Why Was Jim Caldwell Fired?

[tucky89]

Pagano wasn't fired after two straight non playoff seasons. Yet Jim got the boot after a disastrous 2011 season when Manning didn't start one game.

 

Anyone else think Jim was fired too quickly? Especially considering he led them to a SB & WC berth.

[KB]

Pagano was fired after two non playoff seasons. His first three we progressed further into the playoffs each time.

[Nesjan3]

After 10 years of winning i don't think anybody was ready to accept that we were going to be a bad team without Manning, including Irsay and Polian. When Caldwell failed to produce results after the SB run he was quickly shown the door, and in hindsight probably prematurely.

 

Pagano and Grigson both overstayed IMO, but i understand Irsay trying to give them an opportunity.

[Superman]

[Boiler_Colt]

Grigson was just hired and wanted to hire his own HC. Simple as that.

[John Hammonds]

I'll answer the OP question.  I think Caldwell was fired, not because of poor coaching or bad results, but because the Colts had a new GM, and new GM's like to hire their own coaches and build their own stuff.

[Dark Superman]

Because once Bill Polian was fired and Ryan Grigson was hired, he didn't want Jim Caldwell as his HC.

[Nadine]

Thanks for asking that.  I didn't like it at the time.  It's probably due a combination of the replies above

[jameszeigler834]

1 hour ago, tucky89 said:

Pagano wasn't fired after two straight non playoff seasons. Yet Jim got the boot after a disastrous 2011 season when Manning didn't start one game.

 

Anyone else think Jim was fired too quickly? Especially considering he led them to a SB & WC berth.

No he was awful.

[jameszeigler834]

When Peyton was out with the neck his last year here you really saw the flaws he truly has as a coach.

[RollerColt]

8 minutes ago, jameszeigler834 said:

When Peyton was out with the neck his last year here you really saw the flaws he truly has as a coach.

Not to mention his decision making for the 2010 playoff game vs. the Jets. That probably was the true nail in the coffin. 

[#12.]

People have forgotten the history.  Jim was retained for a period, and the plan/hope was to keep Jim and bring in Spagnuolo as D coordinator, but Spags went to New Orleans, so the Colts went with Chuck.  It was all about the defense at that point, and Irsay hoped the Baltimore 3-4 would save us.  

 

Not exactly.

 

 

 

 

[The Fish]

Where's that "the many emotions of Jim Caldwell" meme.. 

 

 

 

[tucky89]

1 hour ago, KB said:

Pagano was fired after two non playoff seasons. His first three we progressed further into the playoffs each time.

Pagano was fired after three straight non playoff years (2015-2017).

[crazycolt1]

7 minutes ago, jameszeigler834 said:

No he was awful.

 

6 minutes ago, jameszeigler834 said:

When Peyton was out with the neck his last year here you really saw the flaws he truly has as a coach.

Who was the QB for the Colts Jim's last year? 

Jim left here and made Flacco a pro bowl player. He took Flacco to a super bowl win.  He then moved on to Detroit when he had success and was fired prematurely there.

[WoolMagnet]

I liked Caldwell.

Calm, cool, collected.  Always a professional.

[Calmack]

34 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

Not to mention his decision making for the 2010 playoff game vs. the Jets. That probably was the true nail in the coffin. 

His stupid butt timeout cost us that game. It woulda gone to overtime and I'm betting Peyton would have won it. 

 

Edit: Im thinking of a different game..

[coltsva]

1 minute ago, Calmack said:

His stupid butt timeout cost us that game. It woulda gone to overtime and I'm betting Peyton would have won it. 

Peyton's last Colts game. 

[oldunclemark]

2 hours ago, tucky89 said:

Pagano wasn't fired after two straight non playoff seasons. Yet Jim got the boot after a disastrous 2011 season when Manning didn't start one game.

 

Anyone else think Jim was fired too quickly? Especially considering he led them to a SB & WC berth.

Yes..but Pagano was fired after his only losing season which cane when Andrew Luck didnt play a game.

 

Both are good coaches

[jvan1973]

42 minutes ago, oldunclemark said:

Yes..but Pagano was fired after his only losing season which cane when Andrew Luck didnt play a game.

 

Both are good coaches

The fact that they are both unemployed would suggest NFL teams disagree that they are good coaches

[Dingus McGirt]

2 hours ago, RollerColt said:

Not to mention his decision making for the 2010 playoff game vs. the Jets. That probably was the true nail in the coffin. 

I was at that game.   Caldwell should have been fired in the locker room.

[crazycolt1]

17 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

The fact that they are both unemployed would suggest NFL teams disagree that they are good coaches

Just how do you know that one or both haven't been offered a job?  Pagano did make the comment that the Colts job would be his last. Jim Caldwell was hired as a consultant for the XFL and said he was not seeking a job in the NFL. Both are enjoying their retirement.

So hinting both are not good enough to get hired in the NFL is wrong.

[jameszeigler834]

2 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

 

Who was the QB for the Colts Jim's last year? 

Jim left here and made Flacco a pro bowl player. He took Flacco to a super bowl win.  He then moved on to Detroit when he had success and was fired prematurely there.

Painter and Orlovsky granted both sucked but there was never any second half adjustment and absolutely no discipline on the field that is all coaching he is a pretty good OC but not a good head coach.

[jvan1973]

3 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

Just how do you know that one or both haven't been offered a job?  Pagano did make the comment that the Colts job would be his last. Jim Caldwell was hired as a consultant for the XFL and said he was not seeking a job in the NFL. Both are enjoying their retirement.

So hinting both are not good enough to get hired in the NFL is wrong.

