section_path: Career
section_name: Career
paragraph_text: Career
  
  Irsay was 12 years old when his father, Robert Irsay, acquired the Baltimore Colts, after initially purchasing the Los Angeles Rams for $12 million and immediately swapping franchises with Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom. He spent time around the team as a youth, including serving as an on-field ball boy and working in the ticket office helping to answer the phones.
  
  After graduating from SMU in 1982, he joined the Colts' professional staff. Irsay was initially given an orientation in all facets of the administrative and football operations of the Colts before being added to the personnel department ahead of the 1983 season. His initial duties included college scouting and breaking down of film in addition to administrative tasks.
  
  He was made part of the team's personnel department in 1983. He was named vice president and general manager in early 1984, immediately after the Colts relocated from Baltimore to Indianapolis. At age 24 he is the youngest person ever to have held the title of general manager in the NFL.
  
  After his father suffered a stroke in 1995, Jim assumed day-to-day management of the club, with the modified title of "senior executive vice president, general manager and chief operating officer". When his father died in 1997, Jim engaged in a legal battle with his stepmother over ownership of the team and later became the youngest NFL team owner at 37.
  
  According to Pro Football Reference, the 258 wins are the fourth-most in the NFL over that time frame. The team won 10 division titles, made the playoffs 18 times, appeared in 2 Super Bowls, and won Super Bowl XLI. Indianapolis won 115 regular season games from 2000 to 2009, which is the second-most in a decade by any NFL team.
  
  From the time he joined the organization in 1984, Irsay worked with numerous Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches, players, and executives, including Eric Dickerson (Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 1999), Marshall Faulk (2011), Bill Polian (2015), Tony Dungy (2016), Marvin Harrison (2016), Edgerrin James (2020), and Peyton Manning (2021).
  
  In 2009, Irsay was vocal about preventing a group that included talk-show host Rush Limbaugh from purchasing the St. Louis Rams. "I, myself, couldn't even consider voting for him," Irsay said at an NFL owners meeting. "When there are comments that have been made that are inappropriate, incendiary and insensitive... our words do damage, and it's something we don't need", referring to comments Limbaugh made about Donovan McNabb in 2003, condemned as racist, when he was an NFL commentator for ESPN.
  
  In October 2022 at a National Football League owner's meeting, Irsay said he believed "that there's merit to remove Daniel Snyder as the owner of the Washington Commanders " amid calls for Snyder to sell the franchise.
  
  Irsay came under scrutiny in November 2022 when he fired Colts head coach Frank Reich after a 3–5–1 start to the season and replaced him with former Colts player Jeff Saturday as interim head coach. Saturday previously had no coaching experience beyond the high school football level, and was employed as an NFL analyst for ESPN at the time of his hiring.
  
  Irsay was 12 years old when his father, Robert Irsay, acquired the Baltimore Colts, after initially purchasing the Los Angeles Rams for $12 million and immediately swapping franchises with Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom. He spent time around the team as a youth, including serving as an on-field ball boy and working in the ticket office helping to answer the phones.
  
  After graduating from SMU in 1982, he joined the Colts' professional staff. Irsay was initially given an orientation in all facets of the administrative and football operations of the Colts before being added to the personnel department ahead of the 1983 season. His initial duties included college scouting and breaking down of film in addition to administrative tasks.
  
  He was made part of the team's personnel department in 1983. He was named vice president and general manager in early 1984, immediately after the Colts relocated from Baltimore to Indianapolis. At age 24 he is the youngest person ever to have held the title of general manager in the NFL.
  
  After his father suffered a stroke in 1995, Jim assumed day-to-day management of the club, with the modified title of "senior executive vice president, general manager and chief operating officer". When his father died in 1997, Jim engaged in a legal battle with his stepmother over ownership of the team and later became the youngest NFL team owner at 37.
  
  According to Pro Football Reference, the 258 wins are the fourth-most in the NFL over that time frame. The team won 10 division titles, made the playoffs 18 times, appeared in 2 Super Bowls, and won Super Bowl XLI. Indianapolis won 115 regular season games from 2000 to 2009, which is the second-most in a decade by any NFL team.
  
  From the time he joined the organization in 1984, Irsay worked with numerous Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches, players, and executives, including Eric Dickerson (Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 1999), Marshall Faulk (2011), Bill Polian (2015), Tony Dungy (2016), Marvin Harrison (2016), Edgerrin James (2020), and Peyton Manning (2021).
  
  In 2009, Irsay was vocal about preventing a group that included talk-show host Rush Limbaugh from purchasing the St. Louis Rams. "I, myself, couldn't even consider voting for him," Irsay said at an NFL owners meeting. "When there are comments that have been made that are inappropriate, incendiary and insensitive... our words do damage, and it's something we don't need", referring to comments Limbaugh made about Donovan McNabb in 2003, condemned as racist, when he was an NFL commentator for ESPN.
  
  In October 2022 at a National Football League owner's meeting, Irsay said he believed "that there's merit to remove Daniel Snyder as the owner of the Washington Commanders " amid calls for Snyder to sell the franchise.
  
  Irsay came under scrutiny in November 2022 when he fired Colts head coach Frank Reich after a 3–5–1 start to the season and replaced him with former Colts player Jeff Saturday as interim head coach. Saturday previously had no coaching experience beyond the high school football level, and was employed as an NFL analyst for ESPN at the time of his hiring.