It's time for Jim Irsay to step down

[twfish]

I'll preface this by saying I love Jim. I think he's always been passionate and truly loves this team and football and isn't in it just for the $. Saying that however his meddling is setting this team back farther and farther. I believe he has been getting in the way of making crucial decisions. He has had his hand to involved the the QB situation for the absolute worst. Attempting to still be GM and controlling the hiring for the interim head coach and forcing Saturday.  Now the reports are stating he isn't a part of some of the early interviews but at the end will have the final say and is leaning towards Saturday when most others in the front office are against it. Just imagine all the meddling he is doing that we have no idea of. Kudos to everyone in the front office for dealing with him micro managing so much as of late. I don't trust him with future decisions in the organization any longer. It's time for the daughters to step up.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

I agree. Something is not right.

[RollerColt]

For what it's worth, I think he will be handing the reins over fairly soon. His daughter this past season and now this offseason has been much more heavily involved. In my personal opinion, to which I don't have any facts to back up, I think Jim is waiting for his daughter to be completely ready to take over.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason he is so heavily involved right now... It's because he knows this might be his last time choosing a HC and franchise QB. The next time it happens again, Carlie could be calling the shots. 

 

I imagine Carlie will be placed in a President of Operations or CEO role of some kind. Jim will still own the team, but will defer all operational tasks to her. 

[Smonroe]

Sorry, I respectfully disagree with the OP.  I’m happy we have an owner that’s so passionate about winning, and so frustrated about losing, that he feels the need to step in.

 

It’s not like he doesn’t get it and should leave the football decisions up to football people.  He’s been in the league forever.   He’s earned the right to be a bit rash, IMHO.
 

I’m thankful we don’t have an owner like Snyder, or someone who only cares about making money.  

[GoColts8818]

Owners don’t step down and especially aren’t going too just because the fans don’t like what he’s doing it.  I get the frustration from fans and nothing wrong with that as long as fans know they are calling for something that has no chance of happening.

[shasta519]

Not being in an early interviews is pretty typical for most types of jobs. He's just letting Ballard do his job and finalize his list for consideration. When you get to Round 2, then you get to interview with the boss.

 

And if you think about it, the least they could do is give Saturday a fair shake in the interview process. It's not like they aren't interviewing a lot of candidates anyways.

 

Hear him out on how he would approach it now with an entire offseason and his own staff...and what he would do different from his interim stint. After all, he was coaching the most recent version of this team only a month ago. So he might have some useful insights.

 

Plus, he's also done a tremendous job of deflecting the ire of this fanbase from this past season. That alone should get him a bye in the interview process. 

 

Ultimately, I don't think they will hire him. 

 

 

[RollerColt]

Just now, GoColts8818 said:

Owners don’t step down and especially aren’t going too just because the fans don’t like what he’s doing it.

True. Still waiting for Castellini to sell the Reds... And I'll be waiting for the rest of his life. 

[lollygagger8]

If you hire the right people to do the job you are paying them to do, you won't have to step in 

[#12.]

Over the years, Irsay hasn't gotten much criticism from the fans.  People seem to like him and his eccentricities, but hiring Saturday full time could be the breaking point where Jim's eccentricities cross over into new territory.

[jvan1973]

15 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

For what it's worth, I think he will be handing the reins over fairly soon. His daughter this past season and now this offseason has been much more heavily involved. In my personal opinion, to which I don't have any facts to back up, I think Jim is waiting for his daughter to be completely ready to take over.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason he is so heavily involved right now... It's because he knows this might be his last time choosing a HC and franchise QB. The next time it happens again, Carlie could be calling the shots. 

 

I imagine Carlie will be placed in a President of Operations or CEO role of some kind. Jim will still own the team, but will defer all operational tasks to her. 

