Report: Jim Harbaugh, Nick Saban have "no interest" in Colts' head coaching job

There is a lot of speculation on the job status of Colts general manager Ryan Grigson and head coach Chuck Pagano, but what seems all but certain is that Pagano will not be coaching the team next year.  The question, then, moves to who will replace him as the head coach of the Colts.

It is expected that owner Jim Irsay will want a big-name hire to come in and coach his franchise, which automatically leads to a lot of different names being suggested.  Two of the common ones that we have heard in recent months are Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and Alabama head coach Nick Saban.  According to WTHR's Dave Calabro, however, neither Harbaugh nor Saban have interest in the Colts' job:

FYI...I have been told by reliable folks that Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban have no interest in the #colts #WTHR

— dave calabro (@calabro13sports) December 31, 2015

It should come as no surprise that neither one of them are interested, particularly Harbaugh.  The connections are obvious: he coached Andrew Luck at Stanford, he is a huge name in the coaching world who has succeeded both in the NFL and in college, and he is familiar with the Colts after playing quarterback for them in the 1990s (he's actually in the Colts' Ring of Honor).  But with all of that said, he compiled a 9-3 record in his first season at his alma mater Michigan this year, and he recently called it the most enjoyable year he's had in football.  It's hard seeing a scenario in which he would choose to leave that to come to the Colts, even if it meant a return to the NFL and coaching Andrew Luck.

There has been more speculation on Saban and whether or not he would stay at Alabama, and I do think that it makes more sense for him to leave than for Harbaugh - but that doesn't mean he will.  He has gone 98-18 in nine years at Alabama, winning three National Championships.  He has his team in the College Football Playoff again this year looking for another national title, so with as much success as he's having, he has a pretty good job.  At the same time, there's a ton of pressure to succeed at Alabama and he is on record previously as attributing his failure in the NFL to not having a franchise quarterback, so if he wanted to return to the pros again, the Colts job would likely make sense for him to consider.

It's still too early to tell who the Colts will get as their head coach to replace Chuck Pagano (he's not even officially gone yet), but according to WTHR's Dave Calabro, it likely won't be either Jim Harbaugh or Nick Saban, as neither have interest in the Colts' job.