REPORT: New Titans Coaching Candidates Emerge | MCA Titans Podcast

REPORT: New Titans Coaching Candidates Emerge | MCA Titans Podcast

The latest updates on the Tennessee Titans head coaching search. We got a report on Monday about where the Titans are at. We have candidates we want to talk about as well as coordinator options for some of those candidates, plus my short list. This is the Music City Audible. Let’s get to it. Uh, welcome everyone to another episode of the Music City Audible podcast presented by Sinkers Beverages, the premier wine, spirits, and beer store in East Nashville in partnership with 440 Sports. I’m Justin Graver. With me as always, Justin Melo. Justin, how’s it going today? I’m doing well. Doing well cuz we’ve got a loaded episode of MCA on deck. uh excited to revisit our our uh recurring coaching candidate discussion, if you will. I feel like, you know, we took enough of a break from the coaching search that it it makes sense to pick it back up now, especially after a really intriguing report dropped on Monday by Albert Brier, Monday morning quarterback, Sports Illustrated, whatever you want to call the column, Albert Brerier is one of the best in the business. And in this week’s edition, he had a really interesting nugget about the Titans coaching search. Why don’t we get right to it with that, Justin? I will read you guys some words straight from Brier’s report that has Yeah, like you said, some interest numbers. I I was worried there for a second. I can read whatever you want me to read. Okay, Justin. But we’re going to do today this Monday morning quarterback piece where Brier is talking about both the Giants and the Titans coaching searches. and he says that both teams remain very much in the research phase, but that doesn’t mean having a jump on everyone else hasn’t helped. He went on to say that the initial thought for the Titans, quote, post Brian Callahan had been to find more experience and someone who could work with Cam Ward. Along those lines and tied into the network of the guys on hand, meaning the general manager and front office personnel that the Titans have, include former Bears coach Matt Naggie, who obviously has ties to Borghazi, former Cowboys and Packers coach Mike McCarthy, my guy, um who has ties to Brinker from their shared time in Green Bay. Um, but that hasn’t stopped the Titans from looking at a wide array of candidates, even guys such as Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Mter and Rams defensive coordinator Chris Schula, who do not fit into the above box. At this point, Tennessee has studied and discussed plenty of prospective coaches as the brass keeps working toward having a narrowed down list by the end of the season. So, what does this mean for the Titans? We heard earlier this year, a few weeks back, that the Titans were prioritizing two key points that they wanted their candidates to hit at least one of, if not both. And that was 5 years or more of play calling experience and previous head coaching experience. And there’s a couple candidates who fit that exact bill, and we can talk about them. But Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Mter and Rams defensive coordinator Chris Schula do not fit those boxes. Nice to hear from this report, Justin, that while the Titans have a set of criteria in mind, they’re not closing the door on other options, and they it does seem like they are going to be doing their research into every possible candidate. First of all, Albert Brier is so good at this, and not that I wouldn’t take him serious, but we know, you know, when it comes to the national outlets, we don’t always feel that they’ve got their beat on the pulse of the Titans, if you will. But Albert Brerier is so darn good. And the fact that he acknowledges um you know some of the reports that came out initially, some of them maybe more locally that they were looking for the the coordinator experience minimum requirement or the head coaching experience just shows you how much research Brier has done, you know, into the topic and and speaking with his sources. So of course um you know this is a a home run report from Albert Brrier. Now, when it comes to Schula and Mter, by the way, not that you were wrong, but there’s a really interesting thing I found out about MTN that I didn’t know prior to getting prepared for this specific episode. Um, he’s been a coordinator at the college or NFL level for like 10 years. I didn’t realize he had that much coordinating experience. Now, of course, only the recent two being 2024 and 2025 have come at the NFL level in in his current role with the Chargers, but I didn’t realize how many prior stops he had as a defensive coordinator at the college level. Of course, a couple of those coming with Harbaugh at Michigan. We all knew that before he decides to