It's time for Jim Irsay to step down

[NewColtsFan]

12 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

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”. 

Yes….   I understand.   Which is why I’ve posted that the time to call for Irsay to step back is only after he hires Jeff Saturday.   But if that never happens, then all this angst over the possible JS hiring seems badly premature.   If we hire a competent HC then I don’t see a reason for Irsay to step down or step back. 

[RollerColt]

11 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Yes….   I understand.   Which is why I’ve posted that the time to call for Irsay to step back is only after he hires Jeff Saturday.   But if that never happens, then all this angst over the possible JS hiring seems badly premature.   If we hire a competent HC then I don’t see a reason for Irsay to step down or step back. 

It’s a pretty common thing nowadays for people to get upset over something that hasn’t even happened yet. Happens all the time in education… 

[DiogoSales]

1 hour ago, Goatface Killah said:

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.

100%

 

Opinion is one thing, hate/nonsense is completely diferent.

 

This is a game, nothing more and Jeff/Jim gave a big part of their lives to it, we can show more respect than that right? 

 

[Yoshinator]

I'll put it this way. If Saturday doesn't get hired as the HC, it's probably Irsay tanking the season with Saturday to get a franchise QB, then putting on an acting job to pretend to hire him until the last second and eventually doing the right thing by not choosing him and letting Ballard have his guy. That would be classic Irsay and it benefits him, and Saturday got 8 games to show what he had as a Coach at the NFL level. 

 

If Irsay does hire Saturday, then he has officially become a meddling owner that no longer has the best interest of the team and is out for himself and his own personal interests in spite of everyone else, including the players, the GM, the fans and everyone else associated with this team. So if Saturday is hired, I hope the media and fan bashing goes on full display afterward to rightfully tell how meddling of an owner Irsay is and what a clown he would be to every NFL fan in the world watching. I hope fans boo Irsay and Saturday at games and chant they suck. Hopefully the Petition reaches 5,000 votes as well. Make people aware of what Irsay did if he did it so Irsay feels the utmost consequences, whether it be his wallet or his ego.

[LJpalmbeacher2]

7 hours ago, RollerColt said:

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

 

That's what my dad used to say...."its a tough world, you can't get out alive".

[Tsarquise]

1 hour ago, NewColtsFan said:

Yes….   I understand.   Which is why I’ve posted that the time to call for Irsay to step back is only after he hires Jeff Saturday.   But if that never happens, then all this angst over the possible JS hiring seems badly premature.   If we hire a competent HC then I don’t see a reason for Irsay to step down or step back. 

What if Saturday was hired and he turned out to be competent?  Isn't calling for Irsay to step back as soon as he hired Saturday a bit premature too? 

[LJpalmbeacher2]

This reminds me of two things:

 

1. Colts fans are acting like a angry mob in old western/Frankenstein movies.

 

2. Colt fans acting like Peter Finch in the movie Network......"We're Mad and We're Not going to take it anymore"!!!  

[Yoshinator]

9 minutes ago, Tsarquise said:

What if Saturday was hired and he turned out to be competent?  Isn't calling for Irsay to step back as soon as he hired Saturday a bit premature too? 

There's a mountain of evidence that suggests he won't be good more than any HC candidate now or in history, and an 8 game sample size that has started to bear that out. It's possible that Saturday will be competent, but the probability is slightly above 0%. That doesn't justify it just because it's over 0%. You be realistic and hire the best candidate for the job in an unbiased manner. There's a reason it's Irsay Vs the world on this matter as far as anyone important goes, and Irsay is just the crazy old meddling man at this point that doesn't care about other's opinions, so I don't have much sympathy for his side. 

[Tsarquise]

5 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

There's a mountain of evidence that suggests he won't be good more than any HC candidate now or in history, and an 8 game sample size that has started to bear that out. It's possible that Saturday will be competent, but the probability is slightly above 0%. That doesn't justify it just because it's over 0%. You be realistic and hire the best candidate for the job in an unbiased manner. There's a reason it's Irsay Vs the world on this matter as far as anyone important goes, and Irsay is just the crazy old meddling man at this point that doesn't care about other's opinions, so I don't have much sympathy for his side. 

What other similar coaches in similar circumstances have been hired?

[NewColtsFan]

18 minutes ago, Tsarquise said:

What if Saturday was hired and he turned out to be competent?  Isn't calling for Irsay to step back as soon as he hired Saturday a bit premature too? 

