original retirement for the Colts to end up with a coach 36
Days. Chris Ballard was asked yesterday whether he felt any
pressure because the process of getting that coach hired was
taking so long, here he is.
I mean, I think I told you I'd the end of the season like this
was this could go into mid-February. We want to take
our time,
I never understand what the hurry is.
It's about getting it, right? And if that meant we needed to
interview 50 people, we'd interviewed 50 people. I mean,
you want to get the right person for the job, which we
felt we've done.
And I don't like, I know
I'm not going to sit here and say, I don't hear the noise,
but I don't react to the noise if that
Makes sense. I just
want to get it right? And so whatever pressure
was felt externally. We did not feel internally
we hadn't
mr. Say, and I were on the same page
when that season ended in Houston and we had a long visit
when I walked out office, we were on the same page of where
we were going and how we were going to run this process.
And if it took six weeks, it took six weeks.
And it took five weeks and a day. And look, this is a team
that five years ago when they were looking for a head coach
thought they had a guy that was hired unofficially. During that
window from the end of the regular season, until the Super
Bowl, the Josh McDaniels, right after the Super Bowl,
the Tuesday after the Super Bowl said,
no thank you that to mobilize and
hire Frank Reich. And,
you know, I
want to say it worked out. We don't know how it was going to
work out because Andrew Luck retired, and that's not
a complaint. It's just a fact, said time. And again if a guy
doesn't want to play In the NFL, he shouldn't play every
once in a while. You hear someone
call, he quit on his team will. If you're not
physically mentally emotionally ready to play football, you
shouldn't play. So the reality is Frank Reich, had Andrew Luck
for one year? Yeah. And then he got thrust into this, this
revolving door, veteran, quarterbacks and eventually he
was out. And now Shane steichen Xin and
we'll just, we'll see what he can do. And
a, if this works.
Maybe it is time for
something Peter King began to Advocate a few years ago.
I didn't think it was practical at the time.
You pause everything. At least as it relates to interviews
until after the Super Bowl and you do it that no team that
fires a head coach can even begin the process of
interviewing until
two days ago, the morning after the Super Bowl and,
you know, then you have, I don't know if it takes six
weeks after that, you got a problem because you're getting
into free agency. Well, yeah, you know you'd like to have
a Coach in place before the combine
coaching place before free agency.
But there is something to be said and I think you and I are
on the same page about this,
let the assistant coaches focus on the task at hand. Not be
distracted by being interviewed during preparation for
a playoff game. Wait on everything until the Super Bowl
is over. Don't disadvantage the coordinators or other
candidates working for the Super Bowl teams. Wait on
everything until after the Super Bowl,
you know? It's I would love this. Not going to kill your
program. If you do it and maybe some of these teams that would
otherwise be inclined to fire a head coach, would wait. Yeah.
Yeah. Another year give that guy one more chance because
they know if they change coaches, they can't start
the interview process until after the Super Bowl. I mean,
I wouldn't be mad at the NFL Kickback, the all whole
offseason like two weeks or so,
just kick it all back.
Yeah, I would love to see this process play out. I think it
would be more fair and beef are more fair to everybody
the available. So the pliers on the teams with the coaches who were
trying to worry about the interviews, of course, the,
you know, the candidates themselves.
I would like to see that done.
I think that, you know, would be a great way to do it.
I think it just better for everyone and it's going to be
a better product on the field even in the playoffs for all
the viewers as well. But yeah, it doesn't make sense.
It's like we talked about, we joked about it a month ago.
You know what if a player is yet pending free agent? Hey,
I want to go talk to a team on a Friday or Saturday. I want to
go talk to them and just kind of laid. Lay the ground work
out for when I'm going to be a free agent. A few weeks. No,
big deal. Not a distraction, right
guys. I mean, if a player did that, I'd be insane. And what
I would tell you is, it's actually less insane for
the player to do that than the coach.
The pyres just got to go out and play. He's already been
taught everything for the week. He's done. The coach is the one
that's going.
Wait details. This, that the, the
word about things. So,
yeah, it's backwards.
I'd love to see him kick it all back, why not?
And it would be,
you know, I think a better process and listen, even after
the week of the Super Bowl, we About the NFL, always, loving
the mastering the calendar.
Gosh, and be great if we could here we go this week. Next
week. We gotta you know, ten days of talking about coaching
candidates and do that. And, you know, this kind of becomes
an NFL Dead news time here for
the next few weeks. And
this certainly would not let that or allow that to happen.
The problem is free agency. Yeah middle of March yeah
always been the middle of March guys. Want to get paid. They
want to get their signing bonuses you know there's been
talk
in the past about doing the draft before free agency and in
the lockout year 2011 they did the draft, then free agency
came after they got everything resolved.
That's something that the players may not be keen on
delaying the payday even by a month or a week or a few weeks.
This is the day. This is the day every year. This is
The window every year
when it's time for the players to hit the market and get their
contracts and get their money and you don't want to delay
that if your players. Now, the combine
is still when it always was, even though the Super Bowl is
now a week later, thanks to the extension of the Season, by one
week, you got two weeks,
afterward will be in,
you know, will be in,
is it two weeks? It is two weeks. What's today,
the 15th will be in Indianapolis two weeks from today.
