The Indianapolis Colts have begun finalizing the process of hiring their next head coach, and Jeff Saturday is among the candidates being considered heavily.
However, a faction of the fanbase strongly opposes hiring Saturday as the next head coach to the point where a petition has been started by Shawn Ward with the headline “Don’t hire Jeff Saturday as head coach.”
Pleading to owner Jim Irsay, who was the sole factor in hiring Saturday as the interim head coach, Ward said this in his message on the Change.org petition:
“We as Colts fans will always love the memories of the SB XLI team; we love the former players and the people they’ve become, but we don’t want Jeff Saturday as the head coach of this team going forward.
Please hire someone with experience and save your fan base from revolting and losing interest.”
The decision to bring in Saturday as the interim head coach in the middle of the season without searching for any other replacement was bizarre and unprecedented in its own right.
What followed was a disastrous eight-game stretch to conclude the season, which showed the Colts playing at a historically poor level. They ended the campaign on a seven-game losing streak and had the second-worst point differential during that span.
Saturday is beloved by the fanbase from his playing days as Peyton Manning’s center. The nostalgia has worn off, though, for just about everyone outside of Irsay.
As of this writing, roughly 2,300 people have signed the petition. You can follow along for the latest updates with the head coach search via our tracker.
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