Perhaps.   But the hiring of a former player with zero experience will get crushed by pretty much everyone.   
 

Everyone will point to his lack of experience and others will point to the issue of race.   It will be the worst possible scenario for the franchise.  The worst possible look.   How good Jeff actually does will likely be overlooked because of all the other issues. 

[Yoshinator]

9 minutes ago, Tsarquise said:

What other similar coaches in similar circumstances have been hired?

None, because the Saturday hire in those circumstances is unprecedented. No GM in their right mind would ever hire a coach with no college or NFL experience. This isn't Madden where you can create a coach and he can do really well from the beginning. It has never happened for good reason, and the results this season in the 2nd half of the year bear that out 

[Tsarquise]

7 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

None, because the Saturday hire in those circumstances is unprecedented. No GM in their right mind would ever hire a coach with no college or NFL experience. This isn't Madden where you can create a coach and he can do really well from the beginning. It has never happened for good reason, and the results this season in the 2nd half of the year bear that out 

Right, it's unprecedented, so then there is not a mountain of evidence that Saturday won't be good more than any HC candidate now or in history, right? 

[GoColts8818]

26 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

There's a mountain of evidence that suggests he won't be good more than any HC candidate now or in history, and an 8 game sample size that has started to bear that out. It's possible that Saturday will be competent, but the probability is slightly above 0%. That doesn't justify it just because it's over 0%. You be realistic and hire the best candidate for the job in an unbiased manner. There's a reason it's Irsay Vs the world on this matter as far as anyone important goes, and Irsay is just the crazy old meddling man at this point that doesn't care about other's opinions, so I don't have much sympathy for his side. 

The only thing I can say in Saturday’s defense is that the offensive coaching staff was pretty much decimated without Reich and Brady and then losing another coach going to college.  The defense played pretty well under Saturday, the special teams was good and the line did get better under him.  So I can see the argument for if he can put together an offensive staff he could be good.

 

Still I agree with you, there are other coaches out there that have a better chance of doing that that I would rather see get the chance than Saturday.  
 

I don’t think it’s fair to say Irsay doesn’t care about others opinions or he wouldn’t have let Saturday go back to Ryan when he wanted too.  He also wouldn’t be letting Ballard lead the coaching the search.  I think it’s fair to say he has trusted few he listens too (that’s true of most Owners) and last season shook his confidence in Reich and Ballard to the point Reich was ultimately fired.  I also think it’s safe to say Ballard may not have Irsay’s ear as much as he did but Irsay is willing to give him a chance to earn that trust again.  
 

Also as far as Irsay “meddling” I think fans are over blowing this a little.  For the most part he’s left things up to his GM and coaches.  He’s stepped in at the QB position and the head coach spot.  Arguably the two most important people to a franchise.  I’d say any Owner will be involved in those two spots.  He’s not telling Ballard who to draft.  He’s not demanding other players play or are benched beyond the QB spot.  He’s not telling the coaches who to hire.  Heck even after he said Wentz has to go (Ballard and Reich’s guy) he let them choose his replacement.  When that replacement didn’t work he stepped in and made changes.  
 

Remember when people were screaming for Irsay to hold people accountable?  Well this is that.  However, now that Irsay isn’t doing what the fans want they are turning him holding people accountable (something fans wanted) into him meddling.  
 

Look I don’t want Saturday but I also know that I have no say in the matter and if that’s who Irsay hires I am going to hope it works because I am a fan and I want to see my team do well.  I get it if you don’t like the move or don’t think it will work fine say so.  However, this overreacting people (and I say people because I am addressing this in general not you directly) is getting comical and just screams of spoiled children throwing a temper tantrum because they aren’t getting their way.  

[Tsarquise]

9 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Perhaps.   But the hiring of a former player with zero experience will get crushed by pretty much everyone.   
 

Everyone will point to his lack of experience and others will point to the issue of race.   It will be the worst possible scenario for the franchise.  The worst possible look.   How good Jeff actually does will likely be overlooked because of all the other issues. 

Winning, imo, shuts everyone up and makes all the chatter absolutely immaterial... If they continue to lose, though, it will get bad. 

[Yoshinator]

3 minutes ago, Tsarquise said:

Right, it's unprecedented, so then there is not a mountain of evidence that Saturday won't be good more than any HC candidate now or in history, right? 

