Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS -1/22- Ryan Grigson Told To Kick Rocks; Jimmy Raye III Will Interview & Irsay's Presser

Episode Date: January 22, 2017

As #Colts fans and players rejoice with the news that Ryan #Grigson was issued his walking papers, owner Jim #Irsay announces that Jimmy Raye III will interview for the open role. Matt gives his thoughts, and plays a shortened version of the Irsay presser. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. No, I'm not for sale. You are lockeded On Colts, your daily Indianapolis Colts podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back to Locked On Colts ladies and gentlemen I'm your host Matt Dainley and the news has officially dropped Ryan Grigson is now out as GM Jimmy Ray the third is the acting GM and will act as the GM through the search for the new GM, Mr. Ursae says. And basically, we're left with what the hell happened over the past few days, because it seems through all accounts, if you were to talk to anybody near the Colts organization

or anything like that, in fact, this has been for years. Those two have always been tight, Grigson and Ursae. So this kind of makes you wonder what's, you know, is there something additional going on? Maybe not, you know, more than likely not actually. But the thought process is still there. The questions are still there in your head. And we just really don't know what's going on.

But we do know that Ryan Grigson's out. That's a huge monkey off the back of the Colts organization. There's just no two ways about it. He has been, you know, by all accounts, you see all the Colts players, all the former Colts players tweeting out how excited they are. Reggie Wayne went on NFL Network and spoke about how much of a, you know, a hamper he was on the organization, I think, as a whole. You know, you just can't have an environment like that where a guy tries to come in.

And I thought it was funny that what Reggie said was Debo. And if you've ever watched the movie Friday, you know exactly what he's talking about. You know, he thought that he was not only, uh, the guy running the personnel through the draft free agency, et cetera, et cetera, but he was the enforcer almost, you know, like he thought that he could scare people into playing better. And, you know, you know, when you're just tone deaf like that, that's what the result comes out. I mean, people want to play for Chuck Pagano, despite the fact that we all know he's a subpar coach at best, but people hated being around Ryan Grigson, hated it. You know, that says probably more than it does about the Colts players who wanted to play well for Pagano. So this is something that's new.

I think that it's fresh. You know, there's a lot of GM candidates out there still abuzz. I think one of the main reasons that Ursae said that he was going to keep Pagano around is because I don't really think there's a lot of coaching candidates out there right now that he would trust. You know, it's basically like, we'll get through this entire year, one more year. Pagano either shines, like shines without having Grigson hover over him, or he doesn't, and he loses his job, and then they can start the next process.

So this is something that's, I think, good overall for the organization, regardless if Pagano's out or not, which, you know, as far as I'm concerned, may not be so cut and dry that Pagano's coming back. But I would assume that that'd be the case because there aren't that many candidates. is not gone. They're still at least the starting, the project of getting everything turned around within the organization, having a better work environment for those who had to work around the GM, a better work environment for the players who had to play for him, talk to him, answer to him, so to speak, and a better environment for the coaching staff. I think that Ursa is a little tone deaf in his response today talking about how what a great person Ryan Grigson was. Well, you know what? You're his boss. Everybody else that was in the building, he was their boss. There's a difference. You know, there's a different dynamic between a guy that you feel

like you have to kiss his ass to the dynamic, the everybody else that you want them to kiss yours, you know? And if that's the way you're running a business, we, you all have jobs. I have a job. I don't,

you know, if I, if my boss comes in every day, strutting their stuff with their nose stuck up in the air, acting like they're better than everybody, nobody's going to want to be around that person. They're not going to work hard for them. And it's not going to be a quality work environment for anybody. If they come in a common person, try to help people out, try to, you know, see the good in other people. And not only that, but not just try to ride the

coattails of their boss, then things can get done. Not only that, but you've got a stable, stress-free work environment. And if there's any environment that, uh, in professional sports that is extremely stressful, the GM, the coach, all the coaching, uh, hires underneath the head coach, all that stressful, all those guys, everybody in the NFL is fighting for their job. If you guys had a two year shelf life on your job, how would you, uh, perform? Do you think, you know what I mean? That's a really weird thing. And those coaching, those, uh, uh, position coaches and stuff, they don't make a ton of money. I mean, I'm sure they make good money. Don't get me wrong, but they're not, you know,

making four or $5 million a year to where, Oh, I lost my job. I'll get a new one and I'll make another 3 million maybe next year because we didn't perform very well. And then even if I play bad or have a bad year, then I'll get 2 million. You know, it's not like that. Those guys make good money. Don't get me wrong, but they don't make enough money to where they could go without work for a year or two. You know, that's just not the case. So I think this is an overall fantastic situation for the Colts. Even if Jimmy Ray does step in and remain GM, if he doesn't, I mean, there's guys like Elliot Wolfe, there's Chris Ballard from the Chiefs. I mean, Cesaro from the Patriots. There's a ton. I mean, a ton. But I say at least a good six to ten candidates out there. And even the biggest of names for those GM candidates are all monumental upgrades, in my opinion, on Grigson. So the Colts aren't going to lose anything in that regard. Not only that, but they're not going to lose anything because there's a Jimmy Ray type there to keep everything all packed up. He's got

