Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Who are the Final 5 Head Coach Candidates?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Colts list of head coaching candidates is about to be chopped down greatly. Who will those finalists be? We'll tell you what we think today on Locked On Colts. Let's get to it. You are Locked On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast 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 00:00:51 Today's show is presented by PrizePix, which is daily fantasy made easy. Just pick two to five players, and if they score more or less than their PrizePix projections, then you can win up to ten times your money on any entry. First-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with our promo code LOCKEDON. That's prizepix.com, promo code LOCKEDON. I'm Jake Arthur, he's Zach Pix, and you know the two of us from horseshoehuddle.com. Today, finally have some, I guess, development in the Colts head coaching search, aside from just new names being added to the list all the time. If you're watching this,

Starting point is 00:01:30 you're probably on the list as well. But the Colts are finally apparently going to chop this thing down. Reports say from about 13 candidates that have been interviewed or still to be down to five. And so on today's show, we're going to tell you which five candidates we think the Colts are going to have chopped down to and which five we would choose. So first, Zach, I couldn't find it anywhere, but I saw multiple people mention it. Pro Football Talk, I guess, mentioned that they're going down to five. Tom Pellicicero who I did see Tom Pellicero mention it he he basically backed that up he said Jim Irsay was not in on any of the interviews previously to this point but he is gonna be on on the

Starting point is 00:02:16 interviews in person with these five candidates and apparently is going to be open-minded about it which you know can all just really, really pray for on that. But yeah, what do you think? I don't think there, other than it being this week or in the next few days, I guess, is the timeline. But what do you think? Yeah, so especially when they mentioned this bringing down a five, obviously we don't know the exact details about that.

Starting point is 00:02:42 I do trust Pro Football Talk and Tom Palacero's reports because if anything, pro football talk, Mike Florio, he is connected with agents. And I know he's kind of connected with Chris Ballard's agent in particular. So I'm not saying believe everything he says because sometimes it's a little hit or miss. But I do believe him with this report here. And it's not like the Colts aren't going to come out and say, oh, here's our five guys left. They're not going to do that. The way it's probably going to go is they're going to start requesting

Starting point is 00:03:11 second interviews probably middle of this next week. So if you guys are listening to this on Monday, I'm assuming they'll be doing D'Amico Ryan's interview and Wink Martindale's interview within either Sunday, the day we're recording this, or Monday, the day day you are listening they'll knock out those last two and then i would say probably by wednesday or thursday at the latest you'll start seeing second interview requests like trickle in you know typically you know those will be like the the in-person ones because i think after this weekend uh all interviews can be in person so that's's where Jim Irsay is going to sit in.

Starting point is 00:03:48 So up to this point, if we could believe the reports that have been going out, it's mostly just been Chris Ballard sitting down with these guys and kind of limiting his list to who he wants. And then Jim Irsay is going to sit in. And like you said, hopefully he sits in with an open mind. Hopefully he's not sitting in with one candidate in particular in his head. Hopefully he's actually going to be listening to what his general manager is telling him and showing him uh saturday saturday is actually going to be in all the interviews with the other guys as well sit next to her say

Starting point is 00:04:13 just shaking his head tapping on the shoulder like no no i'm also going to bring my own staff that's my unique thing i'm doing that's the thing that keeps going around. Jeff Saturday is going to bring his own staff. I hope so. That's what they do. So is everyone. But anyway, not just, you know, not talking everything about Jeff Saturday. Yeah, I do think we'll start seeing the second round of interviews kind of going out here soon. And then I would guess we'd probably have a next head coach by late next week, early the week after that, not next week, this week coming up, but the week after, like late that week, maybe the week after that, maybe they'll do a third round of interviews, but they probably won't, they'll probably just do the second round and then go from there, so yeah, I mean, we're, I don't want to say we're in the

