All good things must come to an end.  The end of a great football era is about to come to an end in Indianapolis, or at least should.  The Colts organization, and fans would love to put last year behind them, and act as if they are fine.  Problem is they are not fine.

Before last season, the Colts had ten or more wins eleven of the past twelve seasons.  Everybody wants to act like the only problems were Jim Caldwell and Peyton Manning’s injury.  Problem is, those were not the only problems, and while the firing of Jim Caldwell is a step in the right direction, it is not the only move that needs to be done.  The next step is saying goodbye to franchise savior Peyton Manning.

I know saying goodbye, to someone is always tough.  Throw emotions out though.  Think of it from a business perspective and what is best for the team going forward.  Remember, this football is a business first, not a toy to most owners.

First let’s put Peyton Manning’s place with the Colts in perspective.  The Colts were an afterthought in Indiana as Indiana is the heart of basketball country.  You had Indiana University and Purdue University, who both have a good history in basketball.  The Pacers built up momentum in the mid 90′s with the Knicks rivalry and making it to the conference finals in 94, 95, and 98. Very few people cared about the Colts.  Over the years, the culture changed to everybody caring about the Colts, and less cared about basketball.

As the Colts started to gain fans, the Pacers were losing them, especially after the fight in Detroit.  Shoot, there were more Bulls fans at a playoff game at now Bankers Life Fieldhouse than Pacers fans last year.  If the Colts would have taken Ryan Leaf in the draft, the Colts might not be in Indianapolis today.

All of that is great, and he will have his number retired whenever he calls it quits. All of that is in the past, and you have to look to the future, or you will fall behind.  Yes, QB is probably the most important position in all of major league team sports.

The Colts might already be a little behind.  Go all the way back to the 2010 season, and you will see that the colts had less than twelve wins for the first time since 2002.  Maybe, the Colts started to go downhill that season.

The core of this team is old.  The anchor of the offensive line is Jeff Saturday, and he has admitted he is thinking of retirement.  Reggie Wayne took over as the number one receiver after Marvin Harrison retired, but he did not have 1000 yards this year.  He is 33 years old.  He is on the downside of his career.  Then you throw in Peyton’s second favorite target past few years, Dallas Clark, is 32 years old.  Mathis and Freeney are the keys to the defense, and they are 30 and 31 years old.  How many quality years, do these guys have left in them?

The Colts have already made it known they will draft Luck.  Most say he is the best QB prospect since John Elway.  The NFL is a QB driven league today.  Look at the QB’s in the Super Bowl.  Tom Brady is arguably the best QB of the past decade, and some say Eli Manning is now an elite QB.  How lucky are the Colts to have the chance to go from Peyton to Luck?

If the Colts draft Andrew Luck, and he sits the bench, then that about five million dollars less to work with according to the cap.  If the Colts went 10-6 two years ago with Peyton, then what can they do next season with him considering the age of the core, and five million dollars of cap space used on a player that will not play next season?  Draft Luck, and 9-7 could be the best the Colts go next year with Manning.  That might not be good enough to make the playoffs.

The transition the Colts can make between Peyton to Luck, is something that teams only dream of.  This transition could be the smoothest transition between two QB’s since Joe Montana to Steve Young.  Joe Montana’s final full season in San Francisco was 1990.  When the 49ers had a franchise QB with Steve Young they let Montana go.  What happened under Steve Young?  They went on to win another Super Bowl in his third year as a full time starter.  Not saying, Luck can do that, but the transition the 49ers made was similar.

All of this is a moot argument if Peyton’s neck does not heal.  If this is the case, then Peyton would follow in Reggie Miller’s footsteps of playing their whole careers in Indiana.  How lucky are we to have seen that?  We need to be thankful for what he has meant to us, but we also have to be reasonable.

Yes, it is tough to let Manning go, but so is paying twenty-eight million to a QB that is not really in the future plans.    That seems like a silly business decision, when you also consider, the best the team can do might not be good enough to make the playoffs next year.  Maybe Reggie Miller spoiled Hoosiers, by playing his whole career with the Pacers, because very very few athletes do.  Teams have to eventually rebuild at some point, and usually an aging superstar is not part of the rebuilding process.  It is time to start the rebuilding process for the Colts, and there will never be a better time to start that process than now.

Steven Rawnsley is a graduate of Cincinnati Christian University and also attended Ball State University.  Steven currently resides in Indianapolis where he enjoys helping with his youth group, listening to classic rock and also fantasy sports. He is also an avid Utah Jazz fan.

