Throughout the early part of the offseason, the biggest storyline surrounding the Indianapolis Colts has been the search for a new head coach and the involvement of owner Jim Irsay in that process.
General manager Chris Ballard has been there every step of the way, starting with the virtual interviews and conducting long, in-person interviews—up to 12 hours in some cases—during the second round of meetings.
While it has been maintained that Irsay holds the final decision since Ballard said so during his year-end press conference, ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported Saturday morning that the final decision is now in the hands of Ballard.
“Interim coach Jeff Saturday still hasn’t been eliminated, per sources, though team owner Jim Irsay (who’s believed to be Saturday’s biggest backer in the building) has let it be known that GM Chris Ballard is the one making the final decision on a head coach.”
This would be a change in tune from what we’ve known of the process since it began in the middle of January. The initial idea was that Ballard would lead the search with a wide variety of candidates, and Irsay would make the final decision.
Irsay has been far more involved with the search during the second round of interviews. It’s been reported that part of the process has included one-on-one time with each candidate for multiple hours.
Maybe Irsay has gotten to the point where he feels strongly about the remaining candidates and is trusting Ballard to make the decision. It’s difficult to know for sure considering how tight-lipped the organization has been since the start of the search.
However, if Ballard truly is the one making the final decision on the new head coach, that changes things slightly in terms of who the favorites will be.
For instance, it’s likely that Ballard wouldn’t hire Jeff Saturday and likely would lean closer to Shane Steichen or Raheem Morris.
Regardless, we should know the decision shortly after the conclusion of Super Bowl LVII, and we can finally move forward from the month-long search for a new head coach.
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