Poll: Is Reich the best Colts coach since Dungy?

[RockThatBlue 8,425]

I say yes. You?

[New Zealands #1 Colts Fan 765]

He's definately in my top 3 since dungy 

[CanuckColtsFan 635]

His company includes, Caldwell, Arians, Pagano.

[Jared Cisneros 4,373]

Yes, easily. Reich is smart, creative, and uses everyone to their strengths. He's also a true leader that the team respects and plays hard for.

[Bluefire4 2,175]

This is a tough one, but I think Pagano was a little better. 

 

 

 

 

 

... Of course Reich is the best since Dungy. Why is this even a question? He's on the path to be better than Dungy.

[shastamasta 2,087]

Not a ton of competition, unless you count BA as a HC. 

 

Reich is a tremendous at scripting out the game plan. Really hope the Colts can get HFA.

[jmac_48 455]

BEST EVER!

[Crush22 259]

Does this even need to be asked?

[Peterk2011 647]

Considering that the only competition are Arians, Caldwell and Pagano, was your intention to check how a 100% vs 0% vote looks like?

 

Well, this is how it looks like.

[GoColts8818 9,294]

Hard to argue otherwise.

[basketballsteve 325]

Easily. Why? The Colts play like a well coach team with low penalty calls and yardage. Flexible game planning week by week. No bad actors in the locker room....no temptations to acquire any.

[coming on strong 214]

He's way better then overrated Dungy.  Dungy had manning in his prime Harrison Wayne clark stokley  . A good o line edge addai   . Freeney mathis Bethea  bob Sanders.  And only has one ring give  reich those teams he would have 3 rings .     Reich is winning without a top ten QB and only Hilton and winning .

[chad hugo 722]

He was a former pastor so he definitely knows how to bring people together. This team is all in! 

 

HALLELUJAH ! 

[Valpo2004 3,647]

Question do you count Arians as a head coach?

 

In both cases I would say yes though.  But Arians would give him some run for his money.  

 

Reich, Arians, Caldwell, Pagano in that order. 

[csmopar 8,666]

9 hours ago, RockThatBlue said:

I say yes. You?

um considering there's been what, 3 others, yeah I'd say so. 

 

7 minutes ago, Valpo2004 said:

Question do you count Arians as a head coach?

 

In both cases I would say yes though.  But Arians would give him some run for his money.  

 

Reich, Arians, Caldwell, Pagano in that order. 

A lot of people like Arians but to me, I'd put him 3rd best, just above Pagano. Why? because his antiquated style of stand in there, take huge hits while trying to throw 40 yards down field is part of the reason Luck took a TON of abuse.  You saw it with Arians down in Arizona and now in Tampa.

Caldwell rode Manning's coat tails but the 14-2 season plus the Superbowl appearance puts him 2nd.

 

Pagano: Good as a coordinator but I think he was in over his head as a HC. definitely tail end charlie

[bhougland 213]

This shouldn't be a hot take, but he is better than Dungy.

[colt18 323]

I’d say he’s better than Dungy.

[Dingus McGirt 1,033]

Loved him, but Tony D. was, to me, equivalent to the QB as a "game manager."  Reich is a COACH and strategist.

[Valpo2004 3,647]

26 minutes ago, csmopar said:

um considering there's been what, 3 others, yeah I'd say so. 

 

A lot of people like Arians but to me, I'd put him 3rd best, just above Pagano. Why? because his antiquated style of stand in there, take huge hits while trying to throw 40 yards down field is part of the reason Luck took a TON of abuse.  You saw it with Arians down in Arizona and now in Tampa.

Caldwell rode Manning's coat tails but the 14-2 season plus the Superbowl appearance puts him 2nd.

 

Pagano: Good as a coordinator but I think he was in over his head as a HC. definitely tail end charlie

 

Arians has had a lot of success outside of Indy too.  But I do agree, I think his style is bad for your QB's health.

 

Also Caldwell had a good stint with the Lions.

[BigQungus 244]

54 people in unanimous agreement!

[ColtsBlueFL 5,979]

5 hours ago, colt18 said:

I’d say he’s better than Dungy.

 

Might be, but they are different.  Dungy was a defense minded HC, and made HOF for the Tampa Bucs defense (Tampa 2), and Colts success. Reich is an offense minded HC.

 

5 hours ago, Dingus McGirt said:

Loved him, but Tony D. was, to me, equivalent to the QB as a "game manager."  Reich is a COACH and strategist.

 

Reich relies on analytics much more as well. If he sticks with it, he may eventually join Dungy in Akron.

 

BTW, Dungy was a rookie Steeler safety, but 3rd string emergency QB. One time, both Bradshaw and backup Kruczek got hurt. Dungy (a college QB) had to take over QB not knowing offense playbook (he was a safety, was always in D drills/meetings, not O ). He then gained the distinction of both intercepting, and throwing an interception in the same game. (October 1977)

[Coffeedrinker 7,092]

Dungy was one of my favorite coaches and favorite people (I would recommend his book on Leadership to everyone).  That being said, I think Reich could prove to be a better coach.  We need a few more years to see what type of sustained success he can have.

[lollygagger8 10,301]

10 hours ago, Bluefire4 said:

but I think Pagano was a little better. 

[Myles 2,635]

Most likely, but hard to tell definitively.  This team is pretty solid.    

I would say he may end up being the best Indianapolis coach ever.  I think he is better than Dungy.  

