Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Head Coaching Search in its Final Days?

Starting point is 00:00:00 We are in the final days, not hours, of the Indianapolis Colts head coaching search. And I'm going to dive into all of that here today on this episode of Locked On Colts. Let's get to it. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all for making us your first listen of the day. This is your daily podcast covering your Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:53 Today's episode is brought to you by Nissan. The only thing more exciting than big game is the all-new, all-electric 2023 Nissan Aria. There's only four days left until Super Bowl. Are you ready? The Nissan Aria, the EV for people who love to drive. Learn more at NissanUSA.com. I am Zach Hicks. Obviously, I'm joined by absolutely nobody today. I kicked Jake off because he's been working to the bone lately, and he's got his daughter and stuff like that. So don't worry, guys. You guys got me today.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Jake has taken a break. It's all Zach Hicks. And, you know, we're going to have some fun today, guys, because we have a couple of updates here on this Indianapolis Gold's Head Coaching Search. So to start off this show, we are going to talk about some of those updates, some of the developments in recent days. I know Jake on his solo episode yesterday kind of talked about some of those things, but I'm going to rehash a couple of them and then talk about some of the new news that came out today on Wednesday,

Starting point is 00:01:49 the day I'm recording, or Tuesday, sorry, Tuesday, the day I'm recording this. You guys are listening to it on Wednesday. So we're going to go through a little bit of that. And then to close out the show, I'm going to talk about the guys who I think are the front runners for this job and what they kind of bring to the team and what the Colts could actually love about each one of those candidates. But first, we had a little bit of head coaching news update from owner Jim Ursae. He took to Twitter. Apparently, he knew that you guys were feeling a bit impatient about this search. And honestly, not just you guys.

Starting point is 00:02:21 I'm feeling a bit impatient about this search as well. Maybe that's just due to my own craziness and stuff like that. But Jim Irsay did take to Twitter. I'm going to throw his tweet up here. If you guys are watching on YouTube, you can just read along with me. If you guys are listening, bear with me. I read at like a fourth grade level, so we'll see if I can get through this. But Jim Irsay, at Jimsae, tweeted on Tuesday evening,

Starting point is 00:02:45 we said, as an organization, parentheses Colts, then a football emoji. So there we go. We're making sure we know it's about football here. The coaching search would be an open-minded process and a thorough process. And the final decision would be strictly based on what is best for our franchise's success and best for our fans of Colts Nation. Football emoji, thumbs up emoji, final decision coming in days, not hours. And then football emoji at the end.

Starting point is 00:03:12 So again, if you didn't know that this was about football, then it is about football there. But yeah, Jim Irsay putting out there that the final decision is not coming within hours. It's coming within days. So you guys don't have to continually be refreshing your, your phones and your Twitter and, and everything there, you know, putting Adam Schefter and all them on tweet alert because he did kind of give

Starting point is 00:03:35 us that indication that there's going to be a couple of days of debate here. And, you know, for some people I see in some people saying that, Oh, this means it's going to be Shane Steichen or it could be Eric Bien-Ami as that dark horse. They're waiting until after the Super Bowl to announce one of these Super Bowl coordinators as the next head coach. I don't think that's the case.

Starting point is 00:03:55 Now, don't get me wrong. It still could be Shane Steichen. It could be Eric Bien-Ami, I guess. I would put a 4% chance at that at best. It could be one of those guys, but I don't think that them delaying this process, delaying the final decision is due to that. You know, we got to look at the context of this head coaching search.

Starting point is 00:04:15 The Indianapolis Colts did a first wave of 13 interviews. So 13 candidates that they had in, and they talked to them for approximately two to four hours each as a virtual interview is kind of the preliminary rounds of where they then eliminated some guys and they went down to eight in-person interviews, eight in-person interviews that lasted from 12 to 14 hours long, 12 to 14 hours per person for eight interviews. Obviously a couple of people have dropped out. Ajero Evra went to Carolina. Dan Quinn is out. There's a couple guys that have dropped out. But as of right now, there's still

Starting point is 00:04:51 seven of those finalists left that they've talked to for approximately 18 hours each. These are really extensive interviews, very thorough interviews, like Jim Irsay said in that tweet. I don't think that pushing this decision to later this week or to early next week is an indication that it's going to be one of these Super Bowl head coaches. I think it's an indication that, you know, there's a lot of information they have to decipher through here. You know, if they had one person, if they had like a scribe person just taking notes of these interviews, I mean, each person would have their own packet of stuff that

