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Tony Dungy, a former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, has some thoughts about his former team’s head coaching search.
“I’m keeping my eye on it from afar, but I hope they come up with the right person,” Dungy said during a January 18 appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show.” “[Colts owner Jim Irsay] will figure out who the best person for the franchise is.”
Dungy coached the Colts from 2002 to 2007 and led the team to its lone Super Bowl victory in 2006. The Colts won the AFC South five times in Dungy’s seven years in charge and finished in second place the other two seasons en route to an 85-27 record with the club. Previously, he’d been head coach of Tampa Bay Buccaneers for six seasons, and overall he has a 139-69 record. Dungy was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.
Tony Dungy & Others React to Jeff Saturday as a Candidate
According to a January 18 story by Dan Graziano of ESPN, the Colts were expected to interview Jeff Saturday, the interim head coach for the Colts, in the following days.
“Saturday is serious about wanting the job and has been doing some research on potential candidates for his staff in case he gets it,” Graziano wrote.
During their conversation, Patrick asked Dungy whether he thought Saturday was the best person for the job.
“I think Jim wanted it to be,” Dungy responded. “I think he still probably wants it to be. It’s a little hard to sell with seven straight losses. “
Dungy is not alone in his thinking that Saturday would be a tough sell as the permanent head coach. Late last season, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio cited the Colts’ epic collapse in their 39-36 overtime loss in Week 15 to the Minnesota Vikings as the primary reason Saturday should not get the job. The loss “could make it very hard for Irsay to make Saturday the permanent coach.”
On December 4, Jason La Canfora of The Washington Post tweeted that the NFL coaching community was “pretty disgusted” with how Irsay handled the Jeff Saturday hiring.
Tony Dungy Had Doubts but Is Confident in Jim Irsay
This is not the first time this season Dungy has shared his doubts about the Colts’ coaching decisions. In a November 8 conversation on “The Dan Patrick Show,” Dungy shared his thoughts on Irsay’s decision to fire head coach Frank Reich in Week 7, saying he would have tried to talk Irsay out of the decision to fire Reich.
‘Hey, Jim, you’ve got as many wins as the Rams, the Super Bowl defending champs have, 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?” Dungy said.
Dungy may not have agreed with Irsay decision to fire Reich, but he said he had the confidence in Irsay to make the right decision on the next head coach.
“Jim Irsay will figure it out,” Dungy said to Patrick.
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