After firing coach Frank Reich on Monday afternoon, the Colts quickly found his replacement in former franchise center Jeff Saturday. The shocking interim hire caught most of the sports world off-guard, including Saturday’s media peers at ESPN.
Colts owner Jim Irsay announced the news at 12:47 p.m. ET and just a few minutes later, his colleagues Hannah Storm and Jay Harris discussed the matter on an edition of SportsCenter. The pair seemed rather surprised, noting that Saturday was scheduled to appear on the show on Tuesday.
“Jeff Saturday, who played with the Colts for 13 seasons… He won a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning as they beat the Bears in Super Bowl XLI,” Storm explained. “A five-time Pro Bowler [in Indianapolis] but no coaching experience other than coaching a high school in Georgia,”
Storm and Harris then offered up wishes of good luck for Saturday as he embarked on the new endeavor.
Shortly after delivering the news, Harris spoke with Louis Riddick, another former player who has carved out an analyst role for himself at ESPN. Riddick, who has been mentioned over the year as a candidate for front office jobs, spoke about Saturday’s hiring candidly, explaining that the former Pro Bowler will face a difficult task in Indianapolis.
“Jeff Saturday is one of my favorite freaking people in the world,” Riddick said during his appearance. “This is a lot. This is a lot that’s gonna be on his plate. But given what his pedigree is and what he knows about football, the offensive line is going to be priority number one. Because it has just been an epic, epic failure.”
Saturday spent 13 years as a player with the Colts and has since gone on to become an ESPN analyst, while also serving as a consultant for his former team. The only coaching experience he has on his resumé is as a high school head coach at Hebron Christian Academy in Dacula, Ga.
Saturday will inherit a Colts team that has started the season 3–5–1 and in recent weeks have benched their quarterback, fired their offensive coordinator and now fired their head coach. He’ll arrive in time to make his coaching debut when Indianapolis takes on the Raiders in Las Vegas on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. ET.
