Who is Jeff Saturday? Colts fans furious as man without prior experience named interim head coach
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: The Indianapolis Colts fired head coach Frank Reich, who was hired in February 2018, and named ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday as their interim head coach. Colts’ owner Jim Irsay took to Twitter to announce the move on Monday, November 7. He wrote, “We have parted ways with head coach Frank Reich.” And in another tweet declared that Saturday will serve as interim coach.
Moments after the announcement, fans were left curious and furious about how Irsay chose the 47-year-old Saturday, who has no coaching experience at the NFL or collegiate level and has served only as the head coach for the Hebron Christian Academy, over two former NFL head coaches—defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and defensive assistant John Fox. One wrote, "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." While another tweeted by saying, "Jeff Saturday just became the head coach of an NFL team, without any prior coaching experience in the NFL or college football. There are Black coaches in the NFL that have been assistants for years that can’t even get serious interviews to be a head coach. Amazing."