Jim Caldwell’s rise to head coach of the Colts came slowly and quietly. After serving as head coach at Wake Forest from 1993 to 2000 with a very unremarkable record of 26-63 he joined up with Tony Dungy in his final year in Tampa as quarterback coach where Brad Johnson had a record setting year at QB.
When Dungy made the move to Indianapolis, Caldwell tagged along and helped guide Peyton Manning and the Colts offense. While the face of the offense as far as coaching was concerned, has been Tom Moore for the past 12 seasons, Caldwell, quietly worked behind the scenes with Manning and the receiving corps.
While it was no real surprise that he was named to replace Dungy when the veteran coach decided to retire after last season, a glance at his only other head coaching stint back at Wake Forest had a lot of people wondering just what Jim Irsay was thinking when he made the announcement last January 21st.
But Caldwell has been just what he’s always been, a quiet worker who doesn’t seek the limelight. He’s been decisive, cutting lose defensive coordinator Ron Meeks and replacing him with Larry Coyer and a more aggressive style. Taking the heat for pulling players against the Jets when his team was 14-0, saying the goal is to win the Super Bowl and not go unbeaten.
As a coach, he’s not an observer on a high tower, he’s a guy who talks to his players individually and gets to know them. By doing so he says he has a better understanding of what they can and can’t do for their team at any particular time. It’s probably why he stepped off the gas against the Jets, he felt his team needed some rest for the stretch run.
And now they’re in Miami with a chance at another Super Bowl title in his rookie season. Others may be surprised, but I think Caldwell is looking around and saying to himself, this is where I expected to be.
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