The Indianapolis Colts have not hired a head coach yet after firing Jim Caldwell and 8 assistants. With that, the people are frantically speculating who will the named as the new man in charge at the end of this week.  I will jump on that wagon as I break down the men who have been interviewed so far, and I name some guys who should be considered, in my opinion.

First, lets look at the man who we know has had two interviews with the Colts….Jim Tressel.  This is something that I and my friends joked about when he was hired as the Colts “video consultant” at the beginning of the season.  As it turns out, it wasn’t such a funny idea.  The man who is best known for his time at Ohio State does have an interesting resume, but never popped out to me as someone who would be a good head coach in the NFL.  He went 229-79-2 in his time at OSU and Youngstown State.  Before becoming the head coach at YSU in 1986, he was the quarterbacks coach at Miami(OH), then at Syracuse and finally at Ohio State where he was also in charge of receivers.  In his 15 years at YSU, his teams made it to 6 D1 AA Championships, winning 4 of them. His Buckeyes also won the National Championship in 2002.  He has also won 12 various coaching awards and his Alma-mater named their football field after him.  With all of that being said, why is Jim Tressel a good option?  I think the first thing to look at is, he is a quarterbacks coach.  The Colts will probably get Andrew Luck and if he is our man come next August, I think this former college coach would know very well how to handle him.   He is a smart, intelligent man who is very good at what he does.  I believe, if hired, he will have to open up his offensive schemes and he will definitely have to get away from hiring unknown assistants that worked with him at Youngstown and played with him at Baldwin-Wallace.  With all of that being said, I’m still not sold on this man, but I wouldn’t be completely upset if he was hired.

Another name that is popping up is Titans Defensive Coordinator, Jerry Gray.  My first opinion is that the Colts interviewed him for the Rooney Rule.  I thought this was a name that only Titans fans and die-hard fans would recognize. Looking at his history in the NFL has brought a little light to why he would be interviewed over a guy like Perry Fewell from New York.  He has been the Titans DC for just one season where his unit was 18th best this season in yards allowed and 8th best in points allowed.  (It helps they got to play the Jags and Colts a combined 4 times) He was also the Bills DC from 2001-2005 where had one of the leagues best defenses in 2003 & 2004.  He has no head coaching experience, but has been interviewed by the University of Memphis and also the Redskins as they were firing Jim Zorn.  He is a former player who played in four pro bowls and played his college ball at Texas.  From what I have heard and read he is a guy that players respect and listen to.  I do not see the Colts hiring Gray, but I think in the next few years more teams will look at him and possibly hire him.

Another name that has popped up is Saints Offensive Coordinator Pete Carmichael.  Carmichael is a relatively young coach but has been in the NFL since 2000 in various offensive positions.  Many people, myself included, figured he was a man who would be cashing in on the success of Drew Brees.  The fact is, that Drew Brees has had his best years with Pete Carmichael in charge of the passing game, or as the OC.  I figure that Carmichael does deserve some credit for what Brees has done since he started with the Saints.  In an interesting note, he was a receivers coach with the Chargers before going to the Saints so I am under the impression that he watched Brees and figured out his strengths and weaknesses but may have never been given the chance to work with him?  Whatever has happened in New Orleans is certainly working for them!  He is another quarterbacks minded coach that could create a great atmosphere for Andrew Luck in the coming seasons.  If we get an Offensive minded head coach, I think Pete Carmichael would be my first choice.

It was announced Monday night that the Colts would also interview Ravens Defensive Coordinator Chuck Pagano this week.  For most of his career he was a defensive assistant with various college teams since 1985, including time as the DC for North Carolina.  He moved into the NFL in 2001 when he was the secondary coach for the Browns.  In 2003, he helped the Browns tie a franchise record for the fewest passing touchdowns allowed with 13. In 2001, the secondary accounted for 28 of the Browns’ NFL-high 33 interceptions, and, in the same season, rookie cornerback Anthony Henry led the league with ten interceptions.  After leaving Cleveland in 2004, he spent two seasons as defensive backs coach of the Oakland Raiders. In 2006, the Raiders’ pass defensive allowed just 151 yards per game, and total defense just 285.  The Colts are typically horrible in the secondary, so I think with Pagano and whoever he brings in to coach the defense and the secondary, we could see a lot of improvement on that side of the ball.  If we hire a defensive minded head coach, I really like Chuck Pagano.