Either would take a few million dollars to be a coach,   don't be naive.   If Caldwell is involved in the XFL,  he would certainly be interested in a better job in the nfl

[crazycolt1]

1 minute ago, jameszeigler834 said:

Painter and Orlovsky granted both sucked but there was never any second half adjustment and absolutely no discipline on the field that is all coaching he is a pretty good OC but not a good head coach.

That's funny. He has a winning percentage as a head coach.

[jameszeigler834]

26 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

The fact that they are both unemployed would suggest NFL teams disagree that they are good coaches

Luck shielded with his play just how bad Pagano was and the games without him it really did show just how bad a coach he was I remember that sunday night game in week 4 last year against the seahawks when he stood there at halftime on the sideline and told a sideline reporter that he was satisfield with the way the team played that was bad.

[jameszeigler834]

1 minute ago, crazycolt1 said:

That's funny. He has a winning percentage as a head coach.

All of that was because of Manning I along with many others saw he was trash the second manning couldn't play.

[crazycolt1]

1 minute ago, jvan1973 said:

Either would take a few million dollars to be a coach,   don't be naive.   If Caldwell is involved in the XFL,  he would certainly be interested in a better job in the nfl

They are both millionaires and are retired. They both said they were going home and be with their families.

Naïve? Not hardly.

[crazycolt1]

1 minute ago, jameszeigler834 said:

All of that was because of Manning I along with many others saw he was trash the second manning couldn't play.

So why wasn't he trash with the Ravens and the Lions?  Just because you have a low opinion of him does not mean anything to those who don't feel that way.

[DougDew]

2 hours ago, #12. said:

People have forgotten the history.  Jim was retained for a period, and the plan/hope was to keep Jim and bring in Spagnuolo as D coordinator, but Spags went to New Orleans, so the Colts went with Chuck.  It was all about the defense at that point, and Irsay hoped the Baltimore 3-4 would save us.  

 

Not exactly.

 

 

 

 

I do remember something about this.  It might have been interesting to see Caldwell as HC, Arians as OC, and Spagnulo as DC.

 

But I don't think Caldwell helped himself much by not reacting to the disaster that was the 2011 season.  Sometimes when disasters are happening, you have to show some emotion just to let everyone know that you recognize that a disaster is happening.

[crazycolt1]

4 minutes ago, jameszeigler834 said:

All of that was because of Manning I along with many others saw he was trash the second manning couldn't play.

Couldn't that be said of any head coach with a good QB? 

He was trash with Painter, Orlovsky and Collins?  You don't say.

[jvan1973]

14 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

They are both millionaires and are retired. They both said they were going home and be with their families.

Naïve? Not hardly.

Can I get links on where they said they were done coaching?

[crazycolt1]

2 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

Can I get links on where they said they were done coaching?

I am not going back and find what I have read. Sorry, you must have missed the comments made by both of them.

[John Waylon]

He was stealing other people’s food out of the refrigerator in the break room. 

[Jason_]

6 hours ago, Boiler_Colt said:

Grigson was just hired and wanted to hire his own HC. Simple as that.

 

6 hours ago, John Hammonds said:

I'll answer the OP question.  I think Caldwell was fired, not because of poor coaching or bad results, but because the Colts had a new GM, and new GM's like to hire their own coaches and build their own stuff.

 

Grigson and Irsay were going to keep Caldwell. The 3 of them interviewed Steve spagnuolo for the vacant DC position but he declined their offer. It was only after he turned them down that Caldwell was fired. It was widely reported that spags refused to work for Caldwell which led Irsay and Grigson to the realization they probably wouldn't get any reputable DC to work under Caldwell and thus Caldwell was fired. 

[crazycolt1]

Colts are one of the very few teams in NFL history that fire coaches with winning records.

[Caffrey]

Quote

 

Caldwell is a good man, very articulate Christian man.

He did make some mistakes.  If Irsay mentioned the issues with the time outs.  I remember the regular season game against the Jags that we lost because he called a time out.  The big one was against the Jets in the playoffs.  Even Peyton Manning threw up his hands indicating what the hell are we doing.  The Jets QB and coach had even said they were going to run out the the clock and go into OT but when Caldwell called a time-out, the re-thought the plan and decided to go for the 1st down and get in FG range which they did and won.  

 

However, the decision the bugs me the most is when he gave up going for the undefeated season, I think we were 14-0 one put QB Painter, and others to start and we lost our first game.  He said going undefeated is not goal when the start the season.  I agree but when you are 14-0, you re-assess and we could have gone 16-0.  I believe if we went into the Super Bowl undefeated, we would have beaten the Saints in the Super Bowl.  Gascon would have caught that pass over the middle.  Hank Baskett would have held on the that onside kick.  Manning/Wayne would not have had a pass intercepted and returned for a TD. That's what I believe anyway. 

[RockThatBlue]

4 hours ago, jvan1973 said:

The fact that they are both unemployed would suggest NFL teams disagree that they are good coaches

Especially Pagano. At least Jim was given one more chance. Both are mediocre coaches at best, IMO.

[smittywerb]

To be honest, I felt Jim was too conservative.  He coached mostly to protect the lead and not win games.  That was my gripe with him.

[esmort]

3 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

Colts are one of the very few teams in NFL history that fire coaches with winning records.

 

While I don't think it is the norm; I don't know if it is as rare as you are making it sound.

 

The obvious ones that come to mind are the Packers just did it with McCarthy, Detroit did it to Caldwell a second time, Tampa Bay did with Dungy before Colts hired him, and Chicago fired Lovie Smith.

 

I am sure there are others that didn't come immediately to mind; and if you include records with just the team that fired them (not overall career) and/or after a winning season I am sure the list is even bigger.