ANDERSON, Ind. —
Jim Caldwell sees something of himself in Clyde Christensen.
Perhaps that’s why the Indianapolis Colts head coach rushed so quickly to the first-year offensive coordinator’s defense Wednesday afternoon.
“Let me put it this way,” Caldwell said. “He’s in his position because he’s capable.”
Caldwell had his own set of detractors to deal with last season when he took over as a first-time NFL head coach following Tony Dungy’s highly successful seven-year run.
His only previous head coaching experience had come at Wake Forest. He posted a 26-63 overall record there from 1993 to 2000, and critics immediately latched on to those numbers to suggest he would be overmatched by the likes of Bill Belichick and Jeff Fisher in the rough and tumble AFC.
All Caldwell did was set an NFL record with victories in his first 14 games and lead Indianapolis to Super Bowl XLIV.
So he doesn’t want to hear much about Christensen’s one year as an offensive coordinator with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2001.
“He’s no different than I am,” Caldwell said. “If you look at my record when I was at Wake Forest, you might come to the same conclusion. Some of you did draw the same conclusion.”
Like Caldwell before him, Christensen is stepping into the shoes of an Indianapolis legend. Tom Moore has been the offensive coordinator throughout Peyton Manning’s tremendous 12-year run, and fans might be a little restless about the switch.
But Manning gave Christensen his seal of approval while talking with reporters last week, and tight end Dallas Clark did the same Wednesday.
“Obviously, Tom has had a little more experience and has some great stories,” Clark said. “With Tom, he’s such a great person, great coach. It was great to have him as an offensive coordinator as well. Some of the young guys don’t know what they missed with him. But Clyde has done a great job of stepping in.”
Clark said Christensen is an especially strong teacher. He doesn’t just tell players which routes they’ll be running on a certain play. He also fills them in on how certain teams will try to defend them throughout the year.
Christensen spent the past eight years working with the Colts’ wide receivers, and his voice is loud and authoritative on the practice field.
If a receiver drops a ball during a drill, it’s a good bet fans will soon hear Christensen bellowing.
“Good pass,” he’ll say. “Gotta make the catch.”
He fits in well with Caldwell’s no-excuses philosophy, which really shouldn’t be a surprise.
Caldwell’s first job after his experience at Wake Forest was as quarterbacks coach in Tampa Bay under Christensen.
Despite the perception the offense was an antiquated run-oriented attack that served only to buy time for an elite defense to rest, quarterback Brad Johnson threw for 3,406 yards and 13 touchdowns that season, and wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson caught 106 passes for 1,266 yards. As for the running game, fullback Mike Alstott was the leading rusher with 680 yards.
A year later, Caldwell and Christensen each followed Dungy to Indianapolis.
“He has a very strong offensive mind,” Caldwell said. “He knows our system extremely well. He’s been working in it for a number of years now and played a major role, oftentimes behind the scenes.”
The same next-man-up philosophy that applies to Colts players applies to the coaching staff. Caldwell was hand-picked by Dungy as the head-coach-in-waiting a full year before he actually ascended to the post.
Caldwell elevated Christensen, in part, because of his vast experience in Moore’s system.
“I think you’ll see the transition will be very, very smooth from Tom to Clyde,” Caldwell said. “We believe in our system, and we’re not going to change it a lot. We might tweak it, but we try to make certain we have guys in place who can keep that culture going.”
This will be the 10th straight season Caldwell has worked alongside Christensen, counting their year in Tampa Bay. It’s arguable no coach knows the new offensive coordinator better. And certainly no one at Anderson University for training camp is in a better position to project Christensen’s 2010 results.
“I think more so than anything else people make assumptions and have preconceived notions about things, but he’s a very good football coach,” Caldwell said. “He’s a very capable guy. He’s an excellent leader. I think you’ll see he’ll do a great job.”
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Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell watches his team prepare for last week's evening practice. File photo
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Colts head coach Jim Caldwell has been liking what he sees of his Colts during training camp. File photo
Discussion
Next man up
Many similarities between Caldwell, Christensen
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