Tony Dungy tells Dan Patrick he would have tried to talk Jim Irsay out of Colts' coaching change
Former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy told The Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday that he was not consulted by Jim Irsay at any point regarding the team’s decision to fire Frank Reich and hire Jeff Saturday as the team’s interim coach.
Dungy said he found out at the same time as everybody else, and admitted he was surprised at the news of Saturday’s hiring and Reich’s firing at this point in the season.
If Irsay had consulted Dungy, the only head coach to lead the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl would have tried to talk his former boss out of the decision. Dungy is one of Reich’s mentors, and has often been a confidant for the fired Colts head coach in his four-plus seasons in Indianapolis.
“As a fan and a former Colt, I would have said, ‘Hey, Jim, you’ve got as many wins as the Rams, the Super Bowl defending champs have,” Dungy told Patrick. “There’s no super teams out there. Get this going. Stay with Frank. Let’s see if we can win a few games here, get back in the race. If you make the playoffs … you already beat the Kansas City Chiefs. … If you get in, who knows what’s going to happen?”
OPINION: Saturday as Colts interim head coach? Maybe Irsay's idea isn't too bad
SLAP IN THE FACE: Colts hiring Saturday as interim coach is another bad look
POWER RANKINGS: Which team cracked Top 5 following Week 9 games?
NFL NEWSLETTER: Sign up now for exclusive content sent to your inbox
Patrick asked Dungy, who has not coached since he retired at the end of the 2008 season, if the Hall of Fame coach would have taken the interim job if Irsay offered it to him.
“I would have said: ‘Jim, I can give you some recommendations, but there’s no way I can do this, especially if you’re going to tell me I can’t play the two quarterbacks that might give us a chance to win,” Dungy told Patrick.
Dungy did not understand the team’s move to bench Matt Ryan at 3-3-1, a decision the Colts have called a collaborative choice made by Irsay, general manager Chris Ballard and Reich.
“That baffled me, that statement that Sam Ehlinger is going to be our quarterback the rest of the season,” Dungy told Patrick. “How can you say that when you’ve never seen him play in an NFL game? What if he goes in and he does look lost? Can you just say, ‘He’s going to be the quarterback,’ when you’ve got two really good quarterbacks sitting.”
The former Colts coach, who reiterated that he hadn’t been consulted on the decision, indicated that he thought the decision to bench Ryan was tied to the veteran quarterback’s contract and the guarantees that would kick in if Ryan is injured.
But he also believes in the other veteran on the roster.
“I love Nick Foles,” Dungy told Patrick. “In this situation, a guy who can get rid of the ball quick, who knows the NFL landscape, who has done this in the past, who has led teams on second-half marches. … I’m not sure why he’s not playing.”
As surprised as he was by the Colts’ move to hire Saturday, Dungy does believe in the leadership Saturday brings to the table in an uncertain situation.
“I know to a lot of people Jeff doesn’t make sense, but to me, I could see this,” Dungy told Patrick.
Without inside knowledge of the move’s inner workings, Dungy speculated that Irsay brought in Saturday to get the offensive line going, and that Saturday would try to run the ball, rely on Jonathan Taylor and give Ehlinger play-action passes.
But he ended his comments about the Colts on Patrick’s show by acknowledging the difficulty of the task Saturday has been handed.
“It’s a very, very tough situation,” Dungy said. “I wouldn’t wish this situation on anybody.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tony Dungy would have tried to talk Colts owner out of coach change
