The first head coaching change of the 2025 season has been made. Brian Callahan is out as the Titans’ coach, the team announced on Monday.
“After extended conversations with our owner and general manager, we met with Brian Callahan this morning to tell him we are making a change at head coach,” a statement from president of football operations Chad Brinker reads in part. “We are grateful for Brian’s investment in the Titans and Tennessee community during his tenure as head coach. We thank him and his family for being exemplary ambassadors of the Tennessee Titans.”
Hired in 2024 after a highly-regarded run as the Bengals’ offensive coordinator, Callahan was tasked with overseeing an offensive turnaround in Tennessee. That did not take place during his first season at the helm, but the decision to select Cam Ward gave the Titans a new signal-caller to build around. Six games in to the No. 1 pick’s career, a change is now taking place on the sidelines. NFL insider Jordan Schultz reports Tennessee’s preference was to avoid an in-season firing, but that stance shifted over the past few weeks.
Today’s announcement comes after talk about a Callahan dismissal increased over the early portion of the campaign. The 41-year-old handled offensive play-calling duties through his first season at the helm and the opening three games of the 2025 slate. Following a winless start, though, Callahan handed the reins to QBs coach Bo Hardegree. Moves such as those are often made in an attempt to increase a head coach’s job security.
Indeed, it was reported earlier this month Callahan and the coaching staff felt the front office was quickly losing patience. After Sunday’s game – a 20-10 loss against the Raiders – Callahan’s record fell to 1-5 on the year and 4-19 overall. Tennessee ranks 31st in the NFL in scoring and 26th in points allowed. After also struggling in both of those capacities last season, Callahan will not receive any further opportunities to improve.
In general, this dismissal adds further to the long list of organizational changes made in recent years by the Titans. Owner Amy Adams Strunk has overseen a slew of hirings and firings in short order dating back to the closing stages of Mike Vrabel‘s head coaching tenure. Not long before Vrabel was fired, general manager Jon Robinson had been dismissed. Robinson was replaced during the 2023 hiring cycle but Ran Carthon, but he too was let go this past offseason.
Tennessee hired Mike Borgonzi as Carthon’s replacement in January at a time when Brinker took on an elevated role in the organization. He and Borgonzi will look to provide stability with the Titans on track for their fourth consecutive losing season. It is unclear at this point who will take over on an interim basis, but senior offensive assistant Mike McCoy has head coaching experience. Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson and special teams coordinator John Fassel are other internal candidates.
Regardless of what happens in the near term, the Titans’ search for a new full-time head coach will be critical. A top priority for Callahan’s replacement will of course be maximizing Ward’s potential and helping the offense take needed steps forward. The search on that front will begin early, and it will be interesting to see which candidates the team looks to speak with first.
Working closely alongside Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, Callahan spent five years in Cincinnati as the team’s offensive coordinator (albeit without calling plays). Another coordinator opportunity could await him in the future, but given the nature of his first head coaching spell a second chance in that capacity may not be coming any time soon. In the meantime, the Titans will prepare for their Week 7 game at home against Vrabel’s Patriots.
It’s been very hard to look at that Titans team and see what Callahan brought to the table. The two biggest feathers in his cap coming into the job were his work with the Bengals offense—which had multiple superstars and where he didn’t call plays—and bringing his lauded offensive line coach father with him, and the line has still been bad even with the elder Callahan and a ton of investment. It was hard to see this new front office keeping him around.
I hope they bring in someone good for Cam Ward, because he’s a very fun talent.
Sorry to burst your bubble. I don’t believe in Ward being anything better than average. At best.
We’ll see. I’m not guaranteeing stardom or anything, but he’s got some juice and I’m curious to see what a better scheme and supporting cast can yield.
Yeah with that OL, it’s really difficult to gauge how good he really is.
He has a chance to be extremely good, my fear is the Titans decide to go with a defensive coach which will on stagnate him more.
So far, whether it’s personnel, coaching, culture…or ge ready for it….just another college star who can’t play very well at the NFL level…..very mediocre performance so far by Ward…..
He’s six games into his career. He could very well turn out to be mediocre, but lots of good quarterbacks are mediocre in the very beginning of their pro careers, too, and this has not been a good situation.
Depends on the coaching. We’ve seen Daniel Jones and Mac Jones and Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield have career resurgences cause of coaching. Same goes for Ward. Right coaching he could be a top 10-15 QB in th league.
If Miami lets go of Mike McDaniels I think McDaniels would be a great OC for Ward to learn under
Far as HC, Mike McCarthy
McCarthy’s glory days are long over. Better to start with a rising OC who has called his own plays with experience nurturing young QBs. Kubiak from San Fran comes to mind as someone doing well, (with Mac Jones and Purdy) though it’s year one. Joe Brady with the Bills is another option
Hope he enjoys working at Callahan Auto Parts. Here Big Tom is an excellent boss. Beware of that Zalinsky guy.
Oh no, you haven’t heard the news about Big Tom? You might want to sit down.
I blame Beverly Callahan if anything happened to Big Tom or Little Tom.
Wait til you hear about her “son.”
Sandusky isn’t quite Nashville. Might be a hard sell
They should have fired Callahan last offseason and allowed Ward to develop with a proper coach. Very poor decision making from the Titans the past few years
As a Titans fan this is long overdue, there has never been such a bad HC in Nashville.
Literally Ken Wisenhunt was better, let that sink in.
Glenn should be next
Tennessee let Derrick Henry leave and sacked Mike Vrabel, much to the Titans’ regret. Vrabel has revived the Patriots while Henry is still a productive back in Baltimore.
Yet the National Sportsball Media believe the Jets are the bigger car crash.
Really splitting hairs on that one. You could argue that the Jets fired Todd Bowles and are 32-74 since. Bowles on the Bucs also has 32 wins, but only 25 losses. Let that sink in for a second. Bowles could lose his next 48 games and still have a better record than the Jets since the beginning of 2019.
If you want a Henry analog, Rodgers is 4-1 for the Steelers and has been productive.
Bud we’re the only winless team left. This article isnt about the Jets btw
Maybe they could hire Mike Vrabel.
Eagles should hire him to replace their crappy OC
Is his Dad still there?
Owners need to leave the business of running a team to the professionals. This owner hires and fires on a whim…she needs to sell or step aside….
Will probably go to McCoy … Stunk will get rid of everybody again. This offensive line just never got better.
time to give kingsbury another shot .. bring in glenn as DC after he’s fired
The success of Kyle Shanahan has and will continue to get so many nepo kids jobs they don’t deserve and can’t handle.
James Franklin is available. Hah