Starting point is 00:04:59 waning days of this search here, but at least we're getting some progress instead of just, you know, requesting interviews with every single person under the sun and, and just talking to everyone, which I don't mind. I know a lot of people have been going a little upset about the Colts being like, Oh, this is crazy too wide. And that's like, eh, everything's over zoom right now. So if you're talking to all these guys for 10 minutes, even just to get a feel for them, you know, and just being like, Hey, we're talking to you because we know that you've done some good things. And if you impress us, boom, we'll, we'll talk to you some more. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Uh, but yeah, we are starting to finally get some progress here and narrowing it down to five instead of

Starting point is 00:05:36 13, 14 that we've seen. Uh, yeah, this is definitely a step in the right direction with this search. Yeah. I think we're definitely getting closer. I know Chris Ballard said, you know, he doesn't mind if it bleeds into February as long as they get it right. I don't think, I don't really see it going that long unless this person is from a team who is still alive in the postseason and is just not going to commit to anything until the season is over. You know, 49ers, the Eagles just won chiefs. You know, there's candidates from pretty much a lot of these teams floating out there. So yeah, it's we're definitely getting closer. I mean, they're, they're gutting this group down, down to the bits.

Starting point is 00:06:16 So, man, I mean, the next best thing to talk about is who we think it's going to be, who we want it to be. So next, the Colts are going to have an impressive final group to pick from regardless, I think. But first, let's talk about some things that you guys are in control of picking, and that's NFL players for these playoff matchups with price picks. Just pick two to five players, and if they score more or less than their stat projections, then you can win up to 10 times your money on any entry. Price picks offers projections on any sport that you can win up to 10 times your money on any entry. PrizePix offers projections on any sport that you can watch, and entries can be made in 60 seconds or less. It's that easy.

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Starting point is 00:07:16 they'll match you with 50. Don't forget to enter our promo code locked on and sign up for an instant deposit match up to $100. All right. So Zach, this is definitely going to be a battle of head versus heart. Our heart tells us who we want it to be our head, we know better who the Colts are going to pick. Luckily, I think we have a decent idea, just using context of like, guys who have connections with the Colts already or like Chris Ballard, Jim Irsay, what have you. And then, you know, Raheem Morris, we've heard his interview went really well.

Starting point is 00:07:51 So you can kind of connect the dots there. So I'll let you go. Go ahead. Who do you think their five is? All right. So I'm going to differ from your list because I'm kind of cheating. Your list is right in front of me. So yeah, that's why I get to go first.

Starting point is 00:08:05 I have to think off the top of my head with this. But I agree with you, what you're going to say. Raheem Morris, I think, is definitely going to be in the second round. From all reports, I mean, from the Indie Beat reporters, the guys who are tuned in, Zach Kiefer, Mike Chappell, those are guys who know Ursae, know this Colts organization, and know Chris Ballard. And that's the only candidate we've seen so far that has gotten positive traction within the local media

Starting point is 00:08:31 in terms of that interview went really well you know Raheem Morris impressed you know we've heard it from multiple multiple indie guys and even some national guys has said the same thing so I think Raheem Morris for sure is going to get that second interview. And I think that's well-deserved. I think number two, I'm going to go with Brian Callahan, the Bengals offense coordinator. And this is all these guys I'm about to say who I think are not going to be based off any source stuff or anything like that guys purely off of, off of vibes, purely off of vibes for me here. But Brian Callahan, I was doing some research on him today on Sunday when we're recording this, you know, just kind of looking into his candidacy. And this is a guy who has so many connections to Indy and just everything in Indy from starting with, obviously early in his career, he won a

Starting point is 00:09:14 Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos working alongside Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning, obviously would give a great recommendation about him. Peyton Manning's not shy about giving recommendations about guys he's worked with in the past. And then you just look at some guys that he would even bring to Indy, some potential staff guys like that. I think the QB coach for the Bengals was a Colts scout from 2012 to 2015.

