INDIANAPOLIS – Wednesday marks the seventh day of Ryan Grigson's tenure as Colts general manager.
Grigson was announced to the post by Owner and CEO Jim Irsay on January 11, and the two have been in near-constant planning mode since then.
On Tuesday, it was announced that Head Coach Jim Caldwell would not return to the club, and one of the next orders of business will be an evaluation of the assistant coaching staff.
Currently vacant on the staff is the special teams coaching position. Additionally, Linebackers Coach Mike Murphy finished the 2011 season with the added duties of defensive coordinator. Indianapolis has interviewed former St. Louis Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo for the coordinator's position. Spagnuolo was the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants prior to being named Rams head coach in 2009. Spagnuolo and Grigson served together with Philadelphia from 2004-06.
Grigson still is in the process of gathering information on Colts personnel, and he plans meetings with coaches in the coming days.
"Right now the staff has to be evaluated," said Grigson. "We need to sit down and talk with people on the staff and visit with them. I have been here for a short time. We don't want to do anything rash in any regard with this. These are big decisions to be made."
A number of the coaches on staff have tenures that span a decade, while two stretch back 14 seasons with Indianapolis. The vast majority have been a part of many successes with the Colts. The stated goal of Irsay and Grigson is to rebuild the program expediently and correctly so that a return to the winning tradition of the club is as quick as possible and one that is sustained.
Proper evaluations of the staff on hand are both essential and critical.
"They are not ones that we are going to be hurried or rushed into," said Grigson. "We are going to do what we feel is right. We are going to talk things through, put our minds together and set this franchise in the right direction."
In some instances, this will be a first introduction for Grigson with assistant coaches. It is something he feels is important in the forward movement of the program.
"I am going to speak with all of them," said Grigson. "Many of them are under contract and we need to talk and get things ironed out. I obviously want to do it that way. I want to have them sit in front of me and speak with them.
"I haven't met many of them. I would like to talk to them and get a feel for them. I have a lot of information, but I would like to sit down in a human way and talk ball with these guys and talk to them as people as well. That is a fair way to do this thing."
Irsay is the steward for the club, and he has been one of the most adept among his 31 peers for a long period. Irsay has one goal – to win. He wants it for his city and for some treasured assets – Colts fans.
"We've had such excellence and greatness over such a long period of time here. That's what I expect us to return to," said Irsay. "It's not an overnight process. (I'm) looking forward to continuing getting on with the work of getting this franchise back to all the great things it has done.
"It's a big change for the franchise. At the same time, there are players, other coaches (and) many people on the staff that will go forward into the new day and get on with the work of 2012."