Not happening 

[Blueblood23]

20 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

For what it's worth, I think he will be handing the reins over fairly soon. His daughter this past season and now this offseason has been much more heavily involved. In my personal opinion, to which I don't have any facts to back up, I think Jim is waiting for his daughter to be completely ready to take over.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason he is so heavily involved right now... It's because he knows this might be his last time choosing a HC and franchise QB. The next time it happens again, Carlie could be calling the shots. 

 

I imagine Carlie will be placed in a President of Operations or CEO role of some kind. Jim will still own the team, but will defer all operational tasks to her. 

I’ve said this for over a year and now most are starting to see it. Jim needs to step aside and hand over the reins to his daughter or someone else he trusts. Instead of being all in, he needs to be all out. 

[RollerColt]

14 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

Not happening 

Fair enough, but it will happen at some point. None of us are getting out of this reality alive. 

[PRnum1]

His daughter could be far worse.

 

Whats that old saying

 

"Becareful what you ask for because you just might get it !!"

[RollerColt]

6 minutes ago, PRnum1 said:

His daughter could be far worse.

 

Whats that old saying

 

"Becareful what you ask for because you just might get it !!"

Possibly. But it's inevitable that it's going to happen at some point. Far better chance of her inheriting the team than Jim just selling it from under her. 

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

What’s worse in my opinion is Irsay  and his dumb letter to fans after the season because him letting Saturday be a candidate just shows it’s all words.

[Moosejawcolt]

1 hour ago, twfish said:

I'll preface this by saying I love Jim. I think he's always been passionate and truly loves this team and football and isn't in it just for the $. Saying that however his meddling is setting this team back farther and farther. I believe he has been getting in the way of making crucial decisions. He has had his hand to involved the the QB situation for the absolute worst. Attempting to still be GM and controlling the hiring for the interim head coach and forcing Saturday.  Now the reports are stating he isn't a part of some of the early interviews but at the end will have the final say and is leaning towards Saturday when most others in the front office are against it. Just imagine all the meddling he is doing that we have no idea of. Kudos to everyone in the front office for dealing with him micro managing so much as of late. I don't trust him with future decisions in the organization any longer. It's time for the daughters to step up.

It is his franchise and toy and he can do what he wants. Maybe Irsay is the mad scientist?  Hire Saturday and assure  yourself  of a tank and the number  one pick  next year.  Get your next Manning or Luck and franchise reset. 

[twfish]

1 hour ago, Smonroe said:

Sorry, I respectfully disagree with the OP.  I’m happy we have an owner that’s so passionate about winning, and so frustrated about losing, that he feels the need to step in.

 

It’s not like he doesn’t get it and should leave the football decisions up to football people.  He’s been in the league forever.   He’s earned the right to be a bit rash, IMHO.
 

I’m thankful we don’t have an owner like Snyder, or someone who only cares about making money.  

The problem with him stepping in is he has been wildly wrong everytime he's stepped in.

[Smonroe]

1 hour ago, twfish said:

The problem with him stepping in is he has been wildly wrong everytime he's stepped in.

 

I'm not sure that's true.  Sure, they're giving him grief about hiring Saturday.  And I'm not saying he wanted to tank at all. 

But what if it results in us getting the QB of the next 10 or so years?  Do the ends justify the means?

 

I guess what I'm really saying is we can't say he's been wildly wrong every time he's stepped in.  We don't know how things would have worked out otherwise.  And is a mediocre season, with say the 15th pick in the draft better than where we are now?

 

(I hate losing, and I wanted to win every game even if it meant a worse draft pick.  But I happier now than I would have been if we won say 7 games)

[Jackie Daytona]

2 hours ago, RollerColt said:

For what it's worth, I think he will be handing the reins over fairly soon. His daughter this past season and now this offseason has been much more heavily involved. In my personal opinion, to which I don't have any facts to back up, I think Jim is waiting for his daughter to be completely ready to take over.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason he is so heavily involved right now... It's because he knows this might be his last time choosing a HC and franchise QB. The next time it happens again, Carlie could be calling the shots. 

 

I imagine Carlie will be placed in a President of Operations or CEO role of some kind. Jim will still own the team, but will defer all operational tasks to her. 

