Colts Gab

One would think that with the promotion of Jim Caldwell to the head coaching position that there would be a seamless transition and very little turnover in the personnel department; if you thought that, then you thought incorrectly.

Actually, there have been some coaching changes, both for real and some that are rumored; Ron Meeks, who used to run the Colts’ defense since 2002, resigned and took the same job with the Carolina Panthers. Russ Purnell, who had been in charge of the Colts’ special teams, went to Jacksonville and is now their special teams coach.

Meanwhile, wide receivers coach Clyde Christensen is rumored to be going to the San Francisco 49ers as their offensive coordinator. In a sense, I can understand why the Colts let go of Purnell; punt and kickoff coverage has been a decided weakness of the Colts for several seasons, as evidenced by their stats.

They allowed a whopping 24.3 yards on kickoff returns and 9.2 yards per punt return (ranked 24th and 15th respectively). In addition, they averaged 20.8 yards per kickoff return and 6 yards per punt return (ranked 28th and 32nd respectively), not to mention that they ranked 30th in the NFL in kickoff return differential and 27th in punt return differential. So you can see why the special teams coaching change was not a complete surprise – after all, numbers do not lie.

Jim Caldwell will have a new defensive coordinator in his first season with the club, as it was announced today that Ron Meeks has stepped down after seven seasons on the job. Meeks started coaching in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys in 1991 and has coached for the Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, Washington Redskins and St. Louis Rams, before joining the Colts in 2002.

There were rumors that Meeks was going to not be brought back by Caldwell, and he may have seen the writing on the wall and decided to simply step away instead of being fired. Look for Caldwell to make a move quickly and have someone already in mind for the position.

From: Pro Football Talk.com

A source with knowledge of the Colts’ organization has given us an intriguing tip.

Defensive coordinator Ron Meeks apparently has been fired by new coach Jim Caldwell.

We’re not reporting it as hard news yet, and we apologize to the various writers who’ll now be dispatched by their editors to chase this one.

We’ve got no reason to doubt our source, however.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen suggested on Sunday that changes could be coming to the defensive coaching staff. The departure of Meeks would be a fairly significant one.

Earlier this month, Meeks was interviewed by the Jets for the head-coaching position that officially was filled today by former Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan.

Meeks, like former Colts special teams coordinator Russ Purnell, joined the team with former head coach Tony Dungy in 2002.

Mortensen also reported on Sunday that owner Jim Irsay had to persuade offensive coordinator Tom Moore and offensive line coach Howard Mudd not to retire.

Bottom line? The transition from Dungy to new coach Jim Caldwell has hardly been seamless or smooth.