Zak Keefer

zak.keefer@indystar.com

INDIANAPOLIS — Jim Irsay arrived at work on the morning of Jan. 4 — the NFL’s annual firing frenzy known as Black Monday — unsure if he’d be firing Chuck Pagano and Ryan Grigson by night’s end.

The Indianapolis Colts owner admitted Tuesday that he was seriously contemplating the franchise’s second reset in four years.

On hand for a charity golf event at the team complex five days before the 2016 season opener, Irsay expounded for the first time what went on behind the scenes that day. His decision to not only retain Pagano as his head coach and Grigson as his general manager but extend both was among the biggest stunners of the NFL offseason.

To hear Irsay tell it Tuesday, the decision was never a sure thing. It came “organically,” he explained, only after hours of meetings between Grigson and Pagano, meetings in which they hashed out the well-documented issues that bubbled to the surface last fall.

Irsay detailed a 90-minute, one-on-one meeting between Pagano and Grigson this way: “Let me tell ya — tears fell, voices were raised, but they both came out different people.”

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What Irsay sought was assurance from both that they could continue on together. In other words: Figure this out, or you both could be out of a job.

Each had their frustrations. Also hovering over the meetings was the fact that Pagano’s contract was up, while Grigson’s had just a year remaining. So the owner met with the coach; the owner met with the general manager; the owner met with them together.

Irsay insists, nine months later, that he didn’t know if he’d have to begin a coaching search the following morning.

“There are times, and this is one of them, where you go into it, and people think from the outside that someone knows what’s going to happen, (that) they’re just not telling us, meaning the public and the media,” Irsay said. “Not true. Not true. Sometimes, the decision-maker, which is the owner in this case, you have to be able to hear, and hear the things at the right moment, at the bewitching hour, and then you will make that decision at that flashpoint moment in the 11th hour. That’s the truth. It’s not always pre-decided. Sometimes it is. A lot of times it is. But in this case it wasn’t.

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“This case organically came together. It showed me that the football gods, whatever you want to call it, the powers that be, created this correct synergy that said, ‘OK, Ryan Grigson and Chuck Pagano, they are going to be our guys going forward and there is no question about it.’ ”

When Irsay met with Pagano and Grigson separately after the 90-minute coach-general manager session, both insisted the other return in the same capacity. That’s when Irsay was sold. He gave Pagano a four-year extension and extended Grigson through 2019.

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“There was no question that going into it … I had to vet it through and hear it thoroughly where we were at,” Irsay said. “Once I heard that, you have to understand this, both men, both men insisted upon the other man to be hitched to them. Not at my demand, by any stretch. At their request. Strong request.”

Irsay also said that he met with star quarterback Andrew Luck following the final game of the season to gauge his thoughts on the situation.

The owner remains confident he made the right call, noting multiple NFL teams reached out to him shortly after the decision to inform him that Pagano would’ve been the No. 1 coach on their list they would’ve targeted if he’d been let go.

The team called a 10:30 p.m. news conference that night; Irsay, Pagano and Grigson smiled all the way through. Pagano even mentioned at one point: “I’ve had a lot of great days in my life, but none better than today. This is absolutely the best day of my life.”

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Has there been progress? Irsay believes so. He sees it when Grigson and Pagano are making the types of personnel decisions they wrestled with so frequently over the years — whom to start, whom to draft, etc.

“I believe Ryan has decided — without me forcing — to let Chuck have his way on many things he wants,” Irsay said. “And Chuck, on the opposite side of the coin, respects Ryan’s vision and Ryan’s point of view. We have had (players) that haven’t been able to make it here.”

Irsay knows it was a gamble, among the biggest of his tenure as owner. He believes the Colts are headed for a third “gilded era,” with Luck following in the footsteps of legends Johnny Unitas and Peyton Manning. And he believes the events of Jan. 4 have drawn his coach and general manager closer than they’ve been in their five years together.

“Good working relationship, both have matured,” Irsay said. “I’m banking in the investment of what I put into Chuck Pagano and Ryan Grigson. There’s been a lot of time, money and many hours of investment and conversations and mentoring and talking to these guys, and that’s what I’m banking on. … Ryan and Chuck are closer than ever and more understanding of each other’s positions than ever. They’re giving each other more room to operate. It’s a great working relationship and yes, it’s grown.”

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