He's one of the younger coaches.....

[IndySouthsider]

2 hours ago, RollerColt said:

Fair enough, but it will happen at some point. None of us are getting out of this reality alive. 

He could be the owner for another 20 years. He isn’t a dinosaur 

[sb41champs]

I don't see Jim Irsay doing that - for many many reasons.

 

Besides - the fans don't dictate to the OWNER - when it's time for him to step aside.

[richard pallo]

This is such a ridiculous thread it should be closed.

[Hoose]

Jim Irsay is 63. That’s a mere two years older than Frank Reich. He’s not too old; he may be a lot of things but aging out of the job isn’t one of them. 
His daughter will no doubt take over some day; just don’t expect that day anytime soon. 
I do agree with those who suggest that Jim Irsay has an impulsive persona, to his detriment. The extensions of Pagano/Grigson and Reich/Ballard at the time he gave them defied logic. And hiring Jeff Saturday was a true low point for the franchise. But there’s also no doubt he loves the team and wants to win as badly as we fans do. 
What I hope Jim does is let his GM and leadership team pick the best head coach candidate; let them find a modern, top notch OC and DC after that; and then let them grab the future QB in the draft. Stay out of the way and let them do their jobs. That’s the best possible outcome as the team works to crawl out of the mess in which they are currently slogging. 

[RollerColt]

47 minutes ago, IndySouthsider said:

He could be the owner for another 20 years. He isn’t a dinosaur 

I’ve lost too many family members to just assume that 60 years old is young and a guarantee they’ll live for another 2 decades. I’m just saying that it’ll never happen is a little extreme. 

[GoColts8818]

2 hours ago, twfish said:

The problem with him stepping in is he has been wildly wrong everytime he's stepped in.

Not true.

 

he made the call to fire Tobin and bring in Polian

He made the call that brought Dungy to Indy, not Polian

He made the call to draft Andrew Luck over RGIII

He made the call to dump Wentz who wasn’t the answer.  Yes I know the replacement didn’t work out but that was also a Ballard and Reich call.  
 

So he does have a track record of making good decisions.  Is he perfect?  No.  Did he make two really wrong decisions this year?  Yes.  Could he be on the verge of making another poor choice?  Yes but also unknown.  At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what his track record is.  He’s the owner and he’s not going anywhere until he decides to leave or dies.  

[DiogoSales]

Petition to not hire Jeff Saturday, asking Jim to step out...

 

We're going too far as fans or human to be honest, stop **** on people just because you are behind a screen.

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

I don’t think fans understand the fall out that is going to happen if he hires Saturday.

[Shive]

I don't think Irsay needs to step down, but I would like him to minimize his meddling moving forward. I get it that this is his team and he can do what he wants, and while that's absolutely true, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

 

One thing that really worried me was what he talked about in the Saturday intro presser. I heard a lot of ego emanating from Irsay about the decade of greatness and very much living in that timeframe still (from a decisional standpoint). Lets be real, Irsay hired Polian, which was a good hire, who draft Manning, who ended up one of the greatest QBs of all time. Our decade of greatness wasn't because Irsay was making decisions for Polian or putting his thumb on the scale. It was from him hiring a guy he believed in and allowing that guy to hire the coaches he wanted and build the team as he saw fit.

 

To me, Irsay is still trying to hold on to that decade of greatness by bringing back players from that era as coaches. Now the position coaches, I absolutely agree with and think they were fantastic hires. I didn't and still don't agree with handing Saturday the Interim HC job, and think that Irsay's ego (at least as perceived by me) and fixation on the past are a liability for the team.

 

As a person, I genuinely really like Irsay and love his mental health advocacy over the years, especially when it comes to the substance abuse community. I'm just hoping that his meddling in recent years was more of an outlier than the expectation moving forward. If he takes Ballard's HC recommendation and hires that guy as our HC, I think we'll be in a good place and a large majority of the fanbase will be back to loving the guy. I would like to see Carlie taking over more of the responsibilities and decisions from him, but I think that will be a very gradual shift and over many years. I think it'll also be much easier once we have some stability with the team again.

