Last week, the Indianapolis Colts shocked the NFL by hiring Jeff Saturday as head coach, despite Saturday’s lack of coaching experience. Now ex-Steelers coach Bill Cowher is blasting the team, calling the hire “a disgrace to the coaching profession.”
Last week, the Colts fired coach Frank Reich and put Saturday in his place as interim coach.
The move shocked the NFL because Saturday is the first head coach to be hired in the league since 1961 who has no collegiate or pro coaching experience.
Saturday insisted that he was ready for the challenge.
“I’ve seen great leadership and I’ve learned a lot,” he said. “I’m a leader of men, I don’t shy away from it and I’m excited about it. That’s my passion and I love it. Football just so happens to fit that mold. But that’s what I love. When I can do the two things I love, I can lead a group of men and coach football, I’m not going to say no to that.”
But all this doesn’t impress Cowher.
Appearing on CBS’ “NFL Today,” the coach with 15 years of NFL experience blasted the Colts’ move.
“I know for a fact that Jeff Saturday was offered an opportunity to become an assistant coach with the Indianapolis Colts multiple times in the last four years. He declined, citing he had a TV job and wanted to spend more time with his family,” Cowher exclaimed. “I get it. Coaching is about commitment and it’s about sacrifice. It’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle.”
Cowher was not very pleased with Saturday for jumping over so many other qualified candidates.
“Jeff Saturday talked about in his first press conference that he’s going to use the second half as an opportunity to build his résumé to see whether or not he can coach in the future. I say to that, what about the assistants on the staff right now?” Cowher railed. “The guys that were there in training camp. The guys that were there early in the morning and late at night. The guys that have gone through the first six weeks in that building… Don’t they deserve the opportunity?”
Defensive tackle Grover Stewart #90, center Ryan Kelly #78, and interim head coach Jeff Saturday of the Indianapolis Colts waits to take the field before Sunday’s coaching debut against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on November 13, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Colts defeated the Raiders 25-20. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Cowher then tore into Colts owner Jim Irsay.
“For an owner to hire a coach, who has never been an assistant at the college level or the pro level, and overseeing, very much a lot of candidates that are qualified for that job as we see in [Panthers interim head coach] Steve Wilks, an opportunity to build a résumé, it’s a disgrace to the coaching profession,” Cowher insisted. “Regardless of how this thing plays out, what happened in Indianapolis is a travesty.”
Saturday has his first chance to prove his mettle on Sunday when the Colts face the Las Vegas Raiders.
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