So not a whole lot of time.
If you do delay, the head,
Hiring process. Not a lot of time to interview,
not a lot of time to hire
not a lot of time to get things moving they'd have to come up
with some way. And of course, one of the things we didn't get
to last week at least on the show d.smith the nflpa
executive director just wants to get rid of the combine.
Yeah. Do pro days, do Regional Pro days of the local
Pro days. Get rid of the combine all together.
The problem is, the NFL is, try to turn that into a tent pole.
I'd like to see the opposite of money off. The combine, right?
They're not going to get, they're not going to get rid of
the scouting combine because it's become a vent.
Separate from right
now, I don't want to deal way,
you know, what's the best way? Yeah, II wouldn't care. If it
did. I mean, I like the fact that we go, then we talked to
a bunch of coaches and
Prospects, but I understand why there are concerns about it.
And why there's a view that just kind of,
you know, kind of a
will get rid of the pro days. And the pronoun is the one
that's not necessary. I mean, the day to go, you know,
the week to be around all teams and everybody can be lumped
together in one spot.
That makes more Hence let alone the business side of it and
the spectacle over the oh wait I saw you work out for three days
straight I met you three days straight we got you naked, we
looked at
you we pulled every you know limb on your body. We gave you
a psychological event but we got to go see your school in
three weeks, one more time.
Just to see if you can run in a straight line.
Any faster or did your hips, get a little looser?
It's actually stupid. When you say it out loud,
the combine should be. It's all you.
Need.
Well, you know, here's the reality and we're now into that
season where significant money and time or being spent on
trying to assess everything that can be ascertained, about
the prospects who are coming in
and then we'll be reminded of how imperfect the entire
process is because you still can't have a direct line
between effort and money and getting good results
and it is more than just draft. It's draft and develop. I've
been trying to make that point. As often as I can. Recently,
when I do radio spots and people ask me about the draft
and why teams have failed and,
you know, we kind of focused on this relates to the Patriots
and their inability to draft, good receivers. It's not just
the decisions you make on draft day. It's your ability to
develop them,
your patients with them,
your understanding of what they need to become suitable
in the Patriots system. The Patriot Way you're talking
about young guys, 20 21, 22 years old. I think sometimes
coaches you're too impatient with young players and that's
part of the problem,
but the point is
Whatever is available to these teams, they're going to take
full advantage of it. Will do scouting? Combine will do pro
day, will do private workouts will do whatever. We can bring
him to the facility.
Anything we can do to gather more information
to support these decisions
because we have the time and we have the money in these.
These decisions have too much riding on them to not take
advantage of everything where I'm getting, we're kind of
getting off track, but it's an important conversation to have
because we are in the middle now. In the middle, but we're
on the front end
of draft season when all this stuff is going on. And if we do
delay, the hiring of coaches, we are going to have kind of
a weird calendar issue to try to resolve.
Yeah, no, agreed.
I mean, agreed, it's big business and there's a lot to
juggle juggle there.
And, you know, these colleges, they like their Pro days. They
like the notoriety and everybody coming to town, but,
you know, it, I do think it kind of borders on,
you know, overdoing it.
We got film every A angle to watch you. We've seen you in
person during the season
was Scouts in our GM.
Now, we're, you know, at a Senior Bowl or whatever, this
is the combine, but we need to see you one more time on your
field. So you could sway things your way to give yourself one
more,
you know, prop. So hopefully that moves and or hopefully, it
doesn't move. I like the combine. I think it's a great
event. I think it's good for the NFL and I
think honestly it's good for
the young kids in the NFL as well. Just a good little like
getting out of think it is all I do. As well,
we have to get to it. And we're gonna have to get to this
a different day because it because I think it's
dehumanizing, I do.
I think it is I think it strips away all of their Humanity, it
turns them into into robots. It turns them into guys who get
poked and prodded and mistreated from time to time
based upon the questioning
will have time in the run-up to the combine to fully debate
that maybe in Indy, we can have a segment about it. We can ask
some of the coaches about, of course, they love it. They need
it. They need it. The coaches in the GM's need it,
you just answered your question order to guy. You just
Charles you're right. That's right now it's awesome. They
need it. Exactly. That's how you make business go. Exactly.
We don't have to worry about it. Well, I'm buying what they
think they need it. Maybe this.
Maybe there's other ways to get the information you need.
Without making the players feel like something. Oh gosh. What
they've always felt like that. It's the way they've been
the whole life. Eighth grade seventh, grade eighth,
grade 10th grader, 12th grade 11th, grade 13th, grade, it's
all it's always that way. Then we have all deal,
maybe maybe we evolved treating football players like that.
Maybe We maybe we move past that as a society, maybe they
shouldn't be yelled and screamed out of me. We've had
this conversation in the
past. When I was in
fifth grade, if you were lollygagging out on the field,
you got a foot in your ass and I'm still scarred by it and
it's helped me.
That's, I'm very conflicted by that,
knowing that if I stand around, too long coach is going to come
kick me in the ass, has done more for me than I think.
Anything else? I'm serious, I'm serious,
and I never stand still. Now, I still have in the back of my
head coach is going to come kick me in the ass if I'm
standing around, so keep
hit, subscribe for the latest news and Analysis from pro
football talk.