Colts considering Jeff Saturday for HC job

Jeff Saturday. Robert Scheer/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK

Colts considering Jeff Saturday for full-time head-coaching job

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated 1/19/23

Jeff Saturday was the type of hire you generally see in movies. Sure, he was a six-time Pro Bowler and former center for the Indianapolis Colts, but owner Jim Irsay brought Saturday in to replace Frank Reich despite the fact that he had zero coaching experience at the NFL level. In fact, his only head-coaching experience was for a high school.

Saturday seemed destined to fail, something that can be said for many interim coaches. Outside of beating the Las Vegas Raiders in his first game in charge, that expectation of failure for the highly unqualified NFL head coach came true.

He went 1-7 as Indianapolis' head coach and led his team to a seven-game losing streak to end the season.

It was a joke of a hire, and the result was funny as well — if you're not a Colts fan. Still, for some reason, the Colts actually re-interviewed Saturday this offseason, and they're apparently considering him for the full-time gig.

We have completed an interview with Jeff Saturday.
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) January 19, 2023

The one thing Saturday has going for him is that he's tight with Irsay. He also apparently has a plan.

"Listen, I have a very clear vision of how I can turn this football team around. I have a plan of attack, that I understand this is what I believe has to happen for us to turn a corner. I’m not one that wavers. I’m not one that gets disjointed very quickly. I’m pretty steadfast and I think I’ve shown that in the way that we’re going to operate," Saturday said shortly after the season ended, per SI.com's Andrew Moore.

"There are going to be principles of this team, just generally — like from a practice perspective, what does this thing look like? From a schedule perspective, what does it look like? From an organization, what does alignment look like from training, equipment, practice — all those different things. All of that stuff, I have a very clear vision on what that looks like and I’ll save the details of how I would separate that."

Moore reports that Saturday went over his plan with general manager Chris Ballard.

The Colts were 3-5-1 when they fired Reich. They finished the season 4-12-1. It's one thing to have a plan, it's another thing to execute it, though.

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