The Indianapolis Colts are in despair following a poor start to their once-promising season as they fired head coach Frank Reich and made the questionable decision to hire former offensive lineman Jeff Saturday.
Saturday has no coaching experience at the NFL or collegiate level, and has been serving as an ESPN analyst.
Colts owner Jim Irsay defended the team’s decision during a press conference to introduce Saturday as the team’s interim head coach on Monday.
“Want to bet against this guy?” Irsay asked, according to ESPN’s Stephen Holder. “Put your money down. [I’d] love to see it, because I know what he’s about.”
“There’s no rule book that tells you, ‘Now you should make a change,'” Irsay said. “It’s something from being in the league 52 years. It’s intuitive.”
Irsay said the decision to fire Reich was difficult but attributed the decision to a sense of knowing it was time to make the move based on his experience as an owner in the league. Irsay was pressed on whether the organization will truly pursue an honest coaching search that fully complies with the Rooney Rule.
Irsay said that the team is sticking with current general manager Chris Ballard, whose job has come under fire with a number of fans calling for his dismissal as the Colts yet again have failed to find a viable starting quarterback despite a trade for Carson Wentz last year, and for Matt Ryan this season.
Both failed, with Wentz moving on to the Washington Commanders and Ryan benched.
“There’s no question about that,” Irsay said. “Honestly, it’s not really even in the consciousness of my mind. … The guy’s a winner, and he’s been immensely successful.”
Saturday discussed his approach to the new job.
“Here’s a great part about my career,” Saturday said. “I came in, nobody expects anything. I’m here. Nobody expects anything. Hopefully it’ll go extremely well. But I have no preconceived notion that I’m gonna be some spectacular anything.”
Saturday will debut for the Colts as they take on the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
