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After the great year that Bruce Arians had a year ago leading both the Colts offense and their team as a whole, it seemed almost inevitable that he would be with the team in 2013. And, indeed, he won't be. Arians is in Arizona as the new head coach of the Cardinals - a team that has a lot of work to do but that now has a very capable coach to do it.
For the Colts, however, there were serious questions. Who would lead the offense in Andrew Luck's second year? The answer to that would have a huge impact on his development.
Well, good for Luck and luckily for the Colts, they got a guy who already is very familiar with Luck in his former Stanford offensive coordinator (or the "Andrew Luck director of offense"), Pep Hamilton. Hamilton had interviewed for the Jets offensive coordinator position and the Oregon head coach position this offseason before being hired by the Colts.
At the time, people loved the move. Here are just a few of the numerous tweets about the great hire by the Colts, from back at the time:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Pep Hamilton would be a slam dunk hire for the Colts. History with Luck, creative play-caller, relates to players. Would be a great fit.</p>— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) <a href="https://twitter.com/MoveTheSticks/statuses/292357940826996738">January 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>I like the move by the Colts to sign DHB... Luck has a nice mix of weapons. New OC Pep Hamilton can get creative with packages.</p>— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) <a href="https://twitter.com/MoveTheSticks/statuses/318901942455783428">April 2, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Hey Colts fans: Pep Hamilton is a rock star coach. W/Pep & Clyde Christensen running O the Colts will continue gr8 offensive tradition</p>— Trent Dilfer (@TDESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/TDESPN/statuses/292460379295076353">January 19, 2013</a></blockquote>
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I loved the move as well, calling it a "tremendous hire" and saying that:
There weren’t many guys the Colts could have brought in that would have left me feeling great about where they stood. They found one of those guys. This was absolutely the right move and one that figures to greatly help the Colts’ offense and their young superstar quarterback, Andrew Luck.
As the offseason has gone on, those feelings have remained the same as we have tried to figure out just what exactly his offense would look like. But people aren't done raving about the Colts' young offensive coordinator. No way. Just recently, a few people have chimed in on Pep Hamilton:
Greg Gabriel of the National Football Post listed Hamilton as one of the NFL's top assistant coaches:
Pep Hamilton – Indianapolis
This is Hamilton’s first year as an offensive coordinator in the NFL but not his first year coaching in the NFL. He spent a total of nine years in the NFL as a quality control and position coach with the Jets, 49ers and Bears. In 2010 he went to Stanford as the quarterbacks coach and became its offensive coordinator in 2011. With Andrew Luck as his QB in 2011 he had one of the top offenses in college football. In Indianapolis Hamilton gets reunited with Luck and I’m sure we will see the Colts have a dangerous high-scoring offense.
Hamilton is one of the bright young coaches in the league. He is very intelligent, pays attention to detail and is an excellent teacher. Give Pep two years with the Colts and I’m sure we will see him as the "hot" head coaching candidate after the 2014 season.
ESPN's Herm Edwards listed 5 up and coming coaches that he really likes in the NFL, and Hamilton was one of them (so was Chuck Pagano):
Hamilton: “Pep should continue to run a lot of two-tight end sets, with some added protection to keep Luck upright. Don't be surprised if Pep has a head coaching job in a couple years.”
And Pete Prisco of CBS listed Pep Hamilton as one of the NFL's top assistant coaches under the age 40:
Pep Hamilton, offensive coordinator, Colts
This 38-year-old spent the past two seasons running the offense for the Stanford Cardinal, which means he will reunite with Andrew Luck in Indianapolis. Hamilton has worked in the NFL with the Bears, 49ers and Jets. He is a former college quarterback at Howard and has also coached receivers in his career. He will bring a power running game to the Colts, which they needed last year. Think Stanford with Luck at quarterback.
That's just a bit of what some of the national media is saying about the Colts' new offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. I'm excited as well, and with training camp and preseason coming up, we will get to see a bit more of what to expect from his offense.
With a very good quarterback already in place, there's no telling how many more training camps Hamilton will actually be with the Colts for - in a few years, he could very well be a very hot head coaching candidate.
This year, however, he will definitely be with the Colts during camp and his offense will be something really interesting to watch. I'm excited and I like Hamilton, and from the sound of it, so does pretty much everyone else.