ANDERSON, Ind. -- Jim Caldwell believes in Clyde Christensen.
Caldwell, now in his second season as the Indianapolis Colts' head coach, said he knows from personal experience it is possible for a coach to be unfairly evaluated based on past results, and he said this week that's what some do with Christensen, now in his first season as the Colts' offensive coordinator.
Christenson, who spent eight seasons was the Colts' wide receivers coach, has one previous season of experience as a coordinator.
That was in 2001, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
That was also the last season for Tony Dungy as the Buccaners' head coach. The Buccaneers finished 26th in the NFL in total offense that season. Dungy and his staff – a staff that included not only Christensen, but a quarterbacks coach named Jim Caldwell – were dismissed after the season following a first-round playoff loss to Philadelphia.
Caldwell said a parallel can be drawn between he and Christensen.
Caldwell's previous experience as a head coach was at Wake Forest, where from 1993-2000 he had a record of 26-63.
Last season, he coached the Colts to a 14-2 record and a Super Bowl appearance.
“He’s no different than I am,” Caldwell said of Christensen on Wednesday. “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. If you look at a number of other guys, Dennis Green, he was in college and went to the Minnesota Vikings and had one of the best records in football early on, and he may be close to 100 victories.
“There are a number of guys I can just keep naming on and on and on. So I don’t anticipate that it’s going to be any different for him.”
Caldwell and Christensen worked together for eight seasons as assistants – the one in Tampa and seven with the Colts – and when Caldwell took over as head coach, he promoted Christenson to assistant head coach/wide receivers coach.
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