Bill Cowher rips Colts for Jeff Saturday hire on ‘The NFL Today’

Former NFL head coach Bill Cowher destroyed the Indianapolis Colts’ decision to hire Jeff Saturday as their interim coach on “The NFL Today.”

There has been plenty of intense criticism around the NFL landscape this week over the Indianapolis Colts’ bizarre decision to name Jeff Saturday as their interim head coach after firing Frank Reich. The hire even received pushback from some of the Colts’ top front-office personnel but Irsay went ahead with the move anyway, opening the organization to endless scrutiny from former players and coaches in the media.

The latest commentary came from former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher, who has been working on CBS’ NFL Today since his retirement. Cowher was asked to weigh in on the hire during a panel discussion and didn’t even attempt to hide his criticism of Irsay’s decision.

Bill Cowher calls Jeff Saturday hire a “disgrace to the coaching profession”

It’s no shock that Cowher was disappointed in the process Irsay used to settle on Saturday as the Colts’ interim head coach. Cowher made it clear that he felt coaching is a full-time commitment, one that Saturday had previously turned down after Irsay had offered him multiple opportunities to be an assistant coach in the organization over the past few years.

The point that Cowher was emphasizing is that hiring Saturday, who had never coached above the high school level before Irsay tabbed him as Indianapolis’ interim coach, is a tremendous slap in the face to the many assistants who were already on the Colts staff. These coaches have been with the organization throughout the offseason and sacrificed plenty of time with their families to try to deliver winning results to Indianapolis, but Irsay bypassed them all for a guy who was commentating on the league for ESPN. One example that comes to mind is Reggie Wayne, a Colts legend who has been the team’s wide receivers coach since March.

It is no shock that a former coach like Cowher is insulted by this thought process, which is a slap in the face to hard-working assistants everywhere who would kill to get the opportunity Saturday received. It will certainly be interesting to see if this interim hire backfires on Irsay when he looks to hire a permanent head coach in the offseason.