Ch-Ch-Changes

The Colts have officially announced their long-anticipated coaching staff changes.

Clyde Christensen (pictured) finally gets his shot at offensive coordinator, replacing Tom Moore. Christensen has been on the Colts staff since Tony Dungy was hired in 2002, mostly as receivers coach, and was the assistant head coach this past season. His last gig as OC came under Dungy in Tampa Bay in 2001.

Continuing the trend of promoting from within, Pete Metzelaars will take over the offensive line for the retired Howard Mudd. The Wabash grad played under current Ball State head coach Stan Parrish, and spent 16 seasons in the league as a player before joining the Colts staff full-time in 2004.

If you’re a college football fan, two familiar names will fill the vacancies left by Christensen and Metzelaars. Ron Turner, who spent eight seasons as head coach at Illinois, will be the Colts’ new receivers coach. Turner seems to be a bit overqualified for the job, considering that he spent two stints as offensive coordinator of the Bears (1993-96, 2005-09). Another successful college coach, Ron Prince, will be the new assistant offensive line coach. Prince has no NFL experience but spent time at Kansas State (head coach 2006-08), and Virginia (offensive coordinator 2001-05) in the college ranks. Before being bumped to OC with the Cavaliers, Turner spent the previous eight seasons as offensive line coach at Alabama A&M, South Carolina State, James Madison, and Cornell.

All of this news pales in comparison to the promotion of Jim Bob Cooter (giggle) to offensive assistant. Cooter was a backup quarterback at Tennessee during his college days before joining the Colts’ staff last season (why didn’t anyone tell me that Jim Bob Cooter was with the team?) As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk said earlier today, Cooter has a bit of a checkered past. At UT, he was arrested for a DUI in 2006.  Also, he was facing aggravated burglary charges after climbing into a window and jumping into bed with a woman last summer.

Everyone deserves a second chance, but maybe Cooter’s promotion will make Colts’ fans cool it with the whole “classier than thou” attitude. With huge rosters and coaching staffs, you’re bound to find coaches/players that have had legal trouble at some point on every single NFL team.  Let’s hope Cooter’s past transgressions are behind him.

But, getting back to the point, the most interesting news comes from Phil Richards of the Star. He is reporting that Tom Moore will be retained as senior offensive assistant. I’m assuming this may be more of an “advisor” role than a day-to-day task. It’s smart for the Colts to keep Moore in the family to help with the development of Christensen.