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The Indianapolis Colts are in the process of finding their new head coach, and the man who held the interim position for half of the year is still in the running for the job. It's no secret that team owner Jim Irsay holds Jeff Saturday in high esteem, although the national media and fans don't appear to share those feelings.

With Saturday perceived to be a finalist for the full-time job, Colts fans have started a petition in hopes of keeping Saturday away. Saturday does have another supporter in the building, however: star linebacker Shaquille Leonard. During an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," Leonard appeared to endorse Saturday. 

"Jeff is a great coach," Leonard said after McAfee mentioned he heard Saturday was a bad coach, via NFL.com. "You need to cut that out. I can't stand that. It makes me so mad. Man, listen, Jeff came in with the right mindset that he wasn't going to sit back and allow just bad play. It was more so he demanded excellence from everybody. That offensive line, I mean, of course everybody would criticize that offensive line. You see they got better, didn't they? He came in and made sure that everybody knew exactly what was at stake and what he wanted out of each and every player."

Saturday won his first game as interim head coach against the Las Vegas Raiders, but lost his remaining seven contests. That included a 54-19 beatdown from the Dallas Cowboys in which Dak Prescott and Co. scored 33 points in the fourth quarter, and also the largest blown lead in NFL history, where the Minnesota Vikings came back from down 33-0 at halftime to defeat the Colts in overtime, 39-36. 

Despite those results, Leonard said he hates that Saturday has become the butt of a joke. 

"I hate that he gets a lot of hate," Leonard said. "Because coming in Week 8, Week 9, and not knowing a coach on your coaching staff, how do you expect him to come in and go 8-0, 9-0, whatever? You know, give him a full offseason, give him his coaching staff or whatever the case may be, and I think that it'd be a great spot."

NFL Media reported that Saturday is one of four finalists for the job. The other three candidates are Philadelphia Eagles Shane Steichen, Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris and Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.