The Indianapolis Colts are underperforming this season, and the ownership is putting it on head coach Chuck Pagano, with General Manager Ryan Grigson getting an honorable mention. Their dream candidate, although no one knows if he wants the job, is Nick Saban.
The 4-5 Colts have made the playoffs every year under Pagano, taking it one step at a time: Wild Card loss, Wild Card win and divisional loss, and then getting to the AFC Championship game after two wins before getting blown out by the New England Patriots, again. Pagano isn’t the only link to the playoff appearances. There’s Andrew Luck, who the Colts believe is a quarterback who is going to win them a number of Super Bowls. Just making the playoffs was nice in the post-apocalyptic world of replacing a quarterback like Peyton Manning.
The bad start seems to have only helped Jim Irsay the owner decide that Pagano is not his man, if the rumors are to be believed. That’s why he’ll be going after, in full force, Nick Saban, who has done very well, and seems to be very happy in Alabama since 2008, winning three national titles, and maybe will add another one to his impressive CV by the end of this season. Saban has been in the NFL for two seasons but left the moment he saw things weren’t as easy as they were in College Football.
But the events of the past have been forgotten, and the Colts aren’t worried about him leaving them for another when the opportunity comes. They’re worried about winning titles, and they don’t think they can do it with Pagano, and want Saban to be the one. If it means giving him full control of personnel decisions, which some college football coaches want in order to feel the same way they did in the NCAA level, the Colts will either fire Grigson or simple demote him, redefining his role.