Colts hire James Bettcher as their LB Coach on Lou Anarumo’s defensive staff

The Colts are hiring James Bettcher as their new linebackers coach. This won’t be Bettcher’s first stop in Indianapolis, though. He started in the NFL in 2012 as the Colts’ Outside Linebackers coach and special assistant to head coach Chuck Pagano. Bettcher is also from Indiana. He was born and raised in Lakeville, Indiana, and even stayed home for college at the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

His coaching career has led him to earn two defensive coordinator positions, his first with the Arizona Cardinals (2015-2016) and his second with the New York Giants (2018-2019). In his first year in New York, now Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo was on his staff as a defensive backs coach. He later rejoined him with the Bengals in 2022, where he had coached up until this past season. Bettcher will now take over the Colts LB room led by the NFL’s 2024 tackle leader, Zaire Franklin, but could be looking at a pretty different room overall from what fans saw in 2024. Starter E.J. Speed and role player Grant Stuard are both set to become free agents this offseason. So it’s safe to assume we could see some new faces added this offseason, and Bettcher will be tasked with getting them ready to make a difference on the field.