Starting point is 00:09:37 So he worked in the Colts scouting department. One of their defensive coaches, I think their linebacker coach there for the Bengals, he started his career as a coach with the Colts in 2012. And before that, he worked at Ball State and St. Francis at the college level. So there's a lot of options and a lot of connections to him, to Indy and guys that he could potentially bring coming to Indy. And I think they're going to be enamored with what he's done with the Bengals. So, yeah, I think Brian Callahan, as long as the interview went well, I think he's going to be in that final five.

Starting point is 00:10:06 I'm also going to throw another guy, Mike Kafka, I think is going to definitely be in that top five, mainly because of that connection with Andy Reid and the Chiefs organization. Chris Ballard is not shy about liking guys from his past and liking things from his past. And Mike Kafka, even though he's not currently working with the Chiefs,

Starting point is 00:10:22 has that great connection with Andy Reid and everything Chiefs. And Chris Ballard obviously came from the Chiefs, has that great connection with Andy Reid and everything Chiefs. And Chris Ballard obviously came from the Chiefs. So, again, as long as that interview went well, I think that's definitely going to be there. I think Shane Steichen will be in that top five as well. I went back and forth between him and D'Amico Ryans. And the only reason I don't think D'Amico Ryans is going to be in the top five is because every single day it seems we're getting more and more reports about D'Amico Ryan's to Houston heating up and getting closer and closer. So they might not even bother with Ryan's because it looks like it's going to go to Houston. But

Starting point is 00:10:54 I do think they're going to love D'Amico Ryan's when they do talk to him. I just, I don't know what the interest level is going to be on both sides of Ryan's is like, had, you know, he's just set on Houston. So we'll see what that one, but yeah, but yeah Shane Steichen I think will be in there even though he's very much like Frank Reich it's hard to ignore the best offensive mind in football the best young offensive mind in football so I think he'll be in there and my last one I'm going to go with Dan Quinn I know that's a name that not a lot of you guys do not love and don't want but I do think the Colts want kind of that energetic experience coach you know Raheem Morris is obviously one of them. Dan Quinn is another one, a guy who has been to the Super Bowl as a head coach,

Starting point is 00:11:30 a guy who has had a lot of ups and downs and currently is in the midst of a hopefully still going playoff run. We don't know. You guys are listening on Monday. The Cowboys have not played yet at the time we're recording. But I do think Dan Quinn's another guy they'd be impressed with. So, yeah, Dan Quinn, Shane Steichen, Raheem Morris, Brian Callahan. And who was the other one I said? I said one more, didn't I? I can't remember the other one I said.

Starting point is 00:11:55 Now I can't either. Yeah. So who did I say? It'll come back up. But yeah, you guys heard it. You guys heard it land out in the comments. But yeah, those are the five that I think will become – who the Colts will go down to five with. Oh, Mike Kafka.

Starting point is 00:12:13 Mike Kafka is the other five. The other one in there. I think that's who the Colts are going to limit down to. And honestly, if this is Chris Ballard's search as of right now, those are the five I think he would pick. I know you're going to go a different way with it if Jim Irsay is putting one candidate in there. But, you know, I've been fairly hard on Jim Irsay and Chris Ballard a lot in the past year. So I'm going to give them a little bit of benefit out.

Starting point is 00:12:40 I'm going to say that Jim Irsay has been swayed at least a little bit by fan opinion and realizing that he just can't hire Jeff Saturday as the head coach. I'm just going to be confident in that. I'm confident Jim Irsay is not a dumb man. He's made some crazy decisions in the past half a year, but he's not a dumb man. He knows football. And I'm hoping that eventually he got it out of his head that Jeff Saturday cannot be the head coach. And I don't think he'll be in the final list. I could be 100% proven wrong.