These are the guys who have been interviewed or have been confirmed as someone the Colts will interview.  With those names out there, I want to throw 5 more names in the mix.  One of these men is being courted by other teams right now.  One man seems like a good fit because of where he came from ties into where the Colts are headed and three of them are personal favorites of mine that I think will get a head coaching job soon.  They are: Mike Zimmer, Greg Roman, Russ Grimm, Rob Chudzinski, and Winston Moss.

Mike Zimmer, who is currently the DC of the Cincinnati Bengals, is a name that has been thrown into many coaching vacancies including Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa.  Zimmer was the DC in Dallas for several years before taking the same job in Atlanta for one season and then moving to Cincinnati in 2008.  Ever since he made the move to Cincinnati his defense has been the stable point of the team.  They are a top ten defense every year and they were ranked number one this season for a while.  That hasn’t happened for the Bengals in 28 years.  He has expertise in the 4-3 and the 3-4.  He also holds the admiration of his players and fans, which is something the Colts coaching staff hasn’t had since Coach Dungy departed.  In an interesting note, he started off his college career as the QB, then moved to linebacker after he suffered an injury on his throwing hand.  Mike Zimmer is a man that I think deserves a chance to coach in the NFL, and should get it soon.

Another person that I believe deserves looking at is 49ers OC, Greg Roman.  He has interviewed with Penn State and Tulane already this year for their head coaching positions but turned down Tulane and lost the PSU job to Bill O’Brien.  This year as the 49ers OC, the Smith-led offense was anything but flashy but Alex Smith was successful for the first time since being drafted in 2005.  During the regular season the 49ers only had 5 interceptions and only 10 total turnovers. (Again, that doesn’t include the playoffs)  What I, and others, like most is the fact that he coached two Heisman runners up while serving as the OC at Stanford, in Toby Gerhart and Andrew Luck who many believe to be to the next QB of the Colts.  He has spent a total of 14 seasons in the NFL serving on the coaching staffs for the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, and Baltimore Ravens.  Former quarterback David Carr had his best season in the NFL while Roman was the QB coach in Houston.

Someone who I really like, but believe wont get a lot of attention with the Colts is Rob Chudzinski.  He is currently the OC for the Carolina Panthers.  Now, just looking at the fact that he was the OC of the sub .500 Panthers this last season doesn’t mean he should be thrown out of consideration.  He started off at his Alma-mater, U of Miami in 1996 as the Tight Ends coach and helped 3 players make it to the NFL: Bubba Franks, Jeremy Shockey, and Kellen Winslow Jr.  In 2007, Chudzinski was named the offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns. That year the Browns ranked eighth overall on offense, sent 4 offensive players to the Pro Bowl(Including QB Derek Anderson who owes Chud a hefty chunk of his big contract, in my opinion.), and finished 2nd in the AFC North with a record of 10-6, their most wins since 1994. However, after the 2008 season Chudzinski was replaced following the firing of Browns head coach Romeo Crennel.  This last year as the Panthers OC, he took one of the league’s worst offenses in 2010 and transformed it into one of the top 10 offenses in 2011. The Panthers finished seventh overall in the league on offense, fifth in points scored, and set a new franchise record for total yards in a season.

Another name that I would like to throw out there is Hall of Famer, Russ Grimm.  This may seem like an odd selection to many of you, and I must admit, it is far fetched.  This is a man that is one of the best offensive linemen in NFL history and has been able to bring his playing talent to the coaching realm and has helped foster some of the best O-line units in the last two decades.  He started his coaching career with the team he played for, the Washington Redskins.  He was, oddly enough, the tight ends coach from 92-96, then named as the O-line coach from 97-00.  After his coaching stint with the Redskins, Grimm joined the Pittsburgh Steelers as offensive line coach. In 2004 he was promoted to Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line.  Also in 2004, the Chicago Bears considered Grimm as a top candidate for their HC job.  Under Grimm’s guidance in 2005, the Super Bowl champion Steelers averaged nearly 140 yards rushing per game during the regular season to rank fifth in the NFL while also getting 181 rushing yards in their Super Bowl XL victory. In 2006 Steelers offensive line helped pave the way for running back Willie Parker to gain 1,494 yards and 13 touchdowns on 337 carries with 4.4 yard avg. Pittsburgh offense finished the 2006 season with the 10th best rushing attack in the NFL, helping to give the Steelers the 7th ranked total offense in the league.  For that reason alone, I think he should be considered for at least the Colts offensive Coordinator position.  After Bill Cowher retired, Rooney ruled it down to Grimm, Tomlin, and Whisenhutt.  After Tomlin got the job and Whisenhutt took the Cardinals HC job, Grimm followed Whisenhutt and has been there ever since as the O-Line/Assistant Head Coach.  In his first season in Arizona, his offensive line allowed only 24 sacks, 6th best in the NFL and the fewest given up by the Cardinals since 1978 with 22. Grimm’s offensive line also paved the way for running back Edgerrin James to rush for 1,222 yards, the fifth best total in team history. The Cardinals offense finished with the 5th best passing attack in the NFL and threw for a team record 32 touchdowns.  I recognize that the Cardinals have regressed over the last couple years, but I think Russ Grimm is still a qualified candidate and would be an interesting “dark horse” candidate for the Colts head coaching job.

