Bryan Ault

Someone told me once, “The NFL is a tight-knit frat.”  The problem with that analogy is fraternities have students who, while staying together and having lifelong relationships, eventually graduate and get out of the frat house.  The NFL is more like a private golf club full of people in their 70s whose memberships are revoked only at death.

Most of these NFL coaches win and lose, go somewhere else, and do more winning and losing (mostly losing).  Few bring any consistency to a franchise.  

We’ve reached a point where, I think, the NFL needs to bring in some new faces with new perspectives, in both coaching and (especially) player personnel.  These coaches and front office people have been in the frat house for too long.  It would be a welcome change to see NFL owners open their minds to high school head coaches with a proven track record, and scouting and player evaluation perspectives from people who know the game, not the general manager’s second cousin.

And right now, the Colts are in a prime position to do just that. Following their abysmal and shocking loss to the NFL’s worst New York Giants, change is expected.  If it happens at head coach, they need not look very far to find Shane Steichen’s replacement.

They have plenty of options available within a 40-minute radius of their facility on 56th Street.  Center Grove head coach Eric Moore immediately comes to mind.  He has a 256-81 record and has won more 6A state championships than anybody else.  Noblesville head coach John Hebert won two state championships at Carmel, so his name deserves to be in the hat.  Cathedral head coach Bill Peebles has a proven track record as well.  I’ll even throw in Russ Man, who took Ben Davis to a state championship in his first year at the helm.

I’m not sure if he wants to get back into coaching, but current Warren Central athletic director Mike Kirschner is one of the best at turning around programs: he did it at Warren Central, Mount Vernon, and successfully led the Ben Davis Giants to two state championships.  Brownburg head coach John Hart led the Bulldogs to a state championship last November with a sophomore quarterback and is highly successful.  Indianapolis Lutheran head coach Dave Patch won three state titles in a row, so throw his name into the mix as well.

Or the league could just keep recycling and repeating the same people over and over and over again. To the owners who want to keep doing that, I must ask a question: in light of the fact that 17 of your teams are at or below .500, and 21 teams have lost at least 7 games, how’s that workin’ out for ya?

I think it’s time for big, bold change, and this change makes a lot of sense to me.