PHOENIX — Carlie Irsay-Gordon’s job is bigger than it seems.
From the outside, it seems as simple as making sure the right decision-makers are in place at the top of every department, then sitting back, staring only at the big picture until it’s time to make a change again.
Irsay-Gordon handles the job differently.
What she wants is every department pulling in the same direction, operating efficiently in harmony, and it’s because one of Irsay-Gordon’s strengths is her ability to process information in a lot of different areas all at once.
“Every area,” Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard said. “From medical to strength to communications to football operations to coaching to scouting, making sure everybody’s integrated… That’s more difficult than you think.”
Irsay-Gordon took over as the team’s principal owner at a critical point for the on-field product.
The Colts are mired in a five-year playoff drought, desperate not only for a return to the postseason but also for on-field stability that has eluded Ballard, largely because of his inability to find an answer at quarterback since Andrew Luck’s retirement.
Because of the team’s inability to get over the hump, Irsay-Gordon’s path seemed obvious at this point last year: Find an answer at quarterback, or blow it up.
But then Daniel Jones surprised everybody by looking like a potential long-term answer at the position, highlighting the best gifts of head coach Shane Steichen in the process and leaving open the possibility that the franchise’s best path back to stability might already be in the building, even though a torn Achilles tendon sent the Colts into a free fall, reigniting the fire of criticism that has followed the team for years now.
Irsay-Gordon decided she saw enough promise in the team’s start to double down on Jones, a decision that also doubled down on Steichen and Ballard for another year, prompting the first real round of criticism for an owner who became something of a viral sensation during the team’s electric start.
The decisions she makes at head coach and general manager will always get the primary attention.
But it is only part of her work at the team facility, and Irsay-Gordon has spent years now influencing the way the team operates in all facets by trying to make sure there’s no wasted movement. When the Colts do something, anything from the player they take with their first pick in next week’s draft to building a practice plan for Day 3 of training camp to the medical equipment the team buys for the facility, Irsay-Gordon wants to make sure everything aligns.
“Especially as we’ve grown and gotten bigger, that’ll wear your ass out now,” Ballard said. “She can see it at all levels, make sure everybody’s connecting and communicating, because we’re all working toward the same goal.”
A lot of team executives trumpet their organizational alignment.
Irsay-Gordon works at it tirelessly; the evidence of that coming out in the ways the team talks about her influence than anything she’s said herself. She also has the ability to shift from roster-building philosophy to player nutrition to ticket sales in a matter of a few sentences, one idea or accomplishment that interests her flowing into the next.
When she asks a question, she’s often about how one particular area fits with everything else the Colts are doing.
“She’s not a one-level thinker,” Ballard said. “She can see Level 2, 3 and 4.”
Irsay-Gordon’s questions have led to changes both big and small.
For example, she was instrumental in Ballard adopting a more aggressive approach the last two years, a change made evident by big outside signings in free agency last year, a risky swing at the trade deadline to get Sauce Gardner in an effort to fix a trouble position long-term and the team’s decision to move on from veterans Michael Pittman Jr. and Zaire Franklin this offseason.
Whether those changes will be enough remains to be seen — outside of the difficult choice to say goodbye to long-term core vets, there hasn’t been a splashy outside signing like last offseason — but it’s different from the way Ballard operated before.
“We have to look at the whole and what’s best for the team,” Irsay-Gordon said. “That’s one of the things we challenged Chris to do, was to change his approach.”
Conversations with Irsay-Gordon were also part of Steichen’s decision to emphasize the unknown in training camp last year, a decision the head coach partially credits for the team’s fast start.
“She really cares about this organization, this team, these players,” Steichen said. “I think it’s very beneficial for everybody that she’s involved as much as she is, because she knows what’s going on.”
Irsay-Gordon values flexibility, values innovation, values thinking outside the box. For example, she has wondered at times if the NFL should eliminate its trade deadline, reasoning that even though a team might be able to make a big move in order to push for a Super Bowl, there will still be consequences to that decision going forward.
The Colts do an in-house player survey every year, a practice Irsay-Gordon says started before the NFL Player’s Association started its own version, and the results of that survey has led to the team purchasing a red-light bed and incorporating organic meat to meet player desires.
A lot of those decisions might seem small to a fan base that is desperate for a winner again, but it’s also how she approaches the big decisions.
“We’ve tweaked some things, we’ve grown, and look, I give Carlie a lot of credit, because she does challenge,” Ballard said. “Jim (Irsay’s) sense of urgency was always really high. Carlie, too, but she’s with us at every moment, which I think is awesome. Now that she and her sisters are the ultimate decision-makers, that work she put in has allowed her to ask some really good questions as we go forth.”
Irsay-Gordon ultimately has to answer the franchise’s biggest questions herself, with help from her sisters, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson.
But as she continues to put her imprint on the Colts franchise since taking over, it’s clear that she never makes a decision without examining it from every angle.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: New QB. More aggressive GM. Organic meat. How Carlie Irsay-Gordon has shaped Colts
Reporting by Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
