kindee1688 Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steiken has been hired by the Indianapolis Colts as their new head coach on a six-year deal. kindee1688

The Indianapolis Colts have named 37-year-old Shane Steiken as the 22nd head coach in the franchise’s 70-year history after reaching an agreement on a six-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator, NFL Network reported Tuesday. 

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The Colts have chosen Steiken, the Eagles’ offensive coordinator, to be their new head coach after firing Frank Reich in the middle of last season after two years as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator until he was brought in by Indy in 2018. The Colts hired Jeff Saturday as interim head coach through the end of the season, and he was one of the candidates interviewed for the job in a second round before Steiken took over. 

Steiken began his NFL career with the San Diego Chargers as a defensive assistant (2011-12) before moving on to become the Cleveland Browns’ offensive quality control coach (2013). He returned to the same position with the Chargers (2014-15) and became the Lightning’s quarterbacks coach (2016-19), serving as interim head coach in 2019.

The Chargers then hired Steiken as offensive coordinator (2020) before moving to the Eagles for the 2021-2022 season, where he was brought in by the Colts on a six-year deal after helping Philadelphia reach Super Bowl 57. 

‘Our culture will be built on four pillars,’ Steiken said. ‘First of all, character. Character is very important to me. We want to treat people with respect, and we want to feed the positive and eliminate the negative.’

‘The second is preparation. I really believe this. The separation of this league is preparation. The way we prepare as a football team and as an organization, from Monday to Saturday, will ultimately determine the outcome of the football game. Will it guarantee us victory now? No, but it will give us a fighting chance. I promise you that.’

‘Number three is consistency. We have to be consistent and that starts with us as coaches consistently sending our message to the players and telling them exactly how we want it to look and what we want it to be.’

“Number four is relentless. We have to be relentless in our pursuit of the best. The best players, the best coaches I’ve ever worked with have always been passionate about their craft, and that’s the run we want to build here, and that’s what we want to achieve,” Steichen said.

The Colts brought in a new head coach to help solve the problem of finding a solid replacement for Andrew Luck after his retirement in 2019, when the Indy team went 31-34 and made the playoffs just once after Luck’s departure. 

“Shane has a lot of magic on offense that’s hard to find in this league,” Colts owner Jim Irsay said. “The offense, I think, is a little bit more complex and takes longer to develop, knowing that we’re going to have to develop a young quarterback. That’s a big factor, but he’s got to show leadership. He’s got to show he’s got character, and that kid showed that in his interview.”

Steiken has helped develop a few standout young quarterbacks over the course of his 11-year NFL coaching career, having helped Justin Herbert complete 396 passes, score 31 touchdowns and average 289.1 yards per game, setting an all-time rookie season record in 2020.

The 37-year-old coach also helped develop Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who totaled 3,928 yards (3,144 passing, 784 rushing) and produced the league’s No. 1 rushing game and a playoff appearance in his first year in Philadelphia. 

The Colts hold the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft, which has the potential to select one of this year’s top quarterbacks in Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Alabama’s Bryce Young or Kentucky’s Will Lewis.