Colts fire coach Jim Caldwell

Jim Irsay is no stranger to making wholesale changes with his football team and the Indianapolis Colts owner made another big move Tuesday afternoon.

Just more than two weeks after firing general manager Bill Polian and replacing him with Highland native Ryan Grigson, Irsay and Grigson announced Tuesday that head coach Jim Caldwell had been fired, effective immediately.

"Change sometimes isn't always the easiest transition to make," Grigson said. "It's part of this game, part of this league and part of the steps needed to get going in the right direction of Colts football."

The moves are eerily similar to Irsay's second year as sole owner in 1998 when he hired Polian as general manager and the pair immediately fired head coach Lindy Infante following a 3-13 season, then hired Jim Mora Sr.

The Colts finished 2-14 this year without starting quarterback Peyton Manning, and if this offseason continues to mirror that of 1998, the franchise will make Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck the top selection in April's NFL Draft.

"Just like in 1998, 14 years ago, when there was this sort of change, it's a big change for the franchise," Irsay said. "At the same time, there are players, other coaches and many people on the staff that will go forward into the new direction and get on with the work of 2012."

Grigson was hired last Wednesday and has been nearly inseparable from Irsay. The pair have "talked ball" for countless hours. Much of those meetings have revolved around Caldwell's fate, even though the former head coach was continuing like he was going to return next season. Irsay, Grigson and Caldwell hosted former St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo on Monday afternoon during an interview for the defensive coordinator position.

Caldwell was informed of his release on Tuesday afternoon, even when it appeared that he could be kept on as the head coach as late as Tuesday morning.

"I have too much respect for Coach Caldwell in the short time I've met him to go into that," Grigson said when asked of Caldwell's reaction. "He's a class act."

Irsay and Grigson met with the media late Tuesday afternoon, but it was Grigson who was doing most of the talking after making his first major decision as general manager.

"We're going to chip away at this thing and every day we're going to get better with the common goal of being great again," Grigson said. "We want the best man, the best leader and the best person who is going to get us where we want to go."

The elephant in the room Tuesday was the status of Manning, the franchise quarterback who is due a $28 million roster bonus in early March. Irsay has implied in the past that if Manning is healthy, he'll be with the Colts next season. In that time, however, Irsay has also replaced Manning's former coach and general manager.

Grigson has yet to speak with Manning since taking the job last Wednesday.

"We're not even there with anything regarding Peyton Manning today, this is all about Jim Caldwell," Grigson said. "I've reached out to him and missed his call back. We've tried to get in contact, but we haven't spoken yet."

Both Irsay and Grigson expressed excitement about the coaching search, which will begin immediately, but neither were willing to put a timetable on finding Caldwell's successor.