Starting point is 00:13:08 I don't think he's going to be in the final five. And if he is, it's more of just courtesy. And they're going to go with one of these other five guys. But maybe that's just wishful thinking at this point, me showing some optimism for the first time in half a year. But I don't know. I don't get the feeling that Jeff Saturday is going to be the head coach anymore, which is a weight off my shoulders at least. Yeah, I don't think he'll be the guy in the end just because they have interviewed so many guys and it's hard to believe that he would

Starting point is 00:13:36 come away as the one most prepared and ready and most qualified to be the head coach. It just doesn't make sense. I do have him in the final though just because it's one of those things where i'd have to i'd have to believe it to see it that he's not involved in the final mix you know his name's been attached this whole time so many people who seem to have knowledge of the situation have said don't rule out jeff saturday he's still in it you know this and that like every single report still meant i will say i will say one thing about that before you list your five guys what we've seen a lot lately is a lot of non-local guys saying don't rule out jeff saturday or jeff saturday did an underrated good job

Starting point is 00:14:16 and i can say with some speculation and some not speculation here that jeff saturday has been reaching out to a lot of his friends in the media to kind of get that narrative out there. Trying to get the fan opinion to switch around. But as you can see by the comments on any post like that, it is 100% not switching. So, again, I'm feeling – personally, I don't know. Maybe I just feel confident. I don't think he's going to really be a contender for this job anymore. Just by the way this search has gone down, how many guys they have talked to,

Starting point is 00:14:52 how many qualified guys they've talked to, and just how ravenous the fan response is against Jeff Saturday, which is great. It should be. It should not be positive for him being the coach. I mean, the fan response has been, if you look at anything that Jim Irsay tweets or posts or whatever, every single comment is, please do not hire Jeff Saturday.

Starting point is 00:15:12 Don't hire Jeff Saturday. Like don't, he sees that stuff. Like he might not be reading every single comment, but he sees it. And I really do think it's going to sway this a little bit, but yeah, until the guy like Mike Chapel says, Jeff Saturday is going to be a finalist.

Starting point is 00:15:24 I'm not going to believe a Jordan Schultz or Dan Orlovsky hyping him up because I think those are the guys that Saturday is going to to kind of try to get himself back into it. But that's just my speculation-ish on the situation. But, I mean, yeah, it wouldn't shock me if he is in the final five, but I want to be a little hopeful now. It's a new year, new me. Let's be a little hopeful now, Jake. Does it still count as a new year we're almost a month then yeah new

Starting point is 00:15:50 year new me so well in the next segment i'll address that i would not obviously have him in my final five and i know i know you wouldn't um but i haven't just because i feel like we have to uh raheem morris Morris, all the same reasons. Interview went well by all reports. And he's probably the most qualified candidate out there that they've talked to. So that's kind of a shoo-in for me on that. I have Shane Steichen, the most forward-thinking, offensive young coach of the whole group.

Starting point is 00:16:22 Easy. His team is still alive. He's coaching an MVP candidate, really the only other guy who could probably rival Patrick Mahomes in that race right now. Tomiko Ryans, I think that's another easy one. Final interview. Do they wow each other? Is Ryans bought in enough? If he's agreed to an interview, then, you know, which at first we kind of thought maybe wouldn't even happen. But we thought about Steichen as well. So is there an 11th hour wowing there? He's a great candidate.

Starting point is 00:16:54 He was arguably the hottest candidate in the whole cycle coming in. So as long as there's, you know, as long as things don't go sour, I see that working out. Bubba Ventrone. Now, the reason I have this one, he's potentially the biggest dark horse other than Aaron Glenn or Rich Passaccia. But Chris Ballard has said on coaching searches before, you don't want to miss what's right there staring at you. And if Frank Reich was going to be fired regardless during the season, and the whole Jeff Saturday thing didn't exist, I'm pretty confident saying Bubba Ventrone would have been the interim head coach.

Starting point is 00:17:34 Right. And, you know, everyone in there thinks very highly of him. Chris Ballard thinks very highly of him. If they want to go the energetic young guy route, you have one right there. So I think, you know, his resume speaks for itself. His special teams units, even if they have one big wart on there, they always rank near the top. You know, the punting was not great this year, but they still rank near the top as a unit in terms of metrics. And, you know, PFF still had him right there near the top.

