As reports of how Jim Irsay allegedly bungled a previous coaching hire in 2018 with a trip to the bathroom that took far too long continue to circle the drain, it sounds as if the owner of the Colts is on the verge of making another coaching-related mistake that will not sit well with Indianapolis fans.
After firing longtime and well-liked coach Frank Reich in the middle of the season, Irsay brought in former Indy offensive lineman Jeff Saturday as interim head coach even though he had no previous coaching experience at the collegiate or professional level. Saturday won his first game and proved all of his doubters wrong…and then went 0-7 down the stretch as Indianapolis finished the season with a 4-12-1 record, third in the AFC South.
The Colts, who boast the fourth pick in the NFL Draft, are currently searching for a new coach. “Ultimately, Mr. Irsay makes the final call. There’s 32 teams, 32 owners. They own the team,” Indy general manager Chris Ballard said of the impending coaching hire. “We give him, here’s our thoughts, and Mr. Irsay is a good listener. Ultimately, he’ll make the final call but he will lean heavily on our work and what we do to get the coaching candidates in place.”
Despite the rocky finish, Saturday is in the mix to return as the team’s permanent coach along with other candidates including DeMeco Ryans, Shane Steichen, Brian Callahan, Mike Kafka and Eric Bieniemy. Understandably, Colts fans are not pleased about it and have created a petition begging Irsay to leave Saturday on the bench. As of now, the “Don’t hire Jeff Saturday as head coach” petition already has more than 2,000 signatures and is picking up steam.
“To Mr. Irsay,” the petition begins. “We as Colts fans will always love the memories of the SB XLI team; we love the former players and the people they’ve become, but we don’t want Jeff Saturday as the head coach of this team going forward. Please hire someone with experience and save your fan base from revolting and losing interest.”
No matter what Indianapolis fans want, Saturday was still in the running for the coaching gig as of yesterday.
For those keeping score at home, Saturday now has more coaching interviews with the Colts than he has wins.
That may not matter, according to Josina Anderson of CBS. “In Indy, I’m told Jim Irsay still has desires to hire Jeff Saturday, but some who work w/ the owner or have his ear, while feeling Saturday is a great person—are not in favor of him as a HC, per source,” she tweeted. “We’ll see if the Colts make it through the list of expected 2nd interviews.”
And we’ll see how many more signatures the petition gets in the meantime.
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