Should Colts consider a familiar face in head coaching search?
While the hire of Jeff Saturday as interim head coach was a nice way for Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay to keep his franchise in the spotlight, it was clear pretty quickly that he has no long-term future in the position.
While it’s to be expected that the Colts will be linked to the big fish of potential coaching candidates like Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton, perhaps the best course of action would be to turn to a familiar face who had a successful tenure with the franchise.
“[Former Indianapolis Colts head coach/quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell] has a wealth of football knowledge, experience, leadership ability, and many forget, success,” Sports Illustrated Colts reporter Drake Wally recently said. “…Nobody is discussing how good Caldwell would be for a Colts team that is likely to draft a young quarterback who needs an experienced head coach that not only knows the NFL but has seen and done it all. When it comes to experience and success, Caldwell checks every single box for the job.”
With the franchise in such disarray, it would be easy for Irsay to get caught up in a splashy, expensive hire.
But if the coaching search is approached with a degree of levelheadedness, a strong case could be made for giving Caldwell a second chance.
Caldwell has two Super Bowl rings, and more importantly a winning record as a head coach. In his three-year run with the Colts from 2009-11, he posted a 26-22 record with two AFC South titles, two playoff appearances, and a Super Bowl appearance.
Also working in Caldwell’s favor is the fact that he had a winning record as head coach of the Lions — something not many can say. He won 36 games in four years in Detroit with two playoff appearances.
If Irsay wants to get the Colts back to respectability, hiring Caldwell would be a good start.
More must-reads: