Tom Moore Gone From Colts

I saw this little write-up from ESPN's Paul Kuharsky (FanPosted by redmid17 here), and, yeah, Tom Moore is no longer a Colts employee, folks.

As is typical with the Colts, employees and staff like Moore are often let go with little fanfare. It was a similar case with Gene Huey, the longtime runningbacks coach. Like Huey, Moore also deserves to go in the team's ring of honor, and if there is ever to be a Hall of Fame for assistant coaches, that hall should be named after Tom Moore. He is arguably the greatest assistant coach to ever walk a sideline.

It was my pleasure to meet Tom Moore at Super Bowl 44 in Miami back in 2010. He was a delight to talk to, and we spoke at length about life, football, and the journey one takes through both. Back then, it was evident that he was slowly getting phased out of the coaching ring by Jim Caldwell, and that Clyde Christensen moving up to take his place. I asked him about wanting to keep coaching even though, quite honestly, the man had nothing left to prove:

BBS: What's keeping you going? Howard Mudd is retiring, but you're not. In fact, you said that you have more energy now than you've ever had. What's keeping you so energized?

TM (smiles): I don’t know, but I sure thank the lord for giving it to me. (We laugh) I don’t know. It’s the way I am. That’s what keeps you going. Like my wife, she kind of kids me and she says, You're afraid to retire, aren’t you? I says, you may be right.

BBS: Wow.

TM: And, I don’t know. There's so much in life that the last thing I want to do is just sit and not do anything. This [coaching football] is fun.

Now, it seems Tom will have time to, I guess, sit around and do nothing. Just like with the Gene Huey firing, this is a sad. It's also a turning of the page. Without Tom Moore, there is no Peyton Manning. There is no 2006 championship. Moore is just as important to the sustained success of this franchise as Bill Polian, Jim Irsay, Peyton Manning, Dwight Freeney, and Tony Dungy.

I hope, unlike how they handled Gene Huey, the Colts give Tom a respectful send-off. Bring him back one day, pop his mug up on the jumbo-screen at Lucas Oil during the game, and let the fans cheer him. He deserves that.