Starting point is 00:05:24 they said and stuff that was said in those interviews. So these are really extensive interviews. They're trying to go through all this stuff. And another thing we have to keep in mind is presumably Chris Ballard has been involved in this whole process. Ed Dodds has been involved in this whole process. Carly Ursae has her own input and she's been involved in the whole process. Jim Ursae obviously is going to have his input. And then you have other people like Brian Decker, PR people, other front office people. These are all different people. And when you throw so many candidates in front of a bunch of different and diverse opinions of people,

Starting point is 00:05:57 they might all have different candidates that they're putting up there. You know, this might not be like a Chris Ballard wants one person, Jim Ursa wants another. Let's hash it out. This could be of the 10 people we have making this decision, they each have 10 different candidates that they're putting up there. So this is not as simple as a, you know, this my guy, here's your guy, all right, pick one. It's here's all the guys we've talked to. They each have qualified reasons to be the head coach outside of one of them.

Starting point is 00:06:24 And now we have to decipher from there and kind of pick our guys. So don't get me wrong, guys. I'm impatient as well. I would love to have a new head coach, and I don't want this to go too long. But it makes sense that this is going to be pushed towards later this week or early next week without saying, oh, this means it's 100% Shane Steichen. You know, there are other candidates in here, and there's other reasons why it's being pushed back. And a big part of that is how thorough they have been in this process.

Starting point is 00:06:50 On top of that, Mike Garofalo also added to Jim Irsay's tweet. Again, if you guys are on YouTube, you can read along with me. If you guys are on audio, again, bear with me here. But indications have been the Colts have narrowed down their list to a few finalists early this week, though they've kept those names tight for now. Jim Irsay says the process will continue for a few more days. So he did add, you know, again, it's going to be a few more days on this process here. But he did say that the Colts have narrowed down the field to just a few candidates, which I think is very interesting because we have we've got inklings that they've

Starting point is 00:07:25 narrowed down a little bit you know obviously as you're ever taking the Panthers job is an indication that he was not in that narrowed down field that the Colts had so that's why he felt comfortable taking a defensive coordinator job we have heard inklings that Jeff Saturday has already been cut out JMV said on his radio show, I believe on Tuesday morning or Monday morning, said that Jeff Saturday has been eliminated from contention or he got like eliminated two weeks ago or something like that. We've seen Ian Rapoport also say that it's leaning against Jeff Saturday. We've seen a lot of people come out and say it's not going to be Jeff Saturday at this point. So I think it's safe to assume that if they have narrowed down the field and

Starting point is 00:08:04 narrowed down to a couple finalists, Jeff Saturday's not in that. Obviously, Ajiro Evro's not in that. And honestly, I think it's safe to say guys like Wink Martindale's probably not going to be in that group. Rich Passaccia's probably not going to be in that group. And then Aaron Glenn, I don't think is going to be in that group either. So that kind of leads you guys to know who my finalists are and who I think the finalists for the Colts are going to be. And I'm going to go into each one of those guys here in just a minute. But first, let's talk about an awesome mobile game that we can't get enough of.

Starting point is 00:08:39 It's Ultimate Football GM. You've heard us talk about the fun we've had playing this game near the end of the season on our personal locked-on league. Well, now it's your turn to compete. If you ever dreamed of becoming an NFL GM and managing your franchise, then your dream can come true. And this game is definitely for you. You'll manage every strategic aspect of your team, play through seasons, and lead your team to glory, trying to build a dynasty. With Ultimate Football GM, you're responsible for controlling the destiny of your franchise by hiring the right coaches and coordinators, trading players, navigating your franchise through free agency and the draft, and all the ups and downs of a season.

Starting point is 00:09:16 Again, guys, don't be like Jake. Don't get fired. He's been fired. I wouldn't get fired. I'm going to dive into this tonight just because I got to show Jake that I wouldn't get fired as quickly as he was. We've created another Locked On League for you guys to compete against Locked On fans all over the world. Can you be the ultimate Locked On football GM? Choose the Locked On League in the app to join.