There's technically no evidence, but it's a no-brainer that a coach with no experience at the college or pro level is worse than other coaches with much more experience than him. You aren't just going to waltz into a job like that and be a prodigy at it without putting in the work. You can imagine it in your mind, but generally it doesn't play out like that.

[csmopar]

9 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.

Nuts

[NewColtsFan]

25 minutes ago, Tsarquise said:

Winning, imo, shuts everyone up and makes all the chatter absolutely immaterial... If they continue to lose, though, it will get bad. 

How much winning will it take to prove Irsay was right?   8 games?  10?  
 

And no matter how many wins JS gets, the race issue will not quiet those who care about the race issue and opportunity denied.  Because qualified people of color don’t get the opportunity Saturday gets, even with a much better resume.   Wins will never stop them, nor should it IMO. 

[Yoshinator]

7 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

How much winning will it take to prove Irsay was right?   8 games?  10?  
 

And no matter how many wins JS gets, the race issue will not quiet those who care about the race issue and opportunity denied.  Because qualified people of color don’t get the opportunity Saturday gets, even with a much better resume.   Wins will never stop them, nor should it IMO. 

I'd say if Saturday got hired and made the playoffs, then Irsay would be justified in hiring Saturday. However, that'd be a big jump from the 8-game sample size this year. 

[jonjon]

58 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

There's a mountain of evidence that suggests he won't be good more than any HC candidate now or in history, and an 8 game sample size that has started to bear that out. 

Wow eight whole games huh? Games where he had squat for a starting QB or OL? 

 

Dude that's hardly a mountain. It's a mole hill. And a small one at that.

 

I don't want Saturday any more than anyone else, but cmon.

[Yoshinator]

Just now, jonjon said:

Wow eight whole games huh? Games where he had squat for a starting QB or OL? 

 

Dude that's hardly a mountain. It's a mole hill. And a small one at that.

 

I don't want Saturday any more than anyone else, but cmon.

Also the fact that he had less experience than anyone else in NFL history that was a HC. There were literally people on this forum that are HS coaches that had the same amount of experience as Saturday before he was hired and that's not a good thing. It's pretty difficult to learn on the job at an NFL level.

[crazycolt1]

Just now, jonjon said:

Wow eight whole games huh? Games where he had squat for a starting QB or OL? 

 

Dude that's hardly a mountain. It's a mole hill. And a small one at that.

 

I don't want Saturday any more than anyone else, but cmon.

For real. A few of experienced HCs have started out worse than than that. 

[jonjon]

53 minutes ago, NewColtsFan said:

Perhaps.   But the hiring of a former player with zero experience will get crushed by pretty much everyone.   
 

Everyone will point to his lack of experience and others will point to the issue of race.  

Lack of experience I get; the race card is a joke (the kindest word I can say on this site and deserving of much worse). Wow that's gotten so old. Yes that's it, Irsay is a racist; that's why he hired Dungy. Right.

 

Irsay doesn't give a flip about race. 

 

[jonjon]

1 minute ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Also the fact that he had less experience than anyone else in NFL history that was a HC. There were literally people on this forum that are HS coaches that had the same amount of experience as Saturday before he was hired and that's not a good thing. It's pretty difficult to learn on the job at an NFL level.

Anyone else in NFL history? So you researched every single HC in NFL history? Really? Cmon. That said, I get the concern about lack of experience and I agree with it. 

[Yoshinator]

Just now, jonjon said:

Anyone else in NFL history? So you researched every single HC in NFL history? Really? Cmon. That said, I get the concern about lack of experience and I agree with it. 

It was reported that the last coach with 0 experience. to be an NFL coach was Norm Van Brocklin 61 years ago. I didn't need to do the research, it was widely reported and done for me.

[crazycolt1]

2 minutes ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Also the fact that he had less experience than anyone else in NFL history that was a HC. There were literally people on this forum that are HS coaches that had the same amount of experience as Saturday before he was hired and that's not a good thing. It's pretty difficult to learn on the job at an NFL level.

But very few had the experience of being an all pro player. Centers are pretty smart guys. He would figure it out.  

But that's just my opinion.  

[Yoshinator]

Just now, crazycolt1 said:

But very few had the experience of being an all pro player. Centers are pretty smart guys. He would figure it out.  

But that's just my opinion.  

Centers are generally the smartest NFL position besides QB, but that doesn't always translate into coaching. More NFL players are busts as coaches than hits, and even more don't even try to do it. 

