need to fix," Irsay-Gordon said earlier this year. "We talked about not micromanaging people, but also, we have a standard here, and it hasn’t been good enough."
Thankfully for Ballard and Steichen they both have done well so far this season, with the Colts skyrocketing to the top of the AFC South, and widely considered to be not just playoff contenders, but Super Bowl contenders, too. So for now, at least, it doesn't seem like she has much stupid on the sidelines to be worrying about.