Jim Irsay's Legacy and the Future of the Colts Leadership

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00:00We start with the passing of Jim Irsay.

00:02Now, I've already mentioned all of his problems to the audience earlier

00:06that are well-documented.

00:10The guy, like, he partied like a rock star his whole life,

00:13had problems with booze and drugs, and is gone at 65.

00:18A lot of people thought he was, like, 80, but he wasn't.

00:21I remember how much they hated his dad, the fans.

00:24And then, because I grew up with his dad owning the team,

00:28and then he owned the team, and I thought,

00:30obviously he's done a million good things,

00:32he's done plenty of bad things,

00:34but I guess the moral of the story is

00:36the daughters are going to take over the Colts now.

00:40Is that about right?

00:42Yeah, the belief is Carly,

00:45who has been very involved with the Colts for a number of years,

00:49will be the one that will take over for a large majority of it,

00:52but other family members will help out.

00:54It's set up pretty well.

00:55Pete Ward, the president, who does a good job.

00:57Obviously, they're set up in the personnel department with Chris Ballard.

01:01You know, Scott, most people don't know this,

01:03unless you're a diehard Colts fan.

01:04Well, at one point, Jim Merce was their general manager before Bill Pullian.

01:09As a matter of fact, Jim was very involved in personnel.

01:13People forget.

01:13He knows personnel.

01:15He didn't know it,

01:15but he would take a big step back over the last 10 years.

01:19And you got to give him credit when he hired Tony Dungy coming over from the Buccaneers.

01:24What a great hiring that was.

01:26Obviously, Bill Pullian brought them that Super Bowl, which is a big thing.

01:29But you're right.

01:30For those of you, you and I, who are a little bit over 50 years old,

01:34Jim's dad, Bob Ursae, moved the team.

01:37Robert Ursae moved the team from Baltimore to Indy.

01:40It was a big deal in 1985.

01:42That's why John Elway wanted no part, wanted absolutely no part of the Colts.

01:47Ernie Corsi, of course, as we know,

01:49was the former Giants general manager who won a Super Bowl there.

01:53But back at that point in the early 80s,

01:56Ernie Corsi was still going to draft Elway.

01:58He did.

01:59But it was Bob Ursae who actually was the one who traded John Elway to Denver.

02:04He actually, he left in the middle of the night.

02:07Fans hated him.

02:09Certainly in Baltimore, they hate him.

02:11And then, but, you know, Jim did a lot.

02:15He won a Super Bowl with all the names that you just said.

02:17So he would, you know, let's just face facts.

02:20He dies a happy man that he got to hold that Lombardi trophy is all that matters.

02:24How do you think now she's been in the organization?

02:28And I have to ask you, like, the consequence of dealing with Ballard.

02:33Now, the Ballard, or Jim Ursae love Ballard.

02:36I mean, I think Ballard should have been fired five times.

02:39I mean, they have been a mess for a long time.

02:42Let's face facts.

02:43But he stood by Ballard.

02:44Now he's gone and Ballard's still there.

02:47Will she keep that relationship going?

02:51And will he power trip her now that the dad's gone?

02:54Or will he be respectful and do it like he's always done it?

02:57Well, a couple things.

02:58Remember, Jim's passing was sudden.

03:00It was not expected.

03:02And we just had the owners' meetings yesterday, which we'll talk about later.

03:04So it's hard to know exactly what she'll want to do with Ballard after this coming season.

03:10Ballard was able to draft Anthony Richardson to this point.

03:13It hasn't worked out.

03:14That's why they brought in Daniel Jones to compete against him.

03:17So that's a good question, Scott.

03:19Remember, she has been with the football team.

03:20So she knows what's going on.

03:22But it's one thing to know what's going on, but it's another to have a football background

03:26to properly evaluate the football operation.

03:29That's something that's a good point you bring up.

03:31She's going to have to do.

03:32It's one of the biggest challenges of what she'll be having going forward is that.

03:39Also setting up who else will be involved from her family.

03:42And then over a number of years, does she want to sell the team?

03:45I'd be surprised if she wanted to based on everything I've heard about her.

03:48She's deeply involved with the club.

03:50So there's nothing out there would suggest that she's going to sell or the family's going

03:54to sell.

03:54So let's see what happens here.

03:56But this is a huge year for Ballard because you're right.

03:59Jim Mercer had Chris Ballard's back after all the struggles.

04:02They've been very mediocre with Ballard.

04:03They've had some successes.

04:05They've made the playoffs, but they haven't really gone anywhere.

04:07It's really Andrew Luck's surprise retirement that caught Ballard and everybody by surprise.

04:14And he's just not gotten the quarterback position, right?

04:16And with Richardson, Richardson hasn't done anything, quite frankly, other than a

04:20smattering of a couple of good games, there's a reason why they're not having the job at

04:24this point.

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