[GoColts8818]

6 minutes ago, Restinpeacesweetchloe said:

I don’t think fans understand the fall out that is going to happen if he hires Saturday.

I think most understand there is nothing they can do about it.

[sb2001]

5 hours ago, twfish said:

I'll preface this by saying I love Jim. I think he's always been passionate and truly loves this team and football and isn't in it just for the $. Saying that however his meddling is setting this team back farther and farther. I believe he has been getting in the way of making crucial decisions. He has had his hand to involved the the QB situation for the absolute worst. Attempting to still be GM and controlling the hiring for the interim head coach and forcing Saturday.  Now the reports are stating he isn't a part of some of the early interviews but at the end will have the final say and is leaning towards Saturday when most others in the front office are against it. Just imagine all the meddling he is doing that we have no idea of. Kudos to everyone in the front office for dealing with him micro managing so much as of late. I don't trust him with future decisions in the organization any longer. It's time for the daughters to step up.

If you were the owner, would you step down? I certainly wouldn’t. 

[sb2001]

1 hour ago, Hoose said:

Jim Irsay is 63. That’s a mere two years older than Frank Reich. He’s not too old; he may be a lot of things but aging out of the job isn’t one of them. 
His daughter will no doubt take over some day; just don’t expect that day anytime soon. 
I do agree with those who suggest that Jim Irsay has an impulsive persona, to his detriment. The extensions of Pagano/Grigson and Reich/Ballard at the time he gave them defied logic. And hiring Jeff Saturday was a true low point for the franchise. But there’s also no doubt he loves the team and wants to win as badly as we fans do. 
What I hope Jim does is let his GM and leadership team pick the best head coach candidate; let them find a modern, top notch OC and DC after that; and then let them grab the future QB in the draft. Stay out of the way and let them do their jobs. That’s the best possible outcome as the team works to crawl out of the mess in which they are currently slogging. 

What? I didn’t realize hes my age. Im happy I hopefully aged better 

[crazycolt1]

That's total horse dung. 

[Boondoggle]

4 hours ago, #12. said:

Over the years, Irsay hasn't gotten much criticism from the fans.  People seem to like him and his eccentricities, but hiring Saturday full time could be the breaking point where Jim's eccentricities cross over into new territory.

This is true for myself.  I've thought the guy was losing it for a while now, just the way he acts in general, but I wasn't too concerned until this past season.  His decision making was questionable throughout, not just with the Saturday hiring.

 

Frank seemed like a gelding courtesy of the owner.  I think the team knew it too.  So he should have fired him after the previous season.  The entire year could have been handled much better but Irsay seems to have slipped.

 

We'll see who comes out on top.  I figure it will be Saturday and catastrophe will follow but Ballard is involved here and maybe he helps Jim get it right.

[Goatface Killah]

1 hour ago, DiogoSales said:

Petition to not hire Jeff Saturday, asking Jim to step out...

 

We're going too far as fans or human to be honest, stop **** on people just because you are behind a screen.

Thanks for saying that.

 

People need to get over themselves and get back to just enjoying life.

 

The internet has brought out the worst in people.

[NewColtsFan]

5 hours ago, twfish said:

I'll preface this by saying I love Jim. I think he's always been passionate and truly loves this team and football and isn't in it just for the $. Saying that however his meddling is setting this team back farther and farther. I believe he has been getting in the way of making crucial decisions. He has had his hand to involved the the QB situation for the absolute worst. Attempting to still be GM and controlling the hiring for the interim head coach and forcing Saturday.  Now the reports are stating he isn't a part of some of the early interviews but at the end will have the final say and is leaning towards Saturday when most others in the front office are against it. Just imagine all the meddling he is doing that we have no idea of. Kudos to everyone in the front office for dealing with him micro managing so much as of late. I don't trust him with future decisions in the organization any longer. It's time for the daughters to step up.