those guys that are going to do the senior bowl. He can take over the gene. I mean, he's been in this role, basically has been Grigson's right-hand man. A lot of people want to couple them together because he has been working directly with and for Ryan Grigson's right-hand man, a lot of people want to couple them together because he has been working directly with and for Ryan Grigson. Now, don't do that because Jimmy Ray has respect throughout the league on his own. That's something that can't get convoluted. Understand that Jimmy Ray is a guy who's already getting GM interviews around the league. He will continue to get them. He will be gone in the next couple years if he's not given the GM role. That's not a take-it-or-leave-it type deal for Jim Irsay,

but the bottom line is that he's that kind of candidate. So don't look past Jimmy Ray III. Don't look past any of those other guys because Jimmy Ray will still get compensated heavily for the kind of person and for the kind of executive that he is in the Colts front office if he doesn't get this role this time. So make no mistake about it. The Colts are in good position. They've gotten rid of the cancer in the locker room, in the office, in the building, all the way around. And you know what?

The cancer among fans. As many people, and me included, that think that Pagano is a terrible coach, you know, there's a different feeling when you know that the GM is an absolute jerk and looks like a jerk. I mean, he looks like a jerk. And everybody, you know, and everybody, you know, and he's not doing his job right. If he was knocking it out of the ballpark and free agency and in the draft every year, uh, him being and acting like a jerk and looking like a jerk probably wouldn't matter quite as much. So, but he didn't. And you know, that that's where they're left. So what I did for you guys, I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about it. Uh, just kind of my thoughts and, and just, uh, spouting off a

little bit, but I'm going to, I edited down the press conference for you guys. I'm going to put it on here following this. And it's about, I think I got it down from, it was like 22 minutes. I got it down to about 11 and a half minutes or so, uh, on here. So then you guys can kind of hear the important parts of the press conference and kind of get what you guys want out of it. If you can listen to Jim Irsay for 10 to 12 minutes, then you'll be just fine. So everybody enjoy the conference championship round of the playoffs. It should be two fantastic games. We will have our Super Bowl set after the 640 game,

I believe it is. A couple of weird times for playoff games like 305 and 640, but it's going to be two great games, guys. I'm leaving town early in the morning to go get some shopping done, but I will be in my chair watching these games because it's going to be a fantastic day of football. So, uh, Grigson's gone great football tomorrow or today, whenever you're listening to this and, uh, thank you guys for listening. Please subscribe to the podcast. Uh, please check me out or locked on Colts on Twitter at locked on Colts or M Dainley underscore NFL.

You can hit me up at locked on Colts pod at gmail.com. And as always, please give a rating and a review on iTunes. Those have shot up tremendously over the past several weeks. I can't thank you guys enough. You guys have no idea what that's doing to this podcast. So please keep that up. Tell a friend. Share it with somebody.

And let's keep this bad boy growing. Thank you guys for coming around and listening today. Special weekend podcast obviously with the uh news and uh stay tuned for jim ursae's press conference we're here to announce um uh a change at our general manager position ryan grix an outstanding man it was this decision was reached with um a heavy heart um as part of this organization he worked tirelessly um to make us better jimmy ray is going to be working uh with coach pagano now now. Jimmy will interview for the general manager job. We will have an extensive process to interview of general managers.

I will say that this timing was right for us. We needed the time to go through the process. Internally, we worked through some things, even through this week, that gave us some direction on our final decision. And I'm very excited about the direction we're going. Obviously, Andrew had shoulder surgery, and I think he's going to be a lot better off because of it. And he's doing great right now.

I'm very optimistic going forward, and I'll just open it up for questions. Is Peyton Manning still in the picture? Bob, you know, Peyton is – I wouldn't say that he's in the picture. Peyton and I have talked, the last year when he came in for the 10th anniversary reunion. Him and I sat and had some time to talk alone. And I said I'd be happy to be a sounding board for him, asking him what he was thinking about going forward with his career and that sort of thing. But we have, there was never any serious negotiations or anything like that for him coming in to be general manager. I welcome the opportunity for him and I to talk about that possibility some day that

he would play some role in our organization. I think you have to remember, it's only been, it hasn't even been a year since the confetti fell from his Denver Super Bowl victory. And it's, you know, he's enjoying retirement, enjoying the chance to not be downed in a schedule and that sort of thing. So, you know, Bob, right now, it's something where I, you know, he's not in the mix in this process for interviewing general managers. What changed when last year you stood up here and said that Ryan, you went to Ryan was the right guy to go for Wakanda, which again, he's not going to get the same thing.

What changed in the past year? You know, it was a gut intuitive instinct from looking get the feeling when the timing's right where a change will help. And whereas continuity is something that I really want and long to have as much as we can have it, but in this case, I really felt that the time was right to make a change, that we needed some new direction just in the vision of our football program. And, you know, that's from talking to a lot of people and giving it a lot of thought. Did you talk that Chuck and Jimmy are going to work together moving ahead the senior bowl tomorrow night?

