Colts Owner Jim Irsay yesterday expounded for the first time what "went on behind the scenes" the day last year when he decided to keep both coach Chuck Pagano and GM Ryan Grigson after the team failed to make the playoffs, according to Zak Keefer of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. His decision to not only retain Pagano and Grigson but "extend both was among the biggest stunners of the NFL offseason." To hear Irsay tell it, the decision was "never a sure thing." He said it came “organically.” However, it took "hours of meetings between Grigson and Pagano, meetings in which they hashed out the well-documented issues that bubbled to the surface last fall." Irsay "detailed a 90-minute, one-on-one meeting between Pagano and Grigson." What Irsay sought was "assurance from both that they could continue on together" ( INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 9/7 ). Irsay, asked if Pagano and Grigson's issues have been hashed out, said, "No question. I think they've grown together. ... But good working relationship, both have matured. I am banking in the investment of what I put into Chuck Pagano and Ryan Grigson. There's been a lot of time, money and many hours of investment and conversations and mentoring and talking to these guys and that's what I'm banking on." Irsay added, "When they met man-on-man, for about an hour and a half, let me tell ya -- tears fell, voices were raised, but they both came out different people. And when they came to me, they insisted that they be chained together" ( ESPN.com, 9/6 ).
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