Meet Frank Reich, new head coach of the Colts
The Colts found their new man in Reich after Josh McDaniels turned them down.
The Indianapolis Colts were thrown for a loop when Josh McDaniels, their first choice for their head-coaching vacancy, decided to stay with the New England Patriots. Now after starting their search over again, they settled on Frank Reich as their new head coach, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. Reich is fresh off winning a Super Bowl ring as offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Reich gets his first head-coaching job at 56 years old, after a decade-long career as an assistant with various teams. He first entered the NFL as a quarterback in 1985 and spent most of his career backing up Jim Kelly for the Buffalo Bills. After retiring in 1998, he entered the coaching ranks 10 years later, taking a job with the Colts in 2008 as an offensive assistant. The next year, he was promoted to quarterbacks coach and worked closely with Peyton Manning between 2009-10, while spending 2011 as wide receivers coach.
After the Colts finished 2-14 in 2011, Reich was released along with the rest of Jim Caldwell’s coaching staff. He spent one year as the Arizona Cardinals’ receivers coach before heading to the San Diego Chargers in 2013 as quarterbacks coach. The next year, he was promoted to offensive coordinator and spent two more seasons coaching Philip Rivers. With Reich running the offense, the Chargers ranked 18th in yards in 2014 and ninth in 2015.
After getting fired from the Chargers, Reich joined Doug Pederson’s staff as offensive coordinator in Philadelphia. He had his biggest success here, working with Pederson and QBs coach John DeFilippo to develop Carson Wentz, the new franchise quarterback. When Wentz went down with a torn ACL late last season, Reich and his staff did an admirable job adjusting the offense around Nick Foles. The Eagles went on to upset the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 52.
Now Reich is getting a shot at head coach and will be tasked with reviving the Colts, who fell into mediocrity under Chuck Pagano and former general manager Ryan Grigson. General manager Chris Ballard is aiming to retool the roster, but the status of Andrew Luck hangs over the entire franchise. Luck missed all of 2017 with a lingering shoulder injury, and his health is still a major question mark. The Colts have holes all over the team, particularly on defense.
Complicating matters further is that Reich won’t be picking his own coaching staff, since the handful of assistants McDaniels brought in will stay under contract even after he bailed. Reich will have an uphill battle in his first head-coaching gig, but the hope is that he can bring some stability to an organization that’s been kind of a mess for a while now.