The Indianapolis Colts are in the midst of a search for a new head coach after the organization parted ways with Frank Reich in the past season. They are currently deciding which coaches to bring back for a second interview. Among the selections is interim head coach Jeff Saturday.
Colts fans have expressed their displeasure with Saturday’s candidacy, starting a petition that has more than 2,000 signatures.
A quick recap, the Colts decided to hire Saturday, a former Indianapolis offensive lineman who was working as an NFL analyst at ESPN, to be the interim head coach and not promote someone from within. This decision shocked everyone since it was such an outside-the-box hire. Regardless, Saturday had eight games to make a statement and show how good of a coach he is. He won his first game but the rest of his tenure as the head coach went downhill.
Jeff Saturday’s resume
Saturday lost the remaining seven games and during this time his team had a couple of epic collapses against Dallas and Minnesota. Also, there are a few losses against the LA Chargers, New York Giants, and division opponent Houston. To be fair, the team did come very close to beating Philadelphia. But maybe most concerning out of all of this is that Colts had a point differential of -80 and averaged 19 points scored per game.
Colts fans create a petition against Jeff Saturday’s candidacy
Jeff Saturday has completed his second interview. But the fan base has been very outspoken both on radio and social media against the hiring of Saturday. They have gone so far as to create a petition against him, titled, “Don’t hire Jeff Saturday as head coach.”
The petition was started on Wednesday and includes a direct message for Colts owner Jim Irsay, which states: “We as Colts fans will always love the memories of the SB XLI team; we love the former players and the people they’ve become, but we don’t want Jeff Saturday as the head coach of this team going forward. Please hire someone with experience and save your fan base from revolting and losing interest.”
Over 2,000 people have signed the petition. The chief complaint is they believe the eight games that is not a big enough sample size to know that he will not succeed if given the position.
To be fair, the team he took over is one that has players that fit the mold of Reich and GM Chris Ballard’s plan. And the coaching staff is one that Reich assembled too. It is curious to see what Saturday could do with his own staff and input on players.