Is Chuck's job head on or is that an issue? Is the GM watching in the other direction? Is Chuck your coach for 2017? He's our coach for 2017. The new general manager will come in, evaluate our whole football program, and we'll see where we're at, Mike. Again, I hope Chuck can be our coach for many years to come. He is our coach this year.

Whoever the new general manager is, come in to work with me to evaluate where we're at. We'll play a big role on that in the long term. But for 2017, Chuck is our coach. Jim, can you address your thought process over the last few weeks? It sounds like you've evaluated everything, I assume, including Chuck's role going forward. Can you talk about that decision-making process? Chuck's coming back, obviously, and that's not just what was the calculation?

Again, I felt both guys had a learning curve to take on. I, you know, Chuck and I talked obviously with Ryan sometimes and we talked individually. You know, Chuck understands some of the things that we talked about internally that I believe have to be done better and have to be pinned down better. There was a lot of work going on within our organization to evaluate how we get better. It wasn't just sitting and staring outside at the Indiana winter. Unfortunately for Ryan, as I told him earlier this afternoon, we had to make a change there, and that hurts.

I don't like to see change happen if we can avoid it. But I do believe that Chuck being here, that improvement has to be made, and he understands that. He's fired up for 2017. He understands what we have to do, and I really believe he will be the best coach he's ever been going into this year. I really do. Did you have a conversation with John Gruden? With John Gruden?

Did you have a conversation with John Gruden? Not about the head coaching position. I talked to a ton of people about what do you think about our franchise? What did you see when you've watched us play and all those sorts of things? I talked to a lot of people, a lot of ex-coaches, that sort of thing. I've known John. There was not any, I know there was reports that, again, that there was negotiations about Peyton being the general manager

and John Gruden being our head coach. That's not true. I'm not going to talk about every person I talk to in evaluating our program, but that was never something that was in the cards, so to speak. Jim, in this room a year ago, you said that Chuck and Ryan were tight. What severed that tie? What changed? I untied them, you know,

because it wasn't the best interest of the franchise. My decision was based on what's best for the horseshoe, what's best to make us the best football team on the field. Both of these guys have great affection for each other. That may shock you guys, but, you know, I'll let Chuck speak for himself or Ryan, but there's a lot more affection than you guys even know. However, we're in the business of professional football,

and that's the business of winning. It was time to make a change and move forward. And there's no question in my mind that this was the best move for the franchise, the right move for the franchise. We went through an extremely thorough process before we reached that decision. I feel a lot of comfort in knowing that. Obviously, there's still big challenges coming forward, but I really feel good about the direction of the franchise

and the potential where we're headed. I can't joke right now, Jim, because your brother's team has been over three weeks and a lot of hirings around the league. Do you feel like you're in a good position to try to get a good general manager if you want outside? I don't. A lot goes into this decision,

and the time was worth and well spent in making it at this point. No, I do not feel that we're behind any curve. You know, we're working literally on things day to day up until the change was made. I think that along with Jimmy, we have an excellent pool to look at and interview. And I know we have a lot to offer. Hey, do you want to come to Indianapolis and win a world championship? I know that.

There's a situation with Ryan where you have a young guy that you really gave an organizational chance to. Does that give you any hesitation in offering the general manager a job to somebody who doesn't have that level of experience? You know, it doesn't. If it's the right person, everyone wants to find Bill Pullian, Ron Wolfe, a proven winner, so to speak. I know there's never been

a football team in the history of the league that came in with a rookie coach, a rookie quarterback, a rookie general manager, and didn't have a losing season in five years. The expectations that have been put out for us are unrealistic in a lot of ways,

but, you know, we accept them and we're proud of them because we're the ones who kind of have set those expectations. You know, I don't look at Ryan's time as a failure. I'm just interested in us being able to bring that Lombardi trophy back to us. I want to say to Colts fans that we are extremely fired up going forward. I don't think we ever celebrate a fire, but this man slapped at the office. office he just gave his sweat blood and tears to desperately try to bring us um the best game the best season the best year he could and i believe his record speaks for itself um and i'm excited about the future of colts fans this is the move that we needed to make. I made it slowly, cautiously, prudently, because it's a big decision. This move was the right move.

There's excitement in people's eyes in the building today. You know, I'm talking to Chuck Pagano and Jimmy Ray and others. A lot of excitement and, you know, a tinge of sadness. You know, we look to take back what is rightfully ours uh and i'll just leave it at that when it comes to starting to play ball again have a list it's not an impossibility someone could be added to that list there's a lot of bright young people out there the you know obviously analytics and and different aspects are affecting our game how we go about being the best we can and uh we're you know we've worked hard to stay on the cutting edge.

We have a list that we are currently going and setting up people to come in to discuss the job with us. You are lockeded On Colts, your daily podcast on the Indianapolis Colts, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.