Isn’t the time to write this AFTER Irsay hires Jeff Saturday as the HC?   Does this post NOT age well if Saturday doesn’t get the job?    Doesn’t it? 
 

What happens if the new HC — whoever it is — does a good job and fans are happy?  

 

All I’m saying is that there’s too much reaction to the perceived messiness of the interview process.   Frank Reich was a decent coach.   So was Chuck Pagano.   Odds are the Colts will hire another decent coach.   Whether the coach is good enough we won’t know for a while.   The only scenario that worries people here is hiring Saturday.   And if we don’t, then is there really an issue here?   
 

That’s why I’m saying maybe the time to suggest Irsay should step down is AFTER the Colts hire their next head coach.  
 

Just saying….  

[RollerColt]

15 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Isn’t the time to write this AFTER Irsay hires Jeff Saturday as the HC?   Does this post NOT age well if Saturday doesn’t get the job?    Doesn’t it? 
 

What happens if the new HC — whoever it is — does a good job and fans are happy?  

 

All I’m saying is that there’s too much reaction to the perceived messiness of the interview process.   Frank Reich was a decent coach.   So was Chuck Pagano.   Odds are the Colts will hire another decent coach.   Whether the coach is good enough we won’t know for a while.   The only scenario that worries people here is hiring Saturday.   And if we don’t, then is there really an issue here?   
 

That’s why I’m saying maybe the time to suggest Irsay should step down is AFTER the Colts hire their next head coach.  
 

Just saying….  

There will always be an issue until another Super Bowl is won. That’s about the only way everyone on here will be happy at the same time. 

[BeanDiasucci]

I think he should step back, not step down. 

 

In everybody's best interest, including his own. 

[NewColtsFan]

13 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

There will always be an issue until another Super Bowl is won. That’s about the only way everyone on here will be happy at the same time. 

Sure…..  but couldn’t the same thing be said of any fan base?    
 

Fans want a Super Bowl champion.   There’s only one per year,  and the other 31 fan bases are disappointed.   If Irsay is getting the blame for the recent disappointing years, shouldn’t he also get credit for the 20 years as the 4th winningest franchise in the NFL?   I don’t see Irsay as a problem, a drag on the franchise.   At least not right now.  
 

Now if he hires Saturday and the press conference is terrible, then I think we’d be having a different conversation then.  But it looks like we’re two to three weeks away from that.  

[jonjon]

4 hours ago, twfish said:

The problem with him stepping in is he has been wildly wrong everytime he's stepped in.

I'm sorry but it's your assertions that are wildly wrong. Dumping Wentz was wrong? Really? That's just one of numerous examples that could be given.

 

IMO over this past year he seemed to know more of what to do than Reich OR Ballard. Irsay is far from perfect, but this criticism is ridiculous. And I didn't hear much complaining about Saturday when he won his first game. Hindsight is 20/20 and Vince Lombardi couldn't have willed last year's team to do much better. Irsay wasn't the one who ignored the OL.

 

He's been a great owner overall. Yeah he's probably nearing the end, I hope he knows when to let go, but I haven't seen any indications that he's turning into Al Davis. I'm less worried about him than I am about Ballard. 

 

 

[RollerColt]

2 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Sure…..  but couldn’t the same thing be said of any fan base?    
 

Fans want a Super Bowl champion.   There’s only one per year,  and the other 31 fan bases are disappointed.   If Irsay is getting the blame for the recent disappointing years, shouldn’t he also get credit for the 20 years as the 4th winningest franchise in the NFL?   I don’t see Irsay as a problem, a drag on the franchise.   At least not right now.  
 

Now if he hires Saturday and the press conference is terrible, then I think we’d be having a different conversation then.  But it looks like we’re two to three weeks away from that.  

We don’t even know truly how close it is with this Saturday stuff. Lots of hearsay from Twitter… which is not the same Twitter from even just a few months ago…. 

It’s not like Irsay has directly come out and said “we’re leaning towards Jeff”.