NFL Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian on Colts coaching search: ‘There is no profile’

INDIANAPOLIS -- What’s the first thing Bill Polian would do if he was the man charged with finding the next head coach of the Indianapolis Colts? He’d take a page out of the former coach’s playbook and slap on a pair of earmuffs and some blinders.

“Turn off the TV; turn off the radio; don’t read the newspapers, have the PR guy brief you on stuff you need to know and get on with your job of hiring the best guy for your franchise,” the Hall of Fame executive and Colts Ring of Honor member told IndyStar. “I could give a rip what the trend is in the league. I couldn’t care less what somebody else is doing. It only counts in terms of what you’re doing.

"You’re picking the best person for you, based on your parameters, based on your needs, based on what your blueprint is. Nothing else matters.”

Polian grows irritated every time he hears an NFL pundit advocate for one particular kind of coach versus another, like all successful coaches should fit into a mold. There is no mold, Polian asserts. Offensive-minded, defensive-minded, a first-time head coach or a retread, it can all work. He’d just as soon hire a 30-year-old special teams coordinator with five years of NFL coaching experience as he would a 65-year-old former head coach with 35 years experience if he thought they were the right fit for his team.

“There is no profile,” Polian stressed. “There are lots of different people who are successful, espousing lots of different approaches.”

Take his word for it. While Polian is largely recognized for his achievements as architect of some of the greatest teams in NFL history (1990s Bills, 2000s Colts) he also is an expert when it comes to the art of finding prosperous coaches. During his more than 30 years in the NFL, Polian was responsible for hiring a handful of successful coaches, highlighted by a pair of Pro Football Hall of Famers in Tony Dungy and Marv Levy.

That was no accident, Polian said. His success in hiring quality coaches is largely the result of a regimented process he discussed in detail with IndyStar. It’s a process he believes current Colts General Manager Chris Ballard is going through right now, and it all starts with a list.

The list is key, Polian said, because no general manager worth his salt starts the process of hiring a coach from scratch.

“(Former Giants GM and five-time NFL Executive of the Year) George Young told me many years ago … to at all times have a list in your left-hand drawer of five to eight guys you would consider as head coaching candidates,” Polian said. “Update it every year, because you never know what’s going to happen.

“Chris Ballard has that list in his drawer, and has had it since the time he took over. I’m sure of that.”

From there, Polian said, the interview process ensues. Each general manager has a certain way he likes to do things, but Polian said his preference while with the Colts was to conduct rigorous one-on-one interviews with each candidate at the team facility. No dinners, or casual settings, Polian said. Everything is done inside the football offices because “that’s where you’ll be 99 percent of the time.”

Polian’s interview agenda spans 14 pages and covers every detail you can imagine. From the big picture -- “What is your vision for this team?” -- to the nitty-gritty -- “How long do you plan on practicing the Wednesday before a Thursday preseason game.”

“When it’s done correctly, this is an in-depth, hardcore, Xs and Os personnel evaluation," Polian said. "You go over everything from practice philosophy, to organizational philosophy to administrative philosophy. You go into so much in-depth detail that frankly, it would bore most people.”

These interviews, as one might imagine, can take hours. Dungy told Polian that he remembers their 2002 interview lasting nine hours, while Polian said he thought it was more like five or six. Whatever the length, Polian said he was being as thorough as possible, though in that situation he might not have needed to be.

“As the saying goes, which is trite but true, he had me at hello,” Polian remembers. "Well, maybe not quite at hello. But the minute we discussed football philosophy, I knew exactly where we were going.”

Where he was going was on to the next stage of the interview process, which is reporting back to the owner, in this case, Jim Irsay. Polian said after every interview, he would brief Irsay so they could discuss the merits of each candidate. Back in 2002, Polian actually already had finished his first round of interviews before Dungy became available (he was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers). But normally, Polian said, what would have happened is that once he had finished the first round of interviews, he and Irsay would select the finalists and discuss whether they needed to bring them back for another round of interviews or simply offer the job to someone who blew them away.

In Dungy's case, Polian saw no need for a second round of interviews.

Ballard said that during both instances the Colts were looking to hire a new coach (2002 after firing Jim Mora and 2009 after Dungy retired), Irsay was an invaluable resource. Irsay is the most knowledgeable owner he has ever worked, Polian said, and might be the most knowledgeable owner in all of sports.

“Any discussions about coaching personnel and anything about the football team with him took 75 percent less time that it would with someone else who doesn’t have that the football background he does,” Polian said. “He always asked me a lot of great questions and forced me to think and come up with answers that made me come back and say, ‘You know what, your point is well taken. We should do something else.’ He’s different. He’s totally different. He’s got a breadth of football experience that very few owners brings to the table.”

Irsay’s role in the Colts’ current search process gives Polian confidence that the franchise he stills cares for will find the right man to lead them into the future. Well, that and his his faith in Ballard.

“He’s a dyed in the wool football person,” said Polian. “He’s not someone who came up via law school or something like that. He’s a detail person. He’s worked at every level of the game. He’s worked in every facet of the game. He knows exactly how he wants to proceed. He knows what his vision is and he knows and has a plan for winning championships. He’s the right guy for the job.”

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Follow IndyStar Sports reporter Jim Ayello on Twitter and Instagram: @jimayello.