Colts Name Shocking Interim Head Coach

The Indianapolis Colts looked outside the box when naming their interim-head coach for the dismissed Frank Reich.

The Indianapolis Colts fired Frank Reich on Monday morning, and they have pulled a bit of a shocker by naming former Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday as their interim-head coach.

Saturday played 13 years for the Colts and was named to the Pro Bowl five times with Indianapolis.

The Colts bypass two former NFL head coaches already on staff — Gus Bradley, John Fox — and a rising head-coaching candidate in Bubba Ventrone, to name former center Jeff Saturday the interim coach.

That is a real sentence.

— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) November 7, 2022

Typically an interim-head coach is on the current staff, and the Colts had no shortage of candidates including former-head coaches Gus Bradley and John Fox.

By naming Saturday as their interim coach, the Colts are thinking way outside the box.

Saturday has a long history with Indianapolis and is still currently involved with the Colts as a consultant. He was most recently in town over the weekend for Tarik Glenn's induction into the Colts' Ring of Honor.

Saturday was also the head coach for Hebron Christian Academy, a small private school in the north-metro Atlanta area.

Zak Keefer of The Athletic feels this move could be an audition for Saturday, rather than just keeping the spot warm until a more thorough interview process can be done after the season.

From what I've heard, wouldn't be stunned if this is more of an audition for Jeff Saturday than your typical interim role.

As in: Colts want to see if he could be the full-time answer at head coach. Why else go outside the building with other qualified candidates?

— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) November 7, 2022

"From what I've heard, wouldn't be stunned if this is more of an audition for Jeff Saturday than your typical interim role," wrote Keefer on Twitter. "As in: Colts want to see if he could be the full-time answer at head coach. Why else go outside the building with other qualified candidates?"

Saturday will be introduced as the Colts interim coach at 6 p.m. EST along with owner Jim Irsay and general manager Chris Ballard.

Saturday will have five days to get ready for Sunday when the Colts travel to Las Vegas to take on the struggling Raiders.