After finishing with an NFL-worst three wins in 2024, the Titans’ 1-5 start this year was enough to cost Brian Callahan his job. Tennessee became the the first team of the season to fire its head coach when it gave Callahan his walking papers on Oct. 13.
Almost two full months since Callahan’s ouster, the Titans have logged even worse results. They’re 0-6 under interim head coach Mike McCoy, who likely has little to no chance of earning a full-time promotion after the season. That should put president of football operations Chad Brinker and first-year general manager Mike Borgonzi in position to find a new sideline leader from outside the organization.
With the hiring cycle still weeks from getting underway, Brinker and Borgonzi probably won’t make their pick until sometime in January. If they prioritize hiring an experienced candidate, Albert Breer of SI.com points to Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy and former Packers and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy as names to watch.
Nagy has an obvious connection to Borgonzi, previously a longtime member of Kansas City’s front office. He also has some past success as an NFL head coach, having gone 34-31 with the Bears from 2018-21. Nagy took the Bears to the playoffs twice in that span.
McCarthy coached the Packers from 2006-18, winning one Super Bowl along the way, and Brinker was in their front office for most of that span. With a career .608 winning percentage over 18 seasons, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see someone give McCarthy a third opportunity.
As established coaches on the offensive side of the ball, either Nagy or McCarthy could aid in the development of quarterback Cam Ward. The first overall pick in last spring’s draft, Ward is the most important player in the organization. If Ward eventually lives up to his draft stock, it would go a long way in helping the Titans orchestrate a turnaround. Ward’s career has gotten off to a rough start, though, which isn’t a shock when considering the lack of coaching stability and the Titans’ dearth of talent.
While the Titans need more from Ward, they aren’t necessarily locked in on hiring an offensive choice or someone with head coaching experience. Two defensive coordinators, the Chargers’ Jesse Minter and the Rams’ Chris Shula, are among the “wide array of candidates” the Titans have considered so far, Breer reports. PFR’s Sam Robinson previously highlighted Minter and Shula as ascending defensive coaches to monitor during the hiring cycle, which will lack obvious slam-dunk picks on the offensive side.
The 42-year-old Minter and Shula, 39, don’t have head coaching experience at any level. However, they’ve drawn rave reviews in coordinator roles, which will lead to interest from other organizations.
Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh brought Minter with him to LA after a national championship-winning season with the Michigan Wolverines in 2023. The move has worked out for the Chargers, who have boasted upper-echelon defenses under Minter.
Shula, the grandson of legendary head coach Don Shula and the son of former Bengals HC Dave Shula, is also in his second year as a coordinator. Playing its first season of the post-Aaron Donald era, the Rams’ defense ranked an underwhelming 17th in scoring and 26th in yards in 2024. It’s a far more impressive second and 13th in those categories this year.
While Nagy, McCarthy, Minter, and Shula all seem like reasonable possibilities to end up as the Titans’ next sideline leader, there are surely more choices under consideration. The Titans are working to narrow down the list by season’s end, per Breer.
The next hire will bring in a new staff, but management will “likely” ask that individual to strongly consider retaining first-year sspecial teams coordinator John Fassel, according to Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky. Fassel previously led ST units for the Raiders, Rams, and Cowboys. He was on McCarthy’s staff in Dallas from 2020-24. It could work in Fassel’s favor if the Titans hire McCarthy.Â
McCarthy just makes so much sense here.
I agree. I don’t think they should risk hiring a rookie HC like Shula, even though I think he’d be a good pick. McCarthy is an established commodity that would automatically get them out of the basement.
Yep. While I think Shula specifically has all the potential in the world as a HC, you need someone you know as a HC is going to 100% raise the floor of your team and at the very least your 2nd year QB. McCarthy has a history of doing both things.
Whoever gets it will win. Ward is a winner. Surround him with some players and this will be a good team.
The problem with the Titans is at the top. Amy is about as clueless an owner as they come.
They rattled off six straight winning seasons after she took over control of the team. There are many worse owners.
You were looking at Woody when you made that last remark right? 🙂
Yep, among others.
There might be worse owners, but there aren’t that many of them. Tennessee hasn’t had many winning seasons since Strunk fired the person responsible for that streak.
The Vrabel situation was mishandled, but the real reason the team collapsed is that Jon Robinson’s last three drafts (2020-2022) were extraordinarily bad. McCreary and Okonkwo were the best starters they got out of those three drafts combined. When you draft that badly, the bottom is going to fall out.
