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McDaniels and the Colts

Mr. Scot

By Mr. Scot,
in Carolina Panthers

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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Heard a lot about this story from radio people, particularly Carolina Cann who worked for the Colts when it happened. Looked up a few online sources as well. The best I found was a piece by Patriots beat reporter Mike Reiss and Mike Wells giving a timeline of the events themselves (link) as well as some pertinent details.

Combining that with some of Caroline Cann's tidbits, here's a breakdown.

McDaniels had agreed verbally

Reiss says that the Monday after the Pats lost to the Eagles, McDaniels and Colts GM Chris Ballard spoke on the phone. They discussed arrangements for an introductory press conference (set for Wednesday).  The Colts considered it a done deal, and so they saw no reason to hide it.

The Colts announced the decision before it was actually official

Shortly after their phone call, Ballard had the Colts announce that McDaniels was their new head coach. It wasn't actually official yet and nothing had been signed, but Ballard would later say he had no inkling that McDaniels might be wavering in his decision. Belichick, on the other hand, says he knew that McDaniels was having second thoughts, hence what happened next...

The Patriots threw a Hail Mary pitch

On Tuesday, the day before McDaniels was set to be introduced, the Patriots made a huge pitch to McDaniels asking him to stay. This pitch included what Reiss called a "significant" raise but also more power. McDaniels was going to be given control of the offensive game plan plus a say in roster decisions and even salary cap considerations. It's been confirmed since then that the Colts were not willing to offer the same sorts of things and that played a role in what happened. The Patriots offer was pretty extensive, but it should be noted, not everything.

What they didn't promise

According to Reiss, the Patriots never promised McDaniels that he was Belichick's successor. Perhaps even more surprising though, McDaniels has stated before that he doesn't want to be. He feels like the pressure of following in the footsteps of a legendary coach would be a bit much. And there were other concerns...

McDaniels wanted stability for his family

Josh McDaniels and his wife have four kids. At the time, the youngest was three and the oldest was twelve. McDaniels knows that NFL coaches tend to move around a lot, so he wanted a long term commitment so that his kids could stay in one spot and have some stability. Expect that to be a factor in his upcoming decisions as well.

Back to the story

It was after the Patriots meetings, early evening on Tuesday, with the presser that was scheduled to announce his new job just a little over twelve hours from then, when McDaniels called Ballard and told him "I have some bad news".  Per Ballard, they only spoke for five minutes, and he didn't try to persuade McDaniels to change his mind because he wanted someone who was "all in".

Regrets, I've had a few, but...

Caroline Cann has said that Ballard very much regretted tweeting out the news before having ink on paper. McDaniels has also said he regretted how things worked out. In reality though, McDaniels went back to a successful job and has another shot at a head coaching spot just two years later (something a lot of people find very surprising) and the Colts aren't exactly sad because they ended up with a good coach in Frank Reich.

So what now?

The most interesting pieces to me are first, the news that McDaniels might not be so set on succeeding Belichick. There's a saying in sports: "Don't follow the legend, follow the guy that followed the legend", and it's valid. So then is there a worry that McDaniels might let someone else fail after Belichick and then swoop in like a savior? I get that it'd be easy to think that, but that doesn't make sense when you consider one of the other factors mention here.

His family.

McDaniels wants his kids to have a good home in a nice place to live.  That's been mentioned in previous articles as one of the attractions the Panthers job holds. Likewise, David Tepper has expressed that he wants to hire somebody who'll coach here for the next twenty years. Stability is clearly something both sides want, and for good reason.

But let's not gloss over the fact that, even with the overall positive outcome, McDaniels screwed the Colts over pretty hard. He backed out at a time when the other teams had pretty much finished their hiring cycles and the best candidates were picked over.

He may not have meant to do so, but how many of you know that guy who doesn't mean to screw people over, but somehow still manages to do it...a lot?

Bottom Line: Draw your own conclusions here. There's heavy speculation that McDaniels is the favorite for the Panthers job. There's some speculation that we're his top choice too, though it's not all that certain (lots of "ifs" attached). He's clearly not the most likeable guy in the world, but having a super nice guy didn't exactly translate to championships over the last nine years, did it?

Only thing I feel certain saying is if we do hire McDaniels, the next few years probably aren't gonna be boring.

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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FYI: Here's a little more about McDaniels apology

Quote

"I apologize to anyone who was affected in any way. Indianapolis did a tremendous job," McDaniels told the Boston Globe . "They have a tremendous organization and I was lucky to be considered and I just think once I found out [about his role in New England], I made the right decision for me and my family at this time.’’

McDaniels was given no guarantees about taking over for any future positions, such as taking over for Belichick when he retires, but did have his contract adjusted, the Globe reported. An NFL Network report said that McDaniels' agent, Bob LaMonte, told McDaniels that he made "perhaps the biggest professional mistake of his career" by backing out of the job with the Colts. 

McDaniels also discussed the conversation he had with Colts' GM Chris Ballard when he told him he wouldn't be taking the job. 

“Chris was tremendous the whole entire time,’’ McDaniels said. “He’s an incredible human being. He’s great at what he does. He’s going to be successful. It was difficult. I had a friendship with him — I still do. ... He’s a guy that I have a lot of respect for and admiration for. He was a big reason why I was interested in that job in the first place. It was as difficult a decision as I’ve ever made professionally. He handled it extremely well, he was a complete professional about it.’’

McDaniels said he also called to apologize to the assistant coaches who had been hired after he accepted the Colts job. 

“I spoke to all of them that night right away, shortly after I talked to Chris,’’ McDaniels said. “They were professionals. Like I said, it wasn’t easy for anybody. I apologized to them if it put them in an awkward position."

McDaniels apologizes for Colts coaching snub

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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1 minute ago, rayzor said:

No maybe about it for me. Top choice.

Very possible.

And honestly, as long as he does a good job, I'm not gonna be all that concerned whether he's likeable or not.

Lord knows Ron was likable. He just didn't win as much as I would have liked.

And Saint and Patriot fans have never seemed especially concerned about their coaches being a--holes.

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philit99 Mentor

philit99

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40 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Very possible.

And honestly, as long as he does a good job, I'm not gonna be all that concerned whether he's likeable or not.

Lord knows Ron was likable. He just didn't win as much as I would have liked.

And Saint and Patriot fans have never seemed especially concerned about their coaches being a--holes.

Especially, Sean Payton that guy is an absolute douche.

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Davis83 Enthusiast

Davis83

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I just want a Coach that holds players accountable for their performance, plans for the upcoming opponent, will make changes to the plan when it is not working, understands the rules and how to make them work for you (kinda like Tenn and the 1:47 runoff between plays) and that can move on from players when they can't/don't perform...... they are highly paid professional employee's - not your family.

 

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