Josh McDaniels backs out after Colts name him coach

Five weeks after the end of the regular season, the Indianapolis Colts find themselves in unprecedented territory: Spurned by the man they'd announced would become their head coach just hours earlier.

So much for Wednesday's introductory news conference.

In a stunning move, Josh McDaniels has decided not to become the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, instead choosing to remain in New England as the Patriots' offensive coordinator, a league source confirmed Tuesday evening. ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the news.

This comes only a few hours after the Colts had announced that McDaniels had come to terms with the team to succeed Chuck Pagano as head coach.

Earlier report

INDIANAPOLIS – It was finally official.

After weeks of waiting and tiptoeing around the worst-kept secret in the NFL, Josh McDaniels was named the next coach of the Indianapolis Colts on Tuesday. The prolonged wait – brought about because McDaniels’ former team, the New England Patriots, advanced to the Super Bowl – ended with the Colts tweeting the news.

Now, more than a month after former coach Chuck Pagano was dismissed, his successor is in place.



Insider: Icy Colts-Patriots relationship thaws under Chris Ballard

The Colts were expected to officially introduce McDaniels with a 4 p.m. news conference at Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday. Immediately after that, the work will begin in earnest. The Colts are coming off a 4-12 season that exposed so many of their flaws and led to Pagano’s firing.

McDaniels is being brought in to help turn things around. But that won’t be easy. He has a ton on his plate.

Here are three big questions McDaniels will face as he arrives in Indianapolis:

>> Can McDaniels change the culture?

Let’s get one thing straight: McDaniels is not Bill Belichick. That goes for both McDaniels’ on- and off-field demeanor. He’s certainly not as proven as Belichick as a coach. Then again, no one is. McDaniels is also much more conversational than the longtime Patriots head coach, who is rarely expansive with the media and often is curt and blunt, even with his players. McDaniels is described by most associated with the Patriots as someone who shows personality and is an intense competitor who loves game days.

But you don’t spend 14 seasons in Belichick’s shadow and not pick up something.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on how McDaniels carries himself. He doesn’t have Belichick’s resume, so he shouldn’t carry himself as such. However, McDaniels does need to address the Colts’ locker-room culture. This will be among his foremost challenges.

Doyel: The Colts are expected to hire Josh McDaniels ... why?

The problem isn’t that the Colts have bad apples as much as they just seem to have a lack of accountability. Yes, Pagano had his ways. You might say he didn’t exactly rule with an iron fist in his six seasons. He won a lot of games in spite of that, but McDaniels seems likely to lean more toward Belichick’s methods than Pagano’s.

The key will be putting that culture in place and getting players to embrace it and believe in it. When players return in April from their offseason breaks, McDaniels will need to win them over. He must first gain their trust before making the inevitable changes that are to come.

McDaniels has to tread lightly in the process. He has a reputation to live down, remember. His attitude rubbed some people in Denver the wrong way. He has to be savvy enough this time to not alienate his new players while also establishing firm expectations. No easy task.

>> How will McDaniels impact personnel?

General Manager Chris Ballard will retain his personnel control over the Colts’ roster. But he’s smart enough to know that he has to be flexible and give McDaniels what he needs and wants to succeed.

The player-acquisition process changes dramatically with the hiring of a new coach. There will be new schemes on offense and defense. And every coach has preferences, likes and dislikes in their ideal players.

We know the Patriots’ offensive system skews toward certain types of players. They have enjoyed a lot of success with versatile running backs they tend to use by committee. They also have a tendency to stockpile smallish, quicker receivers. Whether this becomes the norm in Indianapolis remains to be seen. In interviews preceding the Super Bowl, McDaniels was careful to point out that the system adjusts to the personnel and not the other way around.

On defense, the Colts will have to undergo changes, as well. They are expected to hire Cowboys linebackers coach Matt Eberflus as defensive coordinator and migrate to a 4-3 base scheme. How much that changes the current defensive personnel depends largely on the intricacies of the defense, which we can’t yet know.

What we do know is that personnel changes are coming.

>> Can McDaniels take Luck to the next level?

Ballard is fond of saying the Colts’ success does not depend solely on quarterback Andrew Luck. He’s right, of course. The Philadelphia Eagles underscored this notion by winning the Super Bowl with Nick Foles after Carson Wentz’s season-ending knee injury.

But let’s be honest: If the Colts are going to contend anytime soon, it’ll likely be because Luck is leading the charge.

McDaniels often is dismissed as being along for the ride with Tom Brady all these years in New England. But not even Brady agrees with that assessment. McDaniels has made Brady better and helped position him to have great success. Now, the question is whether McDaniels can replicate this with Luck.

Luck has been great, at times. His playoff run in 2014 was some of the best quarterbacking this franchise has seen outside of Peyton Manning. But consistency has been and will continue to be Luck’s greatest challenge. Can working with a noted quarterback expert like McDaniels help Luck reach the next level?

We’re about to find out.

Follow Colts Insider Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.

More: