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Jim Caldwell looks comfortable stepping into Colts’ head-coaching job

INDIANAPOLIS — The role reversal was striking. Jim Caldwell stood at the podium, speaking with passion about his team, the Indianapolis Colts.

Tony Dungy slipped in a side door and watched the news conference, almost unnoticed, and then left with a smile on his face.

The initial coaching transition is complete for the Colts. And it appears the standards of straight talk and humility with a touch of humor won’t change with Caldwell in charge.

“To the media, I have one goal today, and that is just to make certain that my first press conference isn’t immortalized as one of those beer commercials,” Caldwell said.

There wasn’t any tension to break, per se, but Caldwell’s joke brought laughter from reporters and Colts employees Tuesday at the Colts practice complex. If all goes as planned, Caldwell ought to be well-received by fans, too.

All bets are off if goes 7-9 next season, but X’s and O’s, W’s and L’s can wait. Caldwell’s chance to take over for the most successful coach in Colts history gives him a tremendous opportunity. The tone of his comments—strident, purposeful—showed he realizes it.

“(Dungy) certainly had a great impact on the community and is a tough act to follow,” Caldwell said. “But I’m not competing with Tony. We’re here to direct this program and get it going in the direction we think it should.”

Dungy’s retirement might have brought a more high-profile hire in other circumstances. Some Colts fans talked about whether the team needs a different voice, a different approach than the cerebral, even-keeled Dungy.

But owner Jim Irsay and president Bill Polian secured Caldwell last season when Dungy flirted with retirement. He has a four-year deal now.

“You are getting a guy who is an accomplished football coach,” Polian said. “He isn’t Tony Dungy light. He’s going to be Jim Caldwell.”

Caldwell doesn’t seem like a drastic departure. In fact, Caldwell reeled off a list of similarities between the two men, who have worked together for the last eight seasons.

Both are men of few words, both are men of Christian faith, both played in the Big Ten, both are from the Midwest. and both are family men, Caldwell said.

“I may be a bit more emotional than coach Dungy,” Caldwell said. “In eight years, I never heard him raise his voice one time. I might break that record.”

Irsay made a great point about Caldwell after the formal news conference ended. If Caldwell had been hired by another team looking for a coach, the media would highlight the successes of the high-powered Colts offense. It would highlight this relationship with Peyton Manning during Caldwell’s seven seasons of working with the Colts’ quarterbacks. It would give him credit as one of the Colts’ architects.

But because Caldwell’s been around the Colts, and assumes command through an office maneuver, most of us won’t dwell on how the Colts have succeeded and how Caldwell was a part of six consecutive 12-win seasons and one Super Bowl title.

Caldwell, who coached Wake Forest from 1993 to 2000, is now an eight-year NFL coaching veteran. As he ran down his list of influences, including Dennis Green, Bill McCartney, Howard Schnellenberger, Joe Paterno and Dungy, it made for an impressive encyclopedia of knowledge.

Dungy’s coaching tree (which includes Lovie Smith, Herm Edwards and Mike Tomlin) has proven fruitful, Rod Marinelli notwithstanding. Why shouldn’t Caldwell also excel with his chance?

Irsay believes Caldwell has the single attribute—strong leadership skills—that are needed to keep the Colts one of the most successful teams in the NFL.

He wouldn’t have hired him otherwise.

“With Jim at the controls, I feel we won’t miss a beat,” Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne said.

In the end, hiring Caldwell was about continuing the core style of the Colts, as established under Dungy. Caldwell said he doesn’t anticipate any “drastic” changes.

“There are going to be some changes,” he said. “Be leery of the individual that wants to change nothing and the individual that wants to change everything. We want to be somewhere in between.”

Now that Caldwell is fully in charge, let the tweaking begin.

The real pressure, still months away, is to make sure the same old winning continues.