Starting point is 00:18:04 The Adam Vinatieri disaster year 2019, they were, they were still ranked pretty well otherwise. So there's not a whole lot more Ventrone can do to prove himself. And they've been, they've had a look at them every day. Let's see. And yeah, that's, that's my five. So we'll be able to discuss some others here in a minute. But I'm surprised. Normally you and I are lockstep on just about everything.

Starting point is 00:18:29 This is one of the first segments in a while we've had some differing opinions. Jake, you know, it's a new year. I'm a new person. It's time for us to break away a little bit. It's still within our same niche here. But, you know, I think it's tough. I've got to break away from the womb a little bit here, Jake our same niche here. But, you know, I think it's tough. You know, I got to break away from the womb a little bit here, Jake.

Starting point is 00:18:47 So that's the way we're going with that. But next, guys, we're going to talk about who we are pounding the table for among these coaching candidates and who our final five guys would be. But first, the NFL playoffs are here. We're really excited about our new sports betting partner for Locked On

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Starting point is 00:20:17 Win or lose at Fanduel.com slash locked on. Make every moment more with Fanduel, official sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, Jake, I'm going to shoot this last section to you but you know again 13 candidates left there were 14 in total uh Ben Johnson obviously went back to Detroit so of the 13 candidates that have a chance to be in this final five who are your five guys that you would want in that in that final grouping yeah my my list of five I would want is pretty similar to who I think they'll go I got Jeff Saturday out of there and I was able to replace him with Brian Callahan because that was my toughest cut for who I think and it's for the same reasons you mentioned all the connections there's so much there that you really can't ignore

Starting point is 00:21:03 but he's also got a great resume you know he's he's championing one of the the best offenses of the last couple years very productive group he's worked with some great quarterbacks so that's that's a guy and honestly i i've i've gone through and looked at several of these candidates because I want to hear what their players say about them and stuff. Right. Rave reviews for Brian Callahan. And Peyton Manning can be a guy who, if Peyton doesn't F with you, he's just going to not talk about you or he will drag you, you know? Right.

Starting point is 00:21:45 And so if you get the stamp of approval and Peyton P-Funk's out there talking positively about you, then that's great. I mean, he also talked very highly of Adam Gase, which is like, that's, that's kind of a scout, scout, the scout, the player, not the helmet type of thing that, you know, it's like Ohio state players for the Colts, but now Brian Callahan was my guy. I didn't get to fit in before, but yeah. Um, I want Shane Steichen because I want that forward-thinking, young, energetic. Well, he's not like a rah-rah guy, but that forward-thinking offensive mind, maybe his playbook, you know, maybe a little less diverse than Frank's maybe, which should help some guys in the long term. Raheem Morris, obviously, again, probably the most qualified guy. Bubba,

Starting point is 00:22:25 I'm ready to see it. I'll go down in flames with you if it doesn't work, but I'm ready to see it. And then D'Amico Ryans, again, was probably the hottest defensive candidate. I just think it's really impressive the Colts wound up coming away out of the cycle with arguably the top offensive guy in Shane Steichen and defense with D'Amico Ryans and then yeah Dan Quinn you know he's a he's someone in there as well he's just he's just not a sexy option so he doesn't like jump off the page to me but again very very qualified candidate yeah yeah I don't have too many changes from my who I guess would be in there Dan Quinn wouldn't be in my five but basically what I would do it's pretty obvious who you guys would be in there. Dan Quinn wouldn't be in my five, but basically what I would do, it's pretty obvious who you guys would expect.

Starting point is 00:23:06 I'm just going to have basically the same names as Jake's here, except for Bubba. I love Bubba. I really do think one day he's going to be a very good head coach, but I would replace Bubba with Mike Kafka. I just go with all those offensive name guys. So I would go for the big three.

