Colts fire Frank Reich, appoint Jeff Saturday as interim head coach
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Colts have fired head coach Frank Reich and hired former center Jeff Saturday to serve as the interim team leader, according to team owner Jim Irsay.
Irsay announced Reich’s firing Monday on Twitter, saying the Colts have “parted ways” with Reich after a 3-5-1 start to the season.
Reich joined the team for the 2018 season and had a 40-33-1 record.
The Colts have not made the playoffs since 2020.
The team only had one playoff win under Reich, beating the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round in 2018.
Saturday played 13 seasons with Indianapolis and was part of the Peyton Manning-led team that defeated the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. His only previous coaching experience was a stint with Hebron Christian Academy in Georgia from 2017 to 2020.
The team had originally scheduled a press conference for 6 p.m. Monday with Irsay and general manager Chris Ballard. The conference was later moved to 7:30 p.m. Monday, then moved again to 8 p.m. Monday. The press conference will be streamed on WISH-TV, wishtv.com and the WISH-TV news app.
Reich’s tenure has been marred by issues at the quarterback position.
Andrew Luck retired on the eve of the 2019 season.
Jacoby Brissett then took over the position, going 7-8 in 2019 before being replaced by the 39-year-old Philip Rivers.
Rivers was 11-5 in 2020 and the team made the playoffs, but lost 27-24 to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round.
The next season saw Carson Wentz come to Indianapolis from Philadelphia in exchange for draft picks. Wentz went 9-8 and was traded to the Washington Commanders after the season.
Wentz was replaced by former Associated Press MVP award winner Matt Ryan. Ryan, 37, struggled in seven games with the Colts before being replaced by Sam Ehlinger.
In total, Reich had seven different starting quarterbacks in five seasons.
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