Starting point is 00:09:37 Can you create a football dynasty? Locked On Colts listeners get 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo code LOCKEDON in all caps in the game store. That's LOCKEDON in all caps, so make sure you check it out today. To download the game, just visit ultimate-gm.com to look it up in the app stores. That's ultimate-gm.com. Ultimate Football GM, start your dynasty today. All right, guys. So going into this next segment here, I think ultimately the Colts are down to three candidates. Now I'm going to leave like a 1% buffer for myself because I can never fully get rid of Jeff Saturday. Jeff Saturday is kind of like, if you guys play like the old Resident Evil games or something, you know, he's kind of like Mr. X from, I think the second game, you know, it's just always there. And whenever you see him, it just terrifies you, just the

Starting point is 00:10:28 thought of Jeff Saturday coming out of nowhere and becoming the head coach of this team, but ultimately, I don't think it's going to be Jeff Saturday, but I can't fully, fully get rid of that idea because of, you know, that whole Saturday press conference and what we've seen since and the national media. I can't officially get rid of him, but excluding that 1% that it could be Jeff Saturday, that 0.01% that it could be Jeff Saturday, I think ultimately it's going to come down to Raheem Morris, defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, Brian Callahan, offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, and Shane Steichen, offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals And Shane Steichen, offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles Now, of those three even, I would even wager to say I think it's more likely it's going to be Brian Callahan or Raheem Morris

Starting point is 00:11:13 Those have been the two favorites since the beginning And I don't see any reason why they wouldn't still be the favorites Unless Steichen just had this phenomenal interview But I really do think it's going to be Brian Callahan or Raheem Morris. I think those are the top two guys. And let's go into these three candidates because you guys know that on this episode or on this podcast channel, wherever you guys listen to it, we have talked about each of these guys in depth. We talked to Ben Solak about Shane Steichen, I think John Liskow of Locked On Bengals about Brian Callahan,

Starting point is 00:11:46 and then obviously Stephen Holder about Raheem Morris and his relationship with him. But we have dove into each of these guys in different ways, but we haven't just sat here and compared all three of them in one space. So that's what I'm going to do here. Now, let's talk about why the Colts could be split on these three, because these are three good candidates, great candidates even. And it's probably better than what we would have thought the Colts could have got at the end of the season, which shows, you know, that one of 32 thing that, you know, and there's a lot of people on Colts Twitter and Colts social media that say,

Starting point is 00:12:15 no matter what a franchise does, they're always going to be good candidates because it's one of 32 prestigious jobs. And we are kind of seeing that. So so I'll give them I'll give them a bunch of credit here Jay Garrison and all them on uh on social media that you know the Colts have got three great candidates and and the main reasons are very different for each one so looking at Raheem Morris the biggest appeal to Raheem Morris isn't his ability on one side of the ball like these other two guys you know it's not that he's going to bring in this schematically diverse defense that's going to fuse Vic Fangio's styles with Wade Phillips and all that. It's not going to be like that. He's not going to come in and draw up this beautiful, perfect offense.

Starting point is 00:12:57 What you're getting out of Raheem Morris is probably the best leader out of the group. He is a guy that players will go to war for. Players have gone to war for. We saw Jalen Ramsey at the end of the season in a press conference that was very, very not coach speak, not player speak type of press conference. He was saying things like who's defending Raheem Morris against doubters. He was saying how much he loves Rah and how Raheem needs to be a head coach. And he's happy that he's not because he gets to see him every day and be a part of him.

Starting point is 00:13:28 But, you know, he was really going to bat for Raheem Morris. And you can see it in all these players that they just love Raheem Morris. He's a guy who is a player's coach, but he's also that very vibrant, vocal, hard-nosed leader. You know, he can kind of be it all. So you're looking at just the type of guy that, you know, pure CEO type of head coach. You know, when you think of the Mike Tomlins, when you think of the Pete Carrolls, you know,

Starting point is 00:13:52 they don't really call one side of the ball, but they are guys who are just vibrant, hard-nosed leaders that get the best out of their teams. That's what you would get out of Raheem Morris. That's what the appeal with him is. And then on top of that, with all of his connections in the league to the Monty Kiffin tree to the Gus Bradley and Dan Quinn coaching trees on defense and then offense the McVay and Shanahan trees he could probably build the best staff around him so you have a CEO type who's a great leader

Starting point is 00:14:21 who could build a phenomenal staff around him there There's a lot of appealing aspects of that. So I understand why Raheem Morris has made it this far. And that's something the Colts are probably debating right now is like, look, this guy could bring in an eight plus staff for us and probably be that leader that we think we were lacking with Frank Reich. You know why they made that move to Jeff Saturdays? Cause they wanted that leader.

