Why Chuck Pagano Is Hardly an Upgrade over Former Colts Coach Jim Caldwell

The Indianapolis Colts have reportedly hired Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano as the team's new head coach. While Pagano did some solid things with the Baltimore Ravens defense this season, he only has one year of experience as a high-level coordinator and I don't really see how this is much of an upgrade over recently-fired head coach Jim Caldwell.

Pagano has mostly coached defensive backs during his career, except for stops as a defensive coordinator at UNLV in 1991, North Carolina in 2007 and this past season with the Ravens. 

Personally, I think the Colts could have gone after a much bigger fish, but for some reason they settled on interviewing guys like Jim Tressel, Brad Childress and Pagano.

The 51-year-old coordinator is certainly an intriguing guy if you think someone with no head coaching experience is the right choice, but I certainly believe Indianapolis could have snared a bigger name if they had gotten into the hiring game earlier in the process.

Instead, they kept their former head coach around until after new general manager Ryan Grigson was brought on board, despite the fact that everyone knew Caldwell would be fired after a 2-14 season.

Colts fans will likely be pleased that Pagano is a defensive-minded guy whose specialty is putting together outstanding secondaries. The problem I have is that he has zero experience as a head guy or in building a team. He will have a serious rebuilding project on his hands in Indianapolis and will be tested very early. 

If Colts fans really believe in Pagano they will have to have a ton of patience in him, since he's sure to make mistakes along the way. I'm not sure another bad season will sit well in Indianapolis.