As the Indianapolis Colts welcome Lou Anarumo on board as their new defensive coordinator, questions still abound. After finally moving on from Gus Bradley, fans were thrilled, but reactions to Anarumo's hiring were decidedly mixed.
There are some positives in Anarumo's background; under him, the Bengals defense held the Kansas City Chiefs to just one field goal in the second half of the 2021 AFC Championship Game and then in overtime, forced an interception that led to a Bengals victory and a trip to the Super Bowl. They lost to the Los Angeles Rams by just three points. Anarumo is considerably more flexible and adaptable than Bradley was, with defensive schemes that keep the offense on opposing teams guessing.
Yet the Bengals defense has also been terrible lately. While some have argued that personnel problems and not Anarumo himself are to blame, the reality is also that a good coach should be able to elevate young players instead of being sunk by them.
Anarumo had his first press conference yesterday, and it was an opportunity to address these concerns and answer other pressing questions people have had about what to expect in 2025. Here's what he had to say.
What brought him to Indianapolis
The Colts considered five different candidates; whether or not Anarumo was their first choice is not clear, as they also interviewed Dennis Allen, who seemingly prefers to go with Ben Johnson to Chicago.
Given the open turmoil going on with the Colts - including problems on defense with ego and discipline - it's known that Anarumo will have a huge mess to clean up. He appears to be ready to take on the challenge. He also insinuated that he wanted the opportunity to return to Indiana.
"A great organization from ownership down, and I know Shane and how he runs the team and his leadership and Chris Ballard, how they've looked from afar, and always appreciated what what this place stands for," he began. "So, you know, I've been in this state for a long time, a coach at Purdue for for a while. And, you know, so I've my kids grew up here, so it's somewhat home for us."
He also spoke about the importance of culture, particularly when the team is struggling.
"I think it starts and ends with the leadership and the culture of leadership from the coaches, and then certainly from the players as well," he explained. "And that's important. That's something that we'll dive into here. I know Shane has done a great job with that."
This could just be mere politeness, but arguing that head coach Shane Steichen has done a great job with the team's culture is mind-boggling. Indianapolis notoriously has been plagued with culture problems that Steichen has seemed either ignorant or cavalier of, and unequipped to truly deal with.
To that, Anarumo argued that he was prepared to handle that, specifically addressing the public criticisms from players like DeForest Buckner and Kenny Moore II.
"I just think that that can happen in this league, right, wrong, or indifferentm" he said. "I wasn't here, so I can't speak to it. But I know this, sometimes a fresh start for a coach or for players is a good thing. I know the standard of how we'll carry ourselves as coaches. We ask these guys to be consistent as players. I'll stand up there in front of them and say the same thing I'm saying to you. I want you guys to be this, I don't want a lot of that. And they've got to expect the same thing from us.
"So my standard is going to be that I'm up there and I'm going to be a truth teller. I'm going to tell them the truth," he continued. "It's my job to say, yes, you're doing it right, or no, you're doing it wrong. And, you know, that will happen, and it will happen to all of them. I don't care the number of years in the league. I don't care. You know, it's just something that I've always believed in. And good players, great players, want to be coached. They want to know the truth. That's always been the case. And if they don't, then there's probably a little bit of an issue there. But the best ones I've ever been around, coach me. Coach me hard. Tell me what you want. And I've always found that to be true."
Who Anarumo is excited to work with
Several players were specifically named by Anarumo as players he thinks are an asset to his defense. One of them, to no one's surprise, is Buckner. He also specifically mentioned rookie Laiatu Latu.
"It's great because then you're adding," he said of Buckner. "I know I really like Latu coming out as well. You get a guy inside, a guy outside. There's other guys up there too that can affect it. But when you've got an athlete inside like Buck is, his length, the simple thing is just batting balls down at the line of scrimmage. That's something that we really stress because that's one more down that the ball's not going down the field. We're thrilled with him. He plays the run as well as he plays the pass."
That no one else was named could be a warning sign to current members of the Colts defense, that they need to be prepared to fight for their jobs. It's long been clear that there are many problems on the defense, though, so it's no surprise that Anarumo could well be prepared to start fresh.