Tom Brady has refused to close the door on potentially becoming an NFL head coach after watching Jeff Saturday lead the Indianapolis Colts to victory on his coaching debut.
Last week, the Colts fired long-time coach Frank Reich and surprisingly hired ESPN analyst - and former Colts center - Saturday as their interim head coach to much uproar. Considering Saturday has no head coaching experience at any level, many have slammed the decision to hire the 47-year-old.
Many have criticised Colts owner Jim Irsay’s decision to bring Saturday in - and others aren’t happy Saturday accepted the job. He played for the Colts for 13 seasons, winning a Super Bowl while being named to four All-Pro teams before he retired after spending the 2012 season with the Green Bay Packers.
On his coaching debut, Saturday led the Colts to a dramatic 25-20 victory over the struggling Las Vegas Raiders. Saturday decided to bring veteran quarterback Matt Ryan back from exile to lead the Colts to the win, leaving them with a 4-5-1 record while the Raiders sunk to 2-7.
Saturday’s hire has been heavily criticised by figures within the game, including legendary coach Bill Cowher. However, Saturday has insisted he hopes it will create other opportunities for former players to lead teams despite their lack of experience.
On Brady’s Let’s Go! podcast, co-host Jim Gray asked Brady whether he could walk in and be a head coach tomorrow, utilising his 23 years as a leading quarterback. Brady highlighted the shared traits between players and coaches, but insisted the desire behind such a move would be imperative.
“I think that’s an interesting question,” Brady said. “Obviously I have a lot of experience playing, I have a lot of knowledge and there’s, I’d say, a lot of capabilities to doing that. But the desire to do something like that is totally different. So I’ve enjoyed my abilities as a player and I think I’ve had so much intent and focus on being the best I could be as a player.
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“Being a good coach, you have to have a lot of similar traits to what you had as a player, which is preparation, discipline, leadership, work ethic. And if you can put all those things together, yeah, you can obviously be a good coach. And I think a lot of the great coaches in history have done that. I think being a great coach is the desire to be a great coach. You know, not whether a player can become a coach. I think having the knowledge to do football, but is this something that you’d want to do and enjoy in order to maximise and actualise your potential as a coach?
“Those are things for different people to answer. Some people love being in the arena and some people love talking about it. You know, it’s up for everyone’s desire to do what they want, but to have the opportunity to do it I think is pretty cool for former players as well.”
Earlier this year, FOX Sports announced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback would join the network as a leads analyst following his retirement. He will earn $37.5 million over a ten-year contract, so it remains to be seen whether Brady would be keen to coach at the highest level.
Brady’s Buccaneers are on a bye week, while Saturday’s Colts will hope to replicate their win when they face the 8-1 Philadelphia Eagles at Lucas Oil Stadium in Week 11 this Sunday.
