Colts hire Brian Schottenheimer as quarterbacks coach

The Indianapolis Colts today announced that they have hired Brian Schottenheimer as their quarterbacks coach to replace Clyde Christensen, who was hired by the Miami Dolphins as their offensive coordinator.  The Colts also hired Shawn Terlecky as their defensive quality control coach.

Schottenheimer, the son of former NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer, has plenty of coaching experience, which seems to be something that the Colts value on their staff.  Offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski has been a head coach and offensive coordinator before, as has offensive line coach Joe Philbin.  Brian Schottenheimer has been an offensive coordinator before, as has wide receivers coach Jim Hostler and linebackers coach Jim Herrmann.  In other words, it seems like the Colts value guys who have experience being a coordinator before.  Schottenheimer was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Georgia in 2015, but before that he was at the NFL level as the offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams (2012-2014) and New York Jets (2006-2011).  Before he was a coordinator, he was the quarterbacks coach for the San Diego Chargers (2002-2005) and the Washington Redskins (2001), among other jobs.  His offenses, however, have had questionable success.  In nine seasons as an NFL coordinator, he has never had an offense finish in the top ten in total yards and only once has had an offense finish in the top ten in points scored.  His highest passing offense finished 13th in the league, while his passing yardage has ranked in the bottom half of the league in eight of his nine seasons as a coordinator.  None of that makes him a bad quarterbacks coach, but his production has been questionable.

Now, Schottenheimer is tasked with continuing the development of franchise quarterback Andrew Luck, who will have the second quarterbacks coach of his tenure in Indy with Christensen leaving.  In fact, in a matter of months Luck has seen the two coaches he was closest with leave, as Pep Hamilton was fired and Christensen has now taken a promotion with another team.  The hope is that Schottenheimer will be able to help Luck improve on some of the things he needs to work on, but it remains to be seen how well it will work.  At the very least, there's a good amount of skepticism that has come with this move.

As for Terlecky, he has spent the past three seasons as the assistant to the head coach for the Colts, working with Chuck Pagano.  Before that, he was a defensive intern for LSU from 2010-2012, the cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator for Mercyhurst University from 2008-2010, and a graduate assistant at North Carolina focusing on linebackers (2005), secondary (2006), and defensive line (2007).