Titans hire Callahan from Cincinnati as head coach
Whatever may come of the Tennessee Titans’ next coach, know this: They didn’t settle for him.
He wasn’t their third choice or their fifth. They didn’t bother waiting in case there was someone better, and they didn’t risk another franchise seeing what they already saw. The Titans wanted Brian Callahan so badly that they didn’t let the Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive coordinator leave for other interviews before starting work on a deal Monday.
The first outside hire of this year’s NFL coaching carousel was made with conviction, and that alone speaks well of the Titans’ choice to replace Mike Vrabel. Truth is, though, you don’t have to travel far to hear someone speak highly of Callahan.
“I couldn’t be more excited for our city and the Titans organization,” Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea told The Tennessean. “They have selected an excellent coach and an even better person.”
Lea would know. He and Callahan are close friends. Have been for years, going back to when they were both graduate assistants in 2006 at UCLA. Callahan was a part of Lea’s wedding.
How’s that for a small world?
“I look forward to welcoming Brian and his family to Nashville,” Lea said, “as well as to future opportunities for us to engage our community together.”
Coaching hires in the NFL get measured over years, not hours. We won’t know for a while. But a successful job search in any field is one in which you land a candidate you truly want.
The Titans were so serious about Callahan, according to The Athletic’s Paul Dehner, that they sent an airplane to pick him up with weather causing travel problems in Cincinnati, thus saving Callahan from having to drive to Nashville. As the Titans embark on this new era, there’s a lot to like about the look and feel of it.
Hiring an offensive coach wasn’t the only move the Titans could have made, but it was the sensible move, given that the best thing they have going right now is their promising, young quarterback. Callahan’s track record coaching quarterback suggests that he’ll be great for Will Levis.
Callahan might be great for the whole building. Seriously, if there’s someone who has anything bad to say about the Titans’ new coach, I’ve not heard or seen it. He seems a likable sort, and that’s probably why his interviews with the Titans went so well. This is an ideal time for Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk to pair a likable sort with general manager Ran Carthon.
The Titans lack the cache and tradition of other franchises in the best of times, and these are not the best of times. Plenty of work to do for them to regain status as a contender in the AFC South, much less the entire conference.
Meanwhile, the knock on Callahan’s candidacy was that it wasn’t solely his offense in Cincy. Head coach Zac Taylor called the plays.
Speaking of Taylor, let’s hear what he has to say about Callahan:
“He’s as ready for this as anyone can be,” Taylor told SI.com’s Albert Breer on Sunday. “He’s made an enormous impact on our team, and I’ve learned a ton from him. … Whoever hires him won’t regret it.”