Starting point is 00:14:43 And that's why they moved on from Frank Reich. So I think Raheem Morris gives them everything that they kind of wanted in this head coaching search and why he's still going to be in at the end. Now let's go to Brian Callahan, offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals. Now I have to address the elephant in the room. A lot of this has to do with connections. Brian Callahan, to a degree, is a bit of a nepotism baby. He got into all this because of his dad, Bill Callahan, phenomenal offensive line coach who's been in

Starting point is 00:15:09 the NFL for a super long time. Chris Ballard actually played wide receiver under Brian's dad, Bill Callahan, at Wisconsin back in the 90s. So there is that connection between Ballard and Callahan that way. Other connections, obviously Brian Callahan worked with Peyton Manning back in Denver. I have heard that Peyton Manning did call Jim Irsay in the Colts and kind of give his personal recommendation for Brian Callahan. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Adam Gase got a lot of recommendations from Peyton Manning, and that didn't turn into anything great, but that's just another thing to throw in there, that Brian Callahan has the support of the franchise franchise greatest legend. So those are the connections that kind of lead him to it. But also on top of that, Brian Callahan, really smart, reserved head coach or head coach candidate,

Starting point is 00:15:54 a guy who has worked with Matthew Stafford closely, Derek Carr, Peyton Manning, Joe Burrow, some good quarterbacks. He's worked with some good and some great quarterbacks on a very personal level, either as a QB coach, offensive coordinator, or offensive assistant. And he's had a lot of success in the NFL. I mean, this Bengals offense the last two years with Burrow, with Jamar Chase, with T. Higgins, has been very good, very diverse, very fun run scheme, and a very, very effective passing game. And that's not all him.

Starting point is 00:16:23 Obviously, he's not calling plays there with Cincinnati, which I guess is a bit of a concern there. But he has a big, heavy hand in that offense and why that offense has been so effective and so tailored to Joe Burrow. So, you know, with Brian Callahan, yes, a lot of his connections and a lot of it is the appeal through that. But also he has a good resume. He's worked with some really good quarterbacks.

Starting point is 00:16:44 He's gotten a lot out of those quarterbacks and he's someone who I think could build a pretty decent staff. You know, it's not going to be at the same level of Raheem Morris, but it's going to be a good staff. So that's the reason why I think Brian Callahan is going to be in this thing is, you know, we love, we love an Indy. We love those connections to players. That's why some of you guys are still so high on Jeff Saturday as a head coach

Starting point is 00:17:04 and why Jim Ursae apparently is still pretty high on Jeff Saturday as well is those connections to the glory days. And Brian Callahan is kind of that connection to the glory days while also having a legitimate resume to be a head coach. So, yeah, I think Brian Callahan to me is going to be the favorite over Raheem Morris, over Shane Steichen. I think it's going to be him, but that's not any sourced info or anything like that. I just feel like it's going to be Brian Callahan with all those things going in his favor.

Starting point is 00:17:33 But let's talk about the final candidate in Shane Steichen of the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, the NFL is moving towards the offensive head coaches. We have seen this for years now. Mike LaFleur, when he got hired with the Green Bay Packers, immediately had success. The NFL is moving towards the offensive head coaches. We have seen this for years now. Mike LaFleur, when he got hired with the Green Bay Packers, immediately had success. Kyle Shanahan, when he got hired with the 49ers, had a lot of success. Sean McVay with the Los Angeles Rams. Zach Taylor with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Starting point is 00:17:57 All offensive head coaches hired in the last 5-10 years that have led their teams out of the gutter and into ways of success. Now, obviously that in some cases that matched with a young quarterback or, or a veteran hall of fame quarterback, but they were able to get the most out of those guys and get their team into chances to win the Superbowl or actually win the Superbowl in McVay's case. Now, Shane Steichen is the next man up in, in that kind of like mold. He is a pure offensive coach who has worked with Phillip Rivers. He's worked with Justin Herbert. He's worked with Jalen Hurts. And each place he's

Starting point is 00:18:31 been, he's got success out of those quarterbacks. So very different quarterbacks with same or just slightly differing levels of success. He's been able to get the most out of whoever he's worked with. He's called plays at two different stops now, but honestly, this past season with the Philadelphia Eagles has been his most impressive stretch in the NFL. He's just done phenomenal work with Jalen Hurts, and he's really unlocked what Jalen Hurts can do as a passer and as a runner. He's taken that Philadelphia Eagles to just new heights, and honestly, Jalen Hurts, I'm not saying that Jalen Hurts owes part of this season to Shane Steichen, but those two have really worked well off each other. And Steichen has done a great job of adjusting

Starting point is 00:19:09 and making just life easy on their star quarterback. So if the Colts want to be a part of this new age trend of innovative young head coach that is a whiz on offense, that's going to be Shane Steichen. Shane Steichen also could build a pretty good staff there. He could pick from the Eagles staff. He could pick from that Chargers staff. That was pretty good when he was out there. So all three of these guys could build a pretty good staff. Obviously, Raheem Morris could build the best staff.

