Colts Coaching Snafu Shows Why NFL Needs to Revisit Pension Issue

A couple of months ago it looked like one of the NFL's most stable teams was going to experience traumatic levels of change this season. The Colts lost Tony Dungy to the NBC studio, and, shortly after, learned that longtime offensive assistants Tom Moore and Howard Mudd would be retiring because of alterations to the NFL's pension plan for coaches.

Things change quickly, though. Moore and Mudd quickly became consultants to the Colts, which ensured their voices would still be heard in the organization, and now we've got a full definition on what that somewhat vague job title actually means, thanks to head coach Jim Caldwell.

"They will be doing basically the same things they've been doing," Caldwell said today. "We're excited to have them back . . . with their tremendous experience."

Caldwell undersold things. They'll be doing exactly the same things they've been doing, right down to being on the sidelines on Sunday. So, doesn't that make them coaches and not consultants, and doesn't it make their retirements nothing more than a scam to get around a policy that they didn't like?

Yes and yes are the answers from where we sit, although you can't really blame the Colts, Moore or Mudd for going this route. The NFL announced a change to the pension plans that appeared to limit how much money coaches over 65 were able to draw if they kept coaching past that age. They struggled to fully explain what it meant, though, and Mudd, 67, and Moore, 70, did what they had to do to make sure they and their families were taken care of to the fullest.

You can't fault them for that, but they're still coaches. Call them whatever you like, but that's what they are. You could call Peyton Manning the vice president in charge of whimsy if you want, but when he takes snaps, calls plays and throws passes, he's a quarterback. Moore and Mudd are coaches, and that's why the NFL needs to revisit the pension plan issue.

The league doesn't have to go back and change the provisions for coaches over 65, but it has to fully explain the plan and/or close the loophole, so that teams can't eat their cake and have it too when it comes to their coaching staffs.