No doubt, they were bad, but not necessarily fireable. Even so, if we say that they were, Adams has mishandled every other leadership decision since then. Firing Robinson is one thing, perhaps justifiable by certain standards. The annual power struggles every year after are all on Adams. Playing into (or encouraging) that Byzantine scheming is a totally unacceptable way to run a well functioning franchise. Her comments publically after each firing were even more bizarre.
I’ve obviously said several times that I think she’s terribly inept and/or self-serving (one of the two at least is true). I’m curious, though, because I’ve seen you defend her several times. In your mind, what is it that makes Adams a good owner-or, barring that, what are measurable positives that you think we’re missing with her?
I’m not going so far as to say she’s an actively good owner, but she takes an outsized amount of heat on here from some people when I don’t think she’s a bottom five owner or anything. They had a long run of success under her, more than you can say for a lot of teams in the last decade. And while the last round of GM and coach hires went south, she’s also responded over the last couple of years by creating a much stronger management structure, including hiring Borgonizi, who many others had tried to poach. I think that shows some awareness of needing to make structural changes.
From a fan standpoint, she is a horrendous owner. Here in Nashville, we’ve seen it for years. She fired Mike Mularkey, who got them to the playoffs, and then Mike Vrabel, who got them to the playoffs multiple times. She had her GM Robinson trade away their best WR in years to the Eagles- and then fired him for making the trade. And with the worst team in the NFL, she’s bamboozled the city into building the most expensive, publicly funded stadium in North America. She is the antithesis of a “good” owner.
I really don’t understand how a young defensive coordinator with less than two full years’ experience at the NFL level in any meaningful capacity could be the prize target for any head coaching position.
A lot of teams would want the next Mike Macdonald and you could have said the same about him.
Sure, could have, but it doesn’t take away any less of the gamble, despite the more obvious similarities.
I’d much rather gamble on Minter’s rising star and demonstrable scheming ability than gamble on another retread of Mike McCarthy or Matt Nagy.
Nagy, sure, but McCarthy is a proven winner and program builder. Maybe he wins you a Super Bowl, maybe not, but he’ll get your team to consistent double digit wins.
That said, I don’t like his fit with Tennessee. Ironically, Tennessee really needs someone like McCarthy with experience to handle Ward’s development. Personally, I’m not that impressed with Ward, and wasn’t as high on him in college as others were, but the Titans would benefit from an experienced leader to change gears from the novice style miscues of the Callahan/Carthon era. I don’t think that Strunk would be patient enough with McCarthy, to be honest.
I’m really bearish on McCarthy. I think his football sensibilities got stale in Green Bay and that in Dallas, he got carried by great work from Quinn and a lot of superstar talent. I don’t think he’s terrible, but I don’t think he’s elevating anything. Heck, Dallas looks better on offense without him.
To be fair, I wasn’t impressed with his Dallas hire-especially when brought in Nolan, who ran the opposite defense from the personnel that they had-but he did deliver consistently, both in stats and wins (everywhere but playoffs, unfortunately for Dallas).
Granted, he had two pretty high profile coordinators in Quinn and Moore, but McCarthy definitely had his share of input, and I can’t say that it was all the coordinators. After all, neither one is doing particularly well at the moment. It’s fair to say that their HC at least knew how to oversee them, even if we don’t credit him for the successes. McCarthy definitely oversaw some high end in Dallas, too, so let’s give him credit for that. I don’t think that he’s a fit in every scenario, but he’s certainly proven himself.
I wouldn’t touch McCarthy or Nagy.
Since the Titans will be in obvious building mode for a few years, why not go with the less expensive options?
Amy Strunk: “Hey, I like your suggestion Calvin. I can probably find a good HC on Amazon or Ebay at a bargain price”.
Minter with capable coordinators will cost money, get the best to be the best.
McCarthy is a retread he has had his shot so no!
Nagy is also a very good choice.
Pay up time!
They had their coach for the long haul in Vrabel but let him go for reasons unknown to me. Just like he did with the Titans he’s turned the Patriots from the Pats looking for a new identity to one of the teams to continent with for the foreseeable future. You watch that Giants game last week and you see not just the win but a team that plays almost exactly how you’d want. Kraft was no fool he pulled the plug on Mayo after one season just to land Vrabel. Ownership plays a bigger part in success or lack there of than most people think. McCarthy isn’t even a conversation starter. He won a Super Bowl 10 years ago with one of the best QBs the league has seen and just one. The cowboys continued the cowboy way of recent memory and couldn’t win in the playoffs. I’d try and find another protege of Sean McVay it seems like his staff leave there knowing some secret offensive knowledge and are very good with QBs. Guys like McCarthy sure you know what you’re getting but is that good?