[crazycolt1]

1 minute ago, Jared Cisneros said:

Centers are generally the smartest NFL position besides QB, but that doesn't always translate into coaching. More NFL players are busts as coaches than hits, and even more don't even try to do it. 

OK? I'm not here to have a point counter point. Jeff has determination and a set. 

[NewColtsFan]

4 minutes ago, jonjon said:

Lack of experience I get; the race card is a joke (the kindest word I can say on this site and deserving of much worse). Wow that's gotten so old. Yes that's it, Irsay is a racist; that's why he hired Dungy. Right.

 

Irsay doesn't give a flip about race. 

 

I didn’t call Irsay a racist.   But to ignore highly qualified candidates of color for a white candidate with zero coaching experience is simply not defendable.  
 

And you’re free to think the issue and attempts to address it are a joke, it’s not to many others.   It’s as serious as it gets. 
The NFL is trying to address it because they know the issue looks terrible to much of the fan base.   The hiring of Saturday will be the worst possible look and as a Colts fan I’d hate for it to happen to the team I root for.   The previous hiring of Dungy and Caldwell won’t mean nearly as much if Irsay hires Saturday after what will be one of the largest coaching searches ever done.   Hiring Saturday over everyone in that large field is pretty much an indefensible position to take. 

[stitches]

11 hours ago, twfish said:

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

I actually disagree completely here. IMO the problem is that he's been right in a lot of those, but it's still the wrong thing to do to step in. If he doesn't trust the GM and HC to make the decisions that need to be made he should fire them and hire people he trusts to make those decisions. 

 

IMO he was right Wentz was not the guy and he needed to go.

IMO he was right that we needed to go get our QB in the draft and grow our own rather than going for retreads.  

IMO he was right that Ryan needed to be benched ... which was confirmed yet another time later in the season. 

IMO he was right that we needed to see Ehlinger play, especially if we are going to be spending big time resources on a QB this year. We just needed to be sure he's not some sort of hidden diamond in the rough. 

IMO he was right Frank was not the guy and needed to go(not sure the timing was good ... I would have preferred he did it in the off-season). 

IMO the only decision he made that was bad was hiring Saturday. He should have left Ballard do his job(most likely given the task to Bubba Ventrone). 

 

With that said... on your OP - I think the situation is getting misrepresented by some of the national media. Example(I suspect this is part of what you are talking about in OP):

 

This IMO is wildly misleading and misrepresents what's happening despite giving factual information. So "Irsay has not sat in on most interviews", but sat in on Saturday's interview - fact. But what is the missing context here - the missing context is everything - he didn't sit in on ANY of the first round interviews, including Saturday's. And Saturday's second interview was just the first of the second round interviews and Irsay was there and reports are that he will be there for ALL of the second round interviews. I don't see anything objectionable about that process... 

 

 

[rock8591]

The reason why he was speaking with Harbaugh and Luck last month was because he wanted Luck to be the head coach and Harbaugh to be his next QB.

[throwing BBZ]

20 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.

 

  He, along with we, had suffered long enough with Frank's mediocrity.
 Irsay is to be appreciated for having the strength of his convictions to take the heat and prepare to start over at HC.
 Yammer and complain to the end of your days, PLEASE GO follow one of the 3-4 teams that had the total package to get to this years SB.
 Irsay and his Colts will be fine without you. Where are in a reset, TUFF LUCK!!

[Restinpeacesweetchloe]

The changes Irsay made were at the wrong time. They might of been the right choices if they had been done are the right time.

[joeb]

22 hours ago, lollygagger8 said:

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

Well with that said it's all about making the right decisions. Jim has done well with some of his  past decisions but as of late , not so good. You can't blame him for Andrew Luck. The Rivers, Wentz, Ryan, Reich debacle has set this franchise back big time. I started a post about rebuild and I think its time.

[Boondoggle]

14 hours ago, LJpalmbeacher2 said:

1. Colts fans are acting like a angry mob in old western/Frankenstein movies.

 

I suppose Ballard makes a passable Dr. Frankenstein.  Irsay of course would need to play Igor in his current state.

[Defjamz26]

I agree.