Lastly, I would like to point out Winston Moss to you.  Moss is currently the Assistant HC/linebackers coach for the Green Bay Packers.  He has already interviewed for the Raiders head coaching job, which is not surprising since new Raider GM Reggie McKenzie came from the Packers organization.  Moss has a pretty interesting record though.  He helped guide Green Bay’s defense to top-five overall finishes each of the past two seasons, the first time the Packers had accomplished that feat since 1968-69.  Under his guidance, the Packers kept pace despite the fact that starter Nick Barnett got injured in week 4.  A.J. Hawk has had a fantastic start to his career while Moss has been the LB Coach as well.  Moss began his coaching career in 1998 as a defensive quality-control assistant for the Seattle Seahawks, then went on to coach linebackers at New Orleans for 6 seasons.  He is a former player (11 years in the NFL) and played his college ball at Miami.  He was a four year letterman while playing under Howard Schnellenberger.

These are the guys on the radar and who I think should be on the radar.  Notice I left of Bill Cowher and John Gruden.  Just let them go, I don’t believe either one will ever come back to coaching.  One name that I am uncertain of is Brian Billick.  I cant tell if he likes the TV gig good enough to stay away from coaching or not, so I left him off the list as well.

What are your thoughts?

Matt Morley is a Free-Lance writer from Muncie, IN and is currently a senior at Indiana Wesleyan University.  He loves sports and puppies.  If you would like to contact him, you may email him at mattjomorley@gmail.com.

In order to show how radio and new media can be best friends, I think it is important to first talk about what is taking shots at radio.  Radio is surviving iTunes/iPods/iPhones better than I expected, even after all the accessories that you can buy to put in your cars or home in order to listen to your favorite music or podcasts.  Radio started feeling better about things, and then WHAMMY!! Pandora.   Confession time: I love radio, and want to be a part of it for the rest of my life, but I also love Pandora.  Pandora is so easy to listen to at work, and now you can listen to it on your phone or iPod too!  I think Pandora hits radio in the gut a little, but in most markets, I think radio will survive.

Now, when you add in Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and websites you continue to get some more challenges.  Earlier this year, The John Curley Center for Sport Journalism at Penn State released a blog post stating that the use of Twitter and Facebook allows athletes to do all their press releases and say all their thoughts without talking to reporters.   They gave the example of Tiger Woods who repeatedly tells reporters to go to his website and denies them interviews.

With all of these challenges, new media is an amazing compliment to radio.  Radio must be proactive in using it to keep their head above water.  One of my favorite things that I’ve seen radio stations do is develop applications for iPods/iPhones and smartphones.  One of my favorite radio apps is from the nation-wide syndicate K-Love.  They have developed the app, and added neat features to it, but the main use for it is to listen to K-Love via your little device.  This is in addition to the online feed that they already have!

Social Media also complements radio in that, it allows hosts and personalities the opportunity to interact with the listeners in more ways than just calling in.  I love to listen to ESPN.  ESPN loves when people use Twitter for feedback.  Nearly every show has a Twitter account and nearly every host has a Twitter account as well.  When a host asks for opinions, they still use the ole’ phone system but they also read off Tweets from fans like they get paid per tweet read.  I think this helps ESPN monitor comments, as well as allowing more fans get their input in.    You also keep comments to less than 120 characters and no one can ramble on.

Also, after every show, ESPN puts up podcasts of the show on espnradio.com and also links things to the shows Facebook page.  Many shows use Facebook to let you know what is coming up on the show, and also as a recap of what the show talked about.  My friends at NPR’s Weekend Edition are really good at doing stuff like that.

Social Media can also give hosts and personalities leads on stories, but they must do their research before they open their mouth and release the story.  While it is good to be first, it is better to be right.

