Colts Officially Hire ESPN Analyst Jeff Saturday As Interim Head Coach In The Most Jim Irsay Move Ever

I love Jim Irsay so much. You just know he's relishing in this. Not that he's happy about the current state of the Indianapolis Colts, but he is loving the attention. He loves being able to announce major team decisions straight from his Twitter account. Major decisions from big trades, to announcing the new Head Coach, to "Will the stadium of our roof be opened or closed."

I had fully talked myself into our Special Teams Coordinator Bubba Ventrone being our next Head Coach. My entire blog about Frank Reich being fired was pretty much about Bubba. You can comfortably blame that on this Zac Keefer guy. He seemed trustworthy to me. He has the check mark. 

But the Colts have opted to go with Jeff Saturday instead.

Come to think of it, Jeff Saturday is the exact type of hire I would expect Jim Irsay to make. Not necessarily one that everybody agrees on, or one that makes sense, but one that makes people go, "Oh, wow! That's interesting!"

As far as Jeff Saturday's credentials go, he's definitely a well decorated Colt. He was the Colts Center for 13 consecutive season. He made 6 Pro Bowls, and was named an All-Pro 2x. He won a Super Bowl in 2007, and was inducted into the Colts' Ring of Honor in 2015 (Irsay fucking loves the Colts' Ring of Honor).

But as a coach? No idea. I don't know if he's ever coached. I had to look it up. And, welp…

I'm sure Hebron Christian Academy was a power house in whatever, high school, college, or Pop Warner football league they're in, but I'd imagine it will be a pretty big jump for Saturday to make to the NFL. 

As a Colts fan growing up, Jeff Saturday always had the vibe of a "team leader". He seemed like someone who cared a lot about the game, and played it the right way. But again, that doesn't automatically make you a good coach.

I guess he's been an NFL Analyst on ESPN since 2013, so he's been paying attention to football a lot. That's a plus.

The Colts have major offensive line problems, and Jeff Saturday definitely knows a thing or two about offensive line play, so I would think he'd be helpful there. 

I can't imagine he knows a lot about coaching an NFL team, but I will say, he seems like a person that players will respect, and will probably be a pretty damn good motivator. Sometimes, all you need from an Interim Head Coach is a change of attitude. The Colts still have their coordinators, who will now probably get a chance to finally try out some of their fresh ideas now that Frank Reich doesn't get the final say. Something good could come out of that.

I'm starting to talk myself into Jeff Saturday. I mean, why not. I've always said that I just want to have a fun football team to root for, and Jeff Saturday definitely has me more interested than Frank Reich did. That's fun enough for now. Maybe a .500 record isn't quite out of reach.