 

Physically he can still do the job and he’s not that old. But his impulsiveness and bravado are bad for the team long term. It’s also apparent he is still living in the 2000’s, and is obsessed with who the Colts were during that time. Like @Hoosementioned, the early extensions of Pagano and Grigson, the claim that Grigson had outdone Polian (yes I know the context was regarding wins) his first 4 years, extending Reich prematurely, the public handling of Carson Wentz, and the hiring of Saturday/replacement of Reich with an ESPN analyst are all signs that he shouldn’t be making football decisions.

 

 

If he’s not going to hand it over, then he needs to commit to staying out of decisions unless it’s firing/hiring GMs. 

[ChuggaBeer]

16 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

There's technically no evidence, but it's a no-brainer that a coach with no experience at the college or pro level is worse than other coaches with much more experience than him. You aren't just going to waltz into a job like that and be a prodigy at it without putting in the work. You can imagine it in your mind, but generally it doesn't play out like that.

You should watch Ted Lasso.  

[jonjon]

22 hours ago, Jared Cisneros said:

It was reported that the last coach with 0 experience. to be an NFL coach was Norm Van Brocklin 61 years ago. I didn't need to do the research, it was widely reported and done for me.

At the risk of splitting hairs, that doesn't mean he had less experience than anyone else in NFL history that was a HC, just the least since Van Brocklin...but that was a really long time ago, so I think your overall point stands.

[jonjon]

22 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:

I didn’t call Irsay a racist.  

I know. I wasn't saying you were.

 

Quote

But to ignore highly qualified candidates of color for a white candidate with zero coaching experience is simply not defendable.

What about ignoring other highly qualified "candidates of another color" (white)? If he hires Saturday, he's doing that too. My overall point being it isn't about race. Saturday is a popular and respected analyst an ex-player and very popular in Coltland. Does that mean he'd make a great coach? Not at all. I thought his hiring was stupid in the first place and would be even more ridiculous now, but that's because he isn't qualified. If he was black, that would be just as true; no more, no less.
 

Quote

And you’re free to think the issue and attempts to address it are a joke, it’s not to many others.   It’s as serious as it gets. 
The NFL is trying to address it because they know the issue looks terrible to much of the fan base.  

Much of the fan base is clueless IMO and I'm repulsed that the NFL is caving in to it in cowardly fashion. It's all just more of the passive aggressive race card agenda that's been getting rammed down our throats for longer than I care to think about. Again: don't hire someone based on race, even a little bit, in either direction.

 

[NewColtsFan]

30 minutes ago, jonjon said:

I know. I wasn't saying you were.

 

What about ignoring other highly qualified "candidates of another color" (white)? If he hires Saturday, he's doing that too. My overall point being it isn't about race. Saturday is a popular and respected analyst an ex-player and very popular in Coltland. Does that mean he'd make a great coach? Not at all. I thought his hiring was stupid in the first place and would be even more ridiculous now, but that's because he isn't qualified. If he was black, that would be just as true; no more, no less.
 

Much of the fan base is clueless IMO and I'm repulsed that the NFL is caving in to it in cowardly fashion. It's all just more of the passive aggressive race card agenda that's been getting rammed down our throats for longer than I care to think about. Again: don't hire someone based on race, even a little bit, in either direction.

 

It doesn’t matter if a part of the fan base is clueless or not.  Those people buy tix and gear and watch television.  The NFL does not want to lose those fans and the dollars they bring.
 

And your argument that people want a lesser qualified person of color over a more qualified white candidate is a strawman.   Because nobody is making that argument.  The rules are in place to offer more opportunities.  Nobody is guaranteed anything.  People want more interviews.  You can’t get hired for top jobs if you don’t get to interview.  
 

I don’t understand what you’re repulsed by?   Who would oppose more opportunity for all?   And it’s not done because they’re cowards.  The NFL is well aware their position is not popular with people like you.  So they’re upsetting a segment of the fan base no matter what they do or don’t do.   Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.   That’s not cowardess.  

The Rooney Rule does NOT guarantee anyone a job.  No owner is forced to hire anyone they don’t want to.  The rule simply requires interviewing candidates of color.  Hopefully that leads to more jobs.   But it’s not mandatory. 
 

The NFL is trying to offer more opportunity and level the field for everyone.  Why it would bother you or anyone else is a mystery to me and others.  What are you possibly objecting to?   

[Moe]

Jim Irsay inherited the Colts, wasn’t  like he was a good business man like his father. I’m just asking why is Jim a good owner? just seems like he got lucky with Peyton Manning.