One of the most controversial head coaching hires in NFL history has made a surprising comeback on ESPN’s Get Up.
The show kicked off with host Mike Greenberg in the green room, requesting something special from panelists Dan Graziano, Dominique Foxworth, and Robert Griffin III to start things off. Griffin jokingly suggested pancakes, and to everyone’s excitement, Jeff Saturday burst through the door with a plate full of them.
Get Up welcomes back Jeff Saturday to ESPN after his brief tenure as Head Coach of the Indianapolis Colts. pic.twitter.com/FRXnbY1MFA
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 19, 2023
This marks Saturday’s first appearance on Get Up since his controversial time as the interim head coach for the Indianapolis Colts last season.
Following a disappointing 3-5-1 start, Colts owner Jim Irsay made the unexpected decision to hire Saturday, who had no prior NFL coaching experience and was working as an ESPN analyst at the time.
While Saturday had been well-liked as an analyst, particularly for his “pancake” awards celebrating impressive offensive line plays, his hiring in Indianapolis faced significant criticism.
Hall of Fame left tackle and NFL Network analyst Joe Thomas called it “the most egregious thing I can ever remember happening in the NFL,” and Hall of Fame head coach and CBS analyst Bill Cowher also expressed doubts about the move. Additionally, his hiring raised questions about how his former ESPN colleagues would cover him.
Although Saturday managed to win his first game as the Colts’ interim coach, the team went on to lose their remaining seven games in the 2022 season. As a result, he was not retained by the team after the season ended.
However, rumors of a potential return to ESPN persisted, and now, on Tuesday morning, those rumors became reality.
