DMac: McDaniels ‘did Colts a favor,’ ‘ridiculous’ to call Indy a victim
Feb 10, 2018, 5:00 PM
During a press conference on Wednesday, one originally scheduled as the unveiling of Indianapolis’ new head coach Josh McDaniels, Colts general manager Chris Ballard said sometimes “things work out for a reason.”
Less than 24 hours previous to Ballard’s remarks, he received a call from the Patriots offensive coordinator informing him and the Colts he’d be staying in New England instead of taking the Indianapolis head coaching job.
It was a surprise, and a disappointment, Ballard said. So surprising that the team had issued a series of tweets welcoming McDaniels to Indianapolis, along with issuing a press release regarding media availability for the would-be new coach.
“I was very confident that a deal was in place and that we were going to move forward be having a press conference today at 3:30 p.m.,” Ballard said. “That’s on me.”
But, as Ballard said, being the “first choice” doesn’t necessarily make you the right choice.
“Let me make this clear, I want, and we want as an organization, a head coach that wants to be all in,” Ballard said. “We’ve got work to do. I’ve not once hidden that. We have work to do, and I want somebody that’s 100 percent committed to partnering with us and getting that work done.”
And on Thursday, “The Drive” co-host DMac argued that, yes, McDaniels may come off as a “jerk,” but he actually did Indianapolis a favor.
“Why would you want a head coach who has reservations about doing what he’s doing?” DMac said. “Why would you be in a marriage, no matter where you are in the ceremony, if the other person just isn’t all that into it.”
However, DMac said if anyone’s to blame in this situation, he blames the Colts more than McDaniels.
“To think that Indy is some sort of victim in this is ridiculous,” DMac said.
Longtime Indianapolis sports columnist Bob Kravitz, who joined “The Drive” on Thursday as well, disagreed. While Indianapolis had some culpability in this and had “egg on their face,” he said, the Colts “got hosed.”
“If we’re apportioning blame, 98 percent of this goes to Josh McDaniels,” Kravitz said.
In the end, Ballard indicated no hard feelings, wishing McDaniels the best of luck moving forward.
“People make decisions. People tell people no every day. They tell people no every day,” Ballard said. “And that’s his prerogative, and that’s his choice. He chose the path. He chose not to be in Indianapolis Colt. That’s OK. We’ll move forward.”
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
