Irsay on Saturday: 'I am Glad he doesn’t have any NFL Experience'
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay made the decision to fire Frank Reich and the surprise move of hiring former Colts' center Jeff Saturday as interim coach.
Saturday has never coached in the NFL, and Irsay believes a fresh outlook is exactly what his team needs.
"Now, I am glad he doesn’t have any NFL experience," said Irsay on Monday. "I’m glad he hasn’t learned the fear that’s in this league because it’s tough for all of our coaches."
"They’re afraid. They go to analytics and it gets difficult. I mean, he doesn’t have all that. He doesn’t have that fear and there was no other candidate."
Baseball managers typically make decisions "by the book", and Irsay believes that robotic nature and second guessing has made it tough for coaches to trust their instincts.
Why Saturday would be immune from that scenario is a question only Irsay can answer, but he vehemently defended his decision to appoint Saturday as interim coach.
"We were fortunate that he was available," said Irsay of Saturday whose only coaching experience is at the high school level. "He has tons of experience. He knows this game inside and out with relationships with coaches and players and has been a consultant for us for several years – a paid consultant informing Chris and I and other people in the organization his opinions."
"I don’t know how to make sausage. I don’t know what goes into sausage. But I do know how to build a football team because I have been around for 52 years and from all the people from Paul Brown to Don Shula to sitting with Ted Marchibroda and understanding what you during a week of preparation."
"I understand that and I understand that he’s fully capable of doing this and more than capable. No, it wasn’t offered to anyone else. I don’t know – Chris and I – what we would have done if anything if he wasn’t available and willing."
Irsay's comments indicated that Reich might still be the head coach of the Colts if Saturday had turned him down.
The Colts are 3-5-1 and have lost three in a row. Hiring Saturday for the remaining-nine games of the season is a low-risk proposition.
Sure, the move was unprecedented, but that doesn't mean Saturday isn't capable of doing the job.
He has nine games to prove that he is capable... starting with the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
