The call came out of nowhere, and it came from a man Chris Strausser had never talked to in his life. Frank Reich was on the line, looking for a new offensive line coach. Strausser figured he’d be honest with him.

“I’m not gonna lobby for this job,” he told Reich. “I’m not gonna have 20 guys call you (on my behalf).”

Reich was good with that. The Indianapolis Colts’ head coach had waited just 72 hours after the team’s playoff exit to fire the o-line coach he’d inherited last February, Dave DeGuglielmo, following a season in which DeGuglielmo dramatically reshaped what had long been one of the league’s worst units. The reason? Reich wanted his own man. He just didn’t know who that man was.

Hence the cold call to Strausser, a longtime college assistant who’d spent almost three decades in the college ranks before jumping to the NFL just two years ago. Reich had been doing his research, and Strausser’s body of work, from Boise State to the University of Washington to the Denver Broncos, stood out. So did his philosophy. Reich wanted to know more. He asked Strausser to come in for an interview.

They talked for six hours without breaking once.

“A meat grinder,” Strausser remembers. “As tough an interview as I’ve ever been through ... I left that thing exhausted.”

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And he left the Colts’ offensive staff – Reich, coordinator Nick Sirianni, various position coaches – with an impression strong enough for him to land one of the most coveted assistant coaching openings in the NFL this winter. Reich had initially reached out to legendary offensive line sage Howard Mudd for his opinion of Strausser, whom Mudd has gotten to know in recent years. Mudd raved about him.

After sitting down with Strausser the first time, Reich called Mudd back.

“Howard, he’s way better than you said he was,” Reich told him.

That’s Strausser’s road to Indianapolis: unintentional, unexpected, unaided by a connection to Reich from a previous coaching stop. Strausser earned the right to coach Quenton Nelson, Ryan Kelly, Braden Smith and the offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks in football last season the old-fashioned way. He let his work speak for itself. That’s how you land a job you never even thought you were a candidate for.

“I never prided myself in being a great job-chaser,” Strausser says. “I didn’t on this one as well.”

Even Mudd’s surprise return to the organization after a decade away had no impact on Strausser’s hiring. That was Reich’s idea. “It wasn’t my deal at all,” Strausser said, before adding one thing. “I’m extremely blessed to have Howard Mudd here helping me out.”

Their relationship goes back to Seattle, where Strausser coached the Huskies’ offensive line and where Mudd was living a blissful life of retirement, content to ride his motorcycle and rest on the laurels of a 40-year career in pro football as a player and coach. Strausser, mindful that one of the greatest offensive line minds in history lived mere minutes from campus, called Mudd out of the blue one day, hoping to pick his brain. A friendship formed.

“You don’t know me,” Strausser told Mudd, before introducing himself. “I want what you do.”

In other words: I wanna coach the way you coach.

Mudd, 77, laughed at the recollection Tuesday. “If you (know) Chris, that’s kind of bold, in a way, for him.”

Strausser invited Moore to his office, then to a meeting with his entire offensive line. He introduced Mudd to the room, then said this: “This guy is going to show you how we’re going to pass-protect.” Then Strausser stunned Mudd. He sat down and gave him the floor.

Mudd was teaching again. Pretty soon, he was running the Husky linemen through drills in his backyard. The two coaches have talked nearly every day for three years.

‘That speaks volumes for how comfortable he is with himself and what he was doing,” Mudd says.

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It’ll be Strausser’s show in Indianapolis – Mudd has signed on as a senior offensive assistant, lured back to Indianapolis by a very convincing sales pitch from Reich and the franchise’s 2018 revival. In his room, Strausser will work with a unit that returns all five starters from last season, a first for the Colts in at least nine years: Anthony Castonzo at left tackle, Nelson at left guard, Kelly at center, newly re-signed Mark Glowinski at right guard and Smith at right tackle.

His job? Take a group that became one of the best in football in 2018 and make them better in 2019.

“There’s a bunch of guys in that room who like to finish blocks,” Strausser said. “There’s a bunch of guys in that room who like to cover down. There’s a bunch of guys in that room who care about picking the ballcarrier up ... just the way they attack the game is what me impressed the most on film.”

He said Tuesday he’s spoken with each lineman currently on the roster, either in person at the team’s West 56th Street facility or via phone. It was Nelson’s comments, according to Mudd, that jumped out.

“I happened to be in the room,” Mudd recalled, “and (Nelson) was saying, ‘I really feel like my technique has slipped, and I really don’t want that to happen. I was coached in college a certain way,’ ... and he wants to be coached that way. He wants to be better. That’s not, gee coach, I want you to hear what I think you want to hear. He said that because he believes that.”

Nelson, remember, played every snap in 2018 and was first-team All-Pro.

“He’s not about blocking,” Strausser said. “He’s about finishing the block.”

That’s what makes Nelson different. And that’s what, in part at least, made the Colts’ o-line different in 2018. Chris Strausser didn’t go chasing this job, but it came to him anyway.

The work starts soon.

Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.