 

[The Peytonator 2,585]

Need a few more years but he is well on his way. Best this Dungy had going for him was longevity, his well respected demeanor, and a lot of regular season wins, but for all the talent they had on the team, he won one SB. That’s an overrated coach and I was glad to have him. 

 

Reich on the other hand is in his second year and has shown no sign of regress, this after losing his franchise QB two weeks into the year. The man is a stud and I’m so glad Snake McDaniels bailed. Frank will beat you in  a thousand different ways, has lots of personnel groupings and seems to understand role players better than the other guys. 

 

Not to mention the gargantuan balls that he has to carry between his legs every day. Can’t be hard to move around so well carrying that much weight in your pants every day. 

 

Here’s to another 30 years of Reich/Ballard rocking the Horseshoe. 

[funktacious2 592]

Lol at this point, 64 yeses, and 0 nos. Also plurals of yes and no are weird. That is all.

[2006Coltsbestever 24,410]

66-0 now. Too funny, I voted yes as well.

[Four2itus 3,088]

Do any of you remember, "Let er rip, Jimmy"?

[CurBeatElite 439]

It's a small sample size with Reich as a HC (not even 1.5 full seasons under his belt).  

 

That said, he's clearly better than Caldwell/Pagano/Arians IMO.

 

Too early to say he's better than Dungy (he needs a ring before we make that argument), but I think he's on the right path.

 

The thing I like most about Reich so far, which reminds me a bit of Dungy, is that all of his players are bought into him/his system.  He leads with a calm demeanor (both he and Dungy and men of strong faith, so I bet that has something to do with their leadership styles).  I also like that he is willing to take calculated risks (something Dungy almost never did) and he uses very creative play calling and adjusts during the game (at least on offense) better than any Colts' coach I can recall in my days as a fan (since '94).  

 

We frequently start fast with Reich.  This was extremely rare in the Pagano era, and we were lucky to have had Andrew who could come back late during that time, but it seemed like his teams were so predictable offensively, especially to start games and it wasn't really until we had our backs to the wall that the offense opened up.

 

Reich changes his game-plans drastically between weeks, and he also changes better in game than an Colts coach I remember.  

 

Just look at this season:

Game 1 (vs LAC) -- Our 2nd drive we went 15 plays for 75 yards and a TD

Game 2 (vs TEN) -- Our 1st drive we went 7 plays for 78 yards and a TD

Game 3 (vs ATL) -- Our 1st drive we went 9 plays for a FG and our second drive we went 7 plays for 93 yards and a TD.

Game 4 (vs OAK) -- took us until our 3rd drive to score a TD (we got down early and couldn't come back.

Game 5 (vs KC) -- First drive 11 plays 70 yards and a TD, field goal on 2nd drive.

Game 6 (vs TEX) -- First drive -- 12 plays, 94 yards and a TD.

 

 

So in 4 of our 6 games with Reich we have scored on our opening offensive drive.  In 5 of 6 we have scored on at least one of our first 2 offensive drives.  In our worst game of the year (vs. OAK), it took us til our 3rd drive to score and we were already down 21-7 at that point.

 

I could be wrong -- but I don't recall it being the norm in the Pagano regime that we scored on the majority of our first possessions.

[OffensivelyPC 5,645]

 

[MPStack 2,909]

7 hours ago, csmopar said:

 

Caldwell rode Manning's coat tails but the 14-2 season plus the Superbowl appearance puts him 2nd.

 

I’d say the same for Dungy. 
 

One, SB with all the talent. What a waste! 
 

 

[hoosierhawk 515]

This was an easy one. I'll take Frank for sure. The harder question is Ballard the best GM since Polian? 

[2006Coltsbestever 24,410]

4 minutes ago, hoosierhawk said:

This was an easy one. I'll take Frank for sure. The harder question is Ballard the best GM since Polian? 

Nah Grigson is the best ever , gotcha 

[2006Coltsbestever 24,410]

40 minutes ago, MPStack said:

I’d say the same for Dungy. 
 

One, SB with all the talent. What a waste! 
 

 

Technically Dungy was great but I do not think he was on the level of a Vince Lombardi, Bill Belichick, Bill Walsh, Chuck Knoll, Tom Landry, or even a Jimmy Johnson type.

[GoColts8818 9,294]

44 minutes ago, MPStack said:

I’d say the same for Dungy. 
 

One, SB with all the talent. What a waste! 
 

 

Better than the zero Super Bowls the Colts won without Dungy but still having a lot of that talent.

[GoColts8818 9,294]

11 minutes ago, hoosierhawk said:

This was an easy one. I'll take Frank for sure. The harder question is Ballard the best GM since Polian? 

What’s next?  Is TY the best WR since Wayne?

[horseshoecrabs 635]

Maybe the post should have been " How does Frank Rank with the top "10" Coaches the Colts have had so far?"

[John Hammonds 620]

You beat me to it, @horseshoecrabs!

I was just typing out:

If you want a bigger variety of answer, have everybody rank all Colts head coaches since they moved to Indy.

[jvan1973 17,869]

[jvan1973 17,869]

Just now, John Hammonds said:

You beat me to it, @horseshoecrabs!

I was just typing out:

If you want a bigger variety of answer, have everybody rank all Colts head coaches since they moved to Indy.

Dungy

Reich

Marchibroda

Caldwell (Peyton Manning)

Arians

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the rest