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According to 1070 The Fan’s Kevin Bowen, former Indianapolis Colts coach Rick Venturi will be the new color analyst in the team’s radio booth joining play-by-play broadcaster Matt Taylor during the 2020 season:
Change in the #Colts radio booth this year:
— Kevin Bowen (@KBowen1070) September 8, 2020
Rick Venturi will be the color analyst, alongside Matt Taylor.
No longer Jim Sorgi.
As Bowen notes, it effectively means that former Colts backup quarterback Jim Sorgi will no longer be analyzing Colts games on the radio—which is a position he’s held since 2013.
The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz notes that Venturi won’t always ‘sunshine it’ with horseshoe blue tinted glasses—and will call it like he sees it on the field:
I think it says something good about Chris Ballard that the Colts hired Rick Venturi to be their radio analyst. Rick won’t pull punches when they stink. He’s not gonna be a cheerleader. Don’t see that from a lot of teams.
— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) September 8, 2020
Venturi has done a weekly recap of Colts games with JMV on 1070 The Fan for at least a few years now, appears on Colts.com periodically, and has even helped broadcast some Colts preseason games on local television in the past.
Venturi previously served as the Baltimore Colts linebackers coach (1982-83), Colts defensive coordinator/linebackers coach (1984), Colts linebackers coach (1985-90), Colts DC/LB/Interim head coach (1991), and Colts defensive coordinator (1992-93).
The good news here is that Venturi has coached at the NFL ranks, which means he understands play calls, schemes, and strategies—and what to look for. It’s always refreshing to listen to how an NFL coach actually thinks, deciphers the plays, and calls the game.
The bad news here is that Venturi had a 2-17 (.105) lifetime coaching record as an NFL head coach—although yes, he was dealt some bad hands.
That being said, this isn’t Tony Dungy here calling the Colts games either.
If Colts fans can understand that going in, having Venturi on the team’s radio broadcast could definitely be a positive for 2020 and perhaps going forward.