ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky hasn’t hidden from the fact that he as aspirations of coaching in the NFL someday. Just not today.
Last season, the Indianapolis Colts shocked the NFL world by hiring ESPN’s Jeff Saturday straight out of the studio to be their interim head coach. Shortly after the hire, Orlovsky expressed interest about the possibility of joining his former ESPN colleague on the Colts staff.
Four months later, Saturday’s head coaching tenure was a disaster, and the Colts have moved on. But their interest in Orlovsky as a potential assistant has not wavered. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Orlovsky had discussions about assistant coaching gigs with the Colts and Carolina Panthers before he ultimately decided to stay with ESPN.
It’s not the first time and likely won’t be the last: Carolina and Indianapolis discussed prominent offensive coaching roles with ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky before he opted to remain at the network.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 15, 2023
“It’s not the first time and likely won’t be the last,” Schefter tweeted Wednesday morning. “Carolina and Indianapolis discussed prominent offensive coaching roles with ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky before he opted to remain at the network.”
In 2020, Schefter similarly reported several teams spoke with Orlovsky about joining their offensive staff. And in 2019, the Green Bay Packers contacted Orlovsky (seen above on The Dan Patrick Show) to gauge his interest in being an assistant coach, per Schefter.
Orlovsky’s visibility at ESPN has grown immensely since he joined the network in 2018. He’s been promoted to their No. 2 broadcast team for Monday Night Football and has worked as a main analyst for NFL Live, while also making frequent appearances on Get Up and First Take. Orlovsky wants to be a coach and teams seem to share that vision, but he hasn’t yet found an opportunity worthy of pulling him away from firing off hot takes on ESPN.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com