Colts hire Eagles offensive coordinator as head coach

Shane Steichen

The Indianapolis Colts’ long and extensive search for a new head coach ended Tuesday when they officially hired Philadelphia Eagles Offensive Coordinator Shane Steichen.

The Colts announced the hire and said they would introduce Steichen at a news conference Tuesday afternoon in Indianapolis.

The emergence of Steichen, 37, as the Colts’ front-runner became apparent Sunday morning, ahead of the Eagles’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Ariz. The Eagles’ offensive performance in their 38-35 defeat did nothing to hurt Steichen’s status, as quarterback Jalen Hurts threw a touchdown pass and ran for three touchdowns.

Steichen traveled to Indianapolis on Monday, and the two sides were able to complete an agreement on a contract.

The Eagles could lose both their coordinators in the aftermath of their Super Bowl loss. Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon is among the final remaining candidates for the Arizona Cardinals’ head coaching vacancy.

The Cardinals are the lone NFL team that still has a head coaching opening after the Carolina Panthers hired Frank Reich, the Denver Broncos hired Sean Payton, the Houston Texans hired DeMeco Ryans and the Colts hired Steichen.

The Colts conducted an extensive search in which they interviewed more than a dozen candidates. They included Jeff Saturday, the team’s former center who was appointed interim coach after owner Jim Irsay fired Reich in November. Reich also was the Eagles’ offensive coordinator when the Colts hired him in 2018 following Philadelphia’s Super Bowl triumph; in that hiring cycle, Josh McDaniels spurned Indianapolis at the last minute.

Each of the Colts’ last two full-time hires were offensive coordinators for Philadelphia Eagles teams that made the Super Bowl. Reich was hired in 2018 after the Eagles won their first championship since 1960 but was fired in October as the Colts’ season started to unravel.

He was replaced by interim coach Saturday, who won his first game but lost the final seven to give Indy the No. 4 overall draft pick. Saturday was one of the finalists for the full-time job.

Now, though, the Colts seem to be changing directions again, this time likely with a young, promising quarterback. That’s a major reason team owner Jim Irsay and general manager Chris Ballard, who led the lengthy search, sought out the 37-year-old Steichen.

Under Steichen’s tenure in Philadelphia, quarterback Hurts went from second-round draft pick in 2020 to solid starter in 2021 to NFL MVP runner-up in 2022.

But Hurts isn’t Steichen’s only prized pupil.

In 2020, as offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers, Steichen presided over Justin Herbert’s NFL offensive rookie of the year campaign. Before that, he worked with former Chargers star Philip Rivers, who joined Reich and current Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni in Indianapolis for his final NFL season.

The similarities between Steichen and Reich are striking.

Both climbed the coaching ladder with a franchise that previously called San Diego home, and both were college quarterbacks, though Steichen, unlike Reich, never took a snap in the NFL. And both left the Philadelphia staff just days after their teams played in the Super Bowl, though Reich was hired only after Josh McDaniels backed out of an agreement to take the job.

Still, Irsay is hoping for different results from Steichen, who becomes the league’s third-youngest coach behind two other 37-year-olds, Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams and Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings.

McVay won last year’s Super Bowl title and O’Connell finished sixth in the coach of the year balloting after leading Minnesota to a division crown in his first season.

Those success stories seemed especially appealing to a franchise that missed the playoffs each of the past two seasons and almost certainly will have a seventh different opening day starting quarterback in September. Indy has drafted only two quarterbacks in the first round over the past 25 years—Peyton Manning in 1998 and Andrew Luck in 2012, both the top overall pick.

First, though, Steichen must put together a staff. It’s unclear whether Saturday, who had no college or pro coaching experience when he was hired for the interim job, is interested in remaining in Indy as an assistant coach.

The choice of Saturday to replace Reich was widely panned by critics who thought there were more qualified candidates already on Indy’s staff and those who thought Irsay was skirting NFL rules to include minority candidates in the hiring process.

While those rules don’t apply to midseason changes, Ballard and Irsay promised to conduct an exhaustive, inclusive search that did meet the Rooney Rule requirements.

Still, they landed on Steichen.

Steichen must figure out how to revamp an offensive line that had been among the league’s top units from 2018-21 but struggled mightily in 2022. Plus, Indy must decide what to do with veteran quarterbacks Matt Ryan and Nick Foles, who struggled last season.

Ryan is just six days younger than Steichen and would count $35.2 million against the salary cap if he returns. Indy could save about $17 million by releasing him. Cutting Foles, the Super Bowl 52 MVP, would save the Colts about $2 million off his $3.6 million cap charge in 2023.

Neither has said he plans to retire.