Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has received plenty of criticism over the last few weeks for the process of firing former head coach Frank Reich and replacing him with Jeff Saturday as the interim head coach.
In an interview with ESPN, Irsay pushed back on some of that criticism, especially after Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni made it clear how he felt about the firing of Reich when Philly beat the Colts 17-16 in Week 11.
“It’s not personal. It’s the very opposite from being personal,” Irsay said in the interview.
It was well known that the relationship between Reich, Irsay and general manager Chris Ballard was a strong one. This wasn’t a situation where these three got along simply because they had to. Their relationships went beyond showing up for work every day.
Irsay leaned on his experience of never giving a coach or executive an extension with multiple years left on their current contract as an argument for how he felt about Reich.
“I’ve been doing this for over 50 years, and I’ve never, ever, ever, ever given a coach an extension when there’s two years left on the contract,” Irsay said. “But [I did it] because of the closeness with him and our family, and because I hoped that maybe it would be something that would help strengthen him in his position and his own belief.”
Irsay also doubled down on his relationship with Reich and his family, noting how close the two have been.
“Frank is a treasured friend of my family and all my daughters,” Irsay said. “We go back a long, long way. I’m very, very close to Frank, and I’ve known Frank for many decades. He’s like family.”
Regardless, the Colts are moving forward with Saturday as the interim head coach, and Irsay will have to go through the full process of interviews following the season.
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