The Colts shocked just about everyone with their decision to hire former center Jeff Saturday as their interim coach after firing Frank Reich on Monday, and Saturday was on that team. Saturday said at a news conference Monday night that shocked would be an “understatement” for his reaction to receiving a call from Colts owner Jim Irsay about the team’s practice. Saturday has no college or NFL coaching experience and worked as an analyst for ESPN before returning to the Colts, but Irsay said he doesn’t see that as a negative. Irsay called Saturday “fully capable” of handling the job and said he’s “glad” Saturday doesn’t have any NFL coaching experience. Irsay said he feels that way because Saturday he hasn’t “learned the fear” that comes with major league coaching and makes many coaches lean too much into the details. The Colts did not have to follow Rooney Rule protocols to hire Saturday as their interim coach, but would have to interview other candidates before naming a full-time successor to Reich. Irsay said the hiring is for “eight games and hopefully more” during the news conference, but the team will likely wait to see the coach Saturday before making long-term plans.