For so many reasons, new media will keep radio alive despite what some might think.  Many people think radio will soon die because of the services like iTunes and pirated music.  Finally, nothing compares to hearing your Radio Buddy in my opinion.  iTunes and Pandora can’t give you that.

Like everyone else, I tried to grip what was happening to my country.  For my generation, it was an evil we had only read about in the history books.  In my young and innocent mind, I assumed nothing bad would happen to America again.  After all, my country had been in good shape from the time I was born.  Now, I was scared.  I witnessed pure evil and extreme hatred.  What was I to do with all this confusion?

What eased my young mind was the unity and love that was displayed in the weeks after attacks.  `I watched TV and saw countless men and women work in the aftermath of the attacks work tirelessly to save, comfort, clean, and slowly start to rebuild what was destroyed. I watched heroes.  I watched love and comfort.  I felt it too. I will never forget my congressmen standing in unity singing God Bless America.  I didn’t like many of those men, and still don’t but I was encouraged by the unity they showed us.

What I will remember most is when I was at my Granny’s house in the weeks after.  America had credited the taliban with the attacks and declared war on them.  My father and I were watching tv as this started to unfold and he said that me and my brother could very well be fighting this war when we would be old enough.  I thought he was being crazy.  I was in the 7th grade, my brother in the 5th grade.  America would have fixed it by the time we graduate high school.  Fast forward 10 years later, my little brother, Corporal James N. Morley of the U.S. Marines has fought in Afghanistan once already and is scheduled to go back around next April.

This is certainly a test of Colts fan’s loyalty.

I currently work at Backyard Broadcasting in Muncie, IN. I mostly work with the AM station, but I’ve been trained for the WLBC side of things and new media is very prevalent. There are so many ways that you can get a hold of your favorite personalities like Steve Lindell, Amanda Rollen and Kim Morris. This includes Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. Not only do the individual personalities have all of these, but WLBC as a whole also has pages and Twitter feeds that you we can use to reach the masses.

This does many good things for WLBC. Say there is a wreck on I-69 Northbound. A person who seen the wreck can tweet to Steve Lindell right away and this allows Steve to be one of the first to report it. This does have its drawbacks, because anyone can tweet false information and confuse us. It also allows radio personalities and the news directors to send out important information to people who may not be listening to the radio at that time. It gives radio folks another great outlet for news and fun facts!

In radio, I can pick no other expert than Steve Inskeep, co-host of The Morning Edition on NPR. Some might say Inskeep is not an expert but anyone who is the host of the most widely heard radio shows in the country deserves a little bit of respect. Given, his show was well established before he showed up, but he has maintained the numbers since 2004. He is a native of Carmel, IN and a graduate of Morehead State. He has been with NPR since 1996 when he covered the ’96 Presidential election. He has covered the George Bush campaign, the war in Afghanistan and he led Morning Edition teams that hosted the program from New Orleans, Detroit, Karachi, and Tehran. He is the recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy journalism award for “The Price of African Oil,” a series on conflict in Nigeria.

My second expert is Brian Solis. Solis is principal at Altimeter Group, a research-based advisory firm. He is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, publishing, and culture. His current book, Engage, is regarded as the industry reference guide for businesses to build and measure success in the social web.

I wanted my third expert to be somebody who has been beneficial to sports broadcasting. After all, sports broadcasting is why I originally became interested in broadcating. I picked Collin Cowherd because he is somebody that I didn’t for a while because he was taking a stance against my Cincinnati Reds. Come to find out…he knew what he was talking about. Cowherd is the host of “The Herd” on ESPN Radio M-F. He also has his own podcast and is the co-host of SportsNation on ESPN. I picked him because he has worked in many aspects of media and is someone who I TRUST with information. That isn’t something you find a lot in news broadcasting anymore. He is one of the best persons I can think of for a young student to listen to and learn on how to make a great radio show, and be factual while doing it.

What are your thoughts on my experts?

Some news situations have come forth that have really challenged me to get a blog and keep it going this time.  First off, I need one for a class that I am taking.  Some posts you will see are for my class but I also want them to be seen by others.  These posts will shows views of some the areas that I am interested in and hope to work in once I leave Ball State, or maybe even before I leave!

The second reason that I am starting this website and blog is because I think blogging is a beautiful thing and I want to be a part of it for many years to come.  While my posts will be my “professional” thoughts and opinions, I can not have something and not share with you my fun thoughts, delicious eats and such.

Keep me accountable on this and we will have a grand ole’ time!