Starting point is 00:23:21 I'm calling these guys the big three because I think they are the three offensive minded guys who could best help a young rookie quarterback. If you guys read my article on Saturday about the coaching superlatives, I went on a mini rant at the end of that article about these three guys. Brian Callahan, Mike Kafka, and Shane Steichen. Any one of those guys would be best equipped to take this young quarterback that the Colts are going to take top five and take him to the next level and make him, you know, this franchise passer that the Colts desperately need. You know, the best way to get that guy to the next level is to have an offensive head coach that's not going to leave after a year or two. That's going to be here for a long time. So those three are definitely my top guys. But for the two defensive guys, I want D'Amico

Starting point is 00:24:02 Ryans, obviously, and then Raheem Morris. I've been watching so much on Raheem Morris lately and just seeing how the players respond to him, seeing his coaching philosophy, seeing how adaptable he is. And just from everything I've seen, man, I am so impressed by Raheem Morris. Like, even if he's not the perfect fit for what the Colts are going to be going into these next couple years of, again, young quarterback, You need to develop him. You need to keep him consistent. I think he's going to be just a phenomenal head coach this next season. I really think he is going to be like Mike Tomlin in his next spot,

Starting point is 00:24:34 like just a very consistent rah-rah guy who the players just absolutely love, and he just gets it now. His first day was not great, and no one's going to argue that. Since then, he's done a lot of growing. He's a very different coach now. And I think he's well-equipped to really run an NFL franchise. So if he ends up being the pick, I'm going to be super pumped. I love Raheem Morris, and I think he's going to do a great job.

Starting point is 00:24:57 But any of these guys I have in my final five, or honestly, even in my other five, with who I think Chris Fowlett's going to pick, I'd be happy with any of these guys. I really think there's an avenue to success for all of these guys. But yeah, those, those are the five I would have. It would be Callahan, Kafka, Steichen, D'Amico Ryans and Raheem Morris in the five that I would personally have as the final grouping. I don't think they're, you know, between our five,

Starting point is 00:25:22 I don't think there's a wrong answer in there at all. And I let's see, they have two more interviews i think they're knocking out martindale probably literally as we're speaking right now and then is is ryan's have they said yet when is it going to be monday i think it's the plan is for it to be monday um again who knows what the traction is going to be like with him in hou. He actually did his Cardinals interview like the morning of Sunday morning, the morning we're talking, he did it before their game. I know a lot of people were giving pushback on that, but it's like, dude, it's a 20 minute zoom interview.

Starting point is 00:25:53 Like he can do that in the morning of a game. But I think the Colts are gonna be the next day just so he's not stacking interviews right before he's going to a game. But yeah, I would guess the Colts are gonna be Monday or Tuesday for him. Yeah. Well, excited to see how that turns out. But I mean, obviously you guys, if you've been following us the past couple of weeks, it's been all head coach all the time because the stuff just keeps changing constantly. So I think you could probably guess what tomorrow's show will be

Starting point is 00:26:21 about. I'm sure we'll talk plenty about the head coaching search. Maybe we'll pepper some other stuff in there if something comes up. But for now, the main objective is to find the new leader for this team. Yeah, I would guess that this search goes on until early February is where I would think is when the Colts are going to have their new head coach. So, guys, if you want more updates on this coaching search until early February or whenever they get it, make sure you're following us on social media,

Starting point is 00:26:43 at LockedOnColts, at JakeArthurNFL, and at ZachKicks2 on Twitter. Also, subscribe to LockedOnColts on YouTube, wherever you listen to your podcasts. And thank you guys for making us your first listen of the day. For your next listen, check out the LockedOnNFL podcast, bringing you the local insights you love to the national spotlight with daily conversations on the biggest NFL stories. LockedOnNFL, available on YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts.

Starting point is 00:27:06 We'll see you guys tomorrow.

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Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Indianapolis Colts: Who are the Final 5 Head Coach Candidates?

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