Starting point is 00:19:35 Shane Steichen's biggest appeal is just that offensive ability on top of the things that he could do with a young quarterback. But I think it's going to be those three. I firmly believe it's going to be those three. This is not source info or anything like that. It's just gut feeling, Zach gut feeling, as you guys know on Colts Reddit. I think those are going to be the final three guys in this head coaching candidacy. And I think that's what the Colts are going to be debating these next couple days.

Starting point is 00:20:01 Do we want the leadership in the staff building of Raheem Morris, or do we favor the young offensive mind in Shane Steichen, or do we kind of want the best of both worlds in Brian Callahan? You can kind of go either way with this search. Ultimately, I think that's what they're debating and why it's going to take to the end of this week to early next week to really decide is because there's a lot of good options. They actually have a lot of great options, and I think there's only a few ways they could mess this search up. So we'll see if they end up doing that. But ultimately, I feel like the Colts are in good hands now.

Starting point is 00:20:31 I'm feeling better about the Colts. And if they hire one of these three guys who I believe are the finalists, then I'm feeling pretty good. So we're going to close out this show here in just a second. But first, I want to tell you guys about our friends over at prize picks which is daily fantasy made fun and easy just pick two to six players and if they score more or less than their stat projections then you can win up to 25 times your money on any entry prize picks offers projections on any sport that you watch and entries can be made in 60 seconds

Starting point is 00:21:01 or less it is that easy withdrawals are safe and fast as well, and PrizePix is currently operational in over 30 states and in Canada. Download the PrizePix app or go to prizepix.com to sign up and play daily fantasy sports. First time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match

Starting point is 00:21:18 up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. If you deposit $100, PrizePix will give you $100. If you deposit $100, price picks will give you $100. If you deposit $50, price picks will give you $50. Don't forget to enter promo code LOCKEDON at sign up for an instant deposit match up to $100. And before we close it out, guys, again, if you're looking for a delicious treat

Starting point is 00:21:39 and you don't want all that fat and calories, then you've got to try a Bilt Bar. We're through the holidays now, and I know my goal is to eat a little healthier this year. If you're like me and you want to eat healthier, but you don't want to compromise taste, then I've got just the thing for you. With Bilt, healthy is actually tasty. Seriously, they're so delicious, and you won't even think that they're good for you. What makes Bilt Bars so good?

Starting point is 00:22:02 Well, for starters, they're all covered in 100% real chocolate. I'm not sure how Built does it, but these bars taste like a candy bar while maintaining amazing macros. And what's even better is they are healthy, only 130 calories and four grams of sugar with a whopping 17 grams of protein. Swing by Walmart or Sam's Club today to get a box. All right, guys, so that's all I have for today. I hope you guys didn't mind this solo episode here. I actually want to hear your guys' takes and your guys' responses on these solo episodes. You know, with the off-season and full swing, you know, Jake and I are trying to give each other little breaks here and there throughout the week, especially when content is a little dry like it is right now. So we're just taking some swings at some solo episodes.

Starting point is 00:22:44 So let me know what you guys think in the comments of these solo episodes. And honestly, just endorse my solo episodes over Jake's. I think they're very different flavors. Jake, you're going to get reliable. You're going to get very stoic and very easy to understand. With me, you're going to get a little bit spastic and a little bit information overload, but it's fun either way. I promise it's fun either way. I promise it's fun. Hey guys, but that's it for us. Everyone will be back tomorrow, hopefully with some head coaching developments and hopefully with both of us here to really bounce off each other.

Starting point is 00:23:13 Make sure you guys are following us on social media at Locked on Colts, at JakeArthurNFL and at Zach Hicks 2 on the Twitter. Also subscribe to Locked on Colts on YouTube, wherever you listen to your podcast. We love you guys' ratings and reviews and just any comments that you guys have for us. Be sure to jump in there and leave them for us. And thank you guys for making us your first listen of the day. Next, subscribe to the Locked on NFL podcast

Starting point is 00:23:36 and get daily conversations on the biggest NFL stories. Plus, in-depth analysis on the biggest games with NFL key predictions every Friday and Monday. Local insiders cover the weekend with Game 2 game episodes. Locked on NFL, available on YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you guys tomorrow.

Your Ad Here

Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts' Head Coaching Search in its Final Days?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.