follow Harbaugh in unison to LA in 2024, but I didn’t know he had a bunch of preh Harbaugh years as a coordinator at the college level at multiple stops. So, does that check the play? I mean, he’s called plays for more than five years. He does call plays for the Chargers, by the way, if if you if people don’t know that. I know Harbaugh’s a defensive-minded guy, but he’s also more of a CEO style type of coach. So, Mentor does call plays for the Chargers. So, he does check the called plays box for more than five years, but only two of them have come at the NFL level. I thought that was interesting to me. That that tells me maybe he’s the more prepared of the two, you know, between him and Chula. Maybe I, you know, I’m not certainly saying that with any sense of certainty. With Schula, obviously, you’re looking at a much bigger risk. He doesn’t check any of the boxes. In fact, this is his what is this? His first year as the Rams coordinator. It’s his second year. Sorry. So, it’s his second year as the Rams coordinator and play caller. So, same amount of NFL play calling experience that Mentor has, but certainly, you know, a bit of a I still would call him a less experienced candidate. I think based on how much coordinating experience Mter had at the college level, I think he’s more of a swing for the fences home run kind of guy if you hire him. And obviously there’s the NFL bloodlines, you know, with with with the I mean the Schula name I think rings alarms everywhere it goes. Um but to me, you know, I I think both of these guys are going to be popular candidates in NFL circles. No. and and and I’m curious to see. I mean, Schula, I think it’s a foregone conclusion that he’s going to be a popular candidate. The Rams are one of the best teams in the NFL. Maybe the best team in the NFL. I I think they’re the best team in the NFL. In all honesty, I really do. They don’t have the best record in the NFL. I do think you say that like it’s not common consensus. If you go look at power rankings around the league, even after the loss to the Panthers, many people still have the Rams as number one. Like I think it’s almost just that’s what everyone has has agreed upon is that the Rams have at least through 13 weeks been the best team in the NFL and and and is that defense, you know, they’re they’re second best in points allowed per game. And you can look at every advanced metric you like, EPA, anything you want and they’re going to that defense reflects well right on Chris Schula. So he’s doing a heck of a job coaching them. With Jesse Mter, I I do think he’s going to be a hot candidate as well. Um, but I I I do think there’s the potential for the Chargers to fall off near the end of the year here. You know, they’ve kind of done the Chargers thing over the last couple of years. I mean, they got blown out by like 30 to the Jags a couple weeks. They lost by more points to the Jags than the Titans did just two weeks ago. And now Justin Herbert undergo surgery and they’re calling him dayto day. I I I’m not making any grand observations here or takeaways. I’m just saying if I wanted to look into the future. Could I see a scenario where the Chargers fall off a little bit here and that impacts Jesse Mter’s candidacy? I think it does, but I I just feel more confident that Schula is going to be popular come the conclusion of week 18. Right. But um I I want to talk a little about uh potential coordinator candidates specifically for Chris Schula because I went down that rabbit hole a little bit, but I want to throw it back to you first. Um if you’ve got anything to say about Schula and Mtor here. Yeah, I think like these are two very intriguing names and if you look at defensive coordinators around the NFL who are going to be in the coaching cycle this season or this upcoming season, it’s these two guys at the top of the list when it comes to firsttime head coaches making the jump from defensive coordinator. There’s obviously offensive coordinator guys that we can talk about and we have talked about and we’ll continue talking about and the Clint Kubaks and the Joe Bradys and those guys that we’ll save them for another episode, another update here. And then there’s obviously the guys who have been head coaches who are currently coordinators like you know the Robert Solas of the world that we might touch on a little bit later in this episode. But as far as like firsttime DC candidates, these are the two to to know this for this upcoming cycle. And one note as we get into the potential coordinator options, let’s say Chris Schula became the head coach or the leading candidate. We’d want to know who are his offensive coordinator candidates. That’s what you’re about to tell us. I just wanted to point out that Chris Schula’s first NFL job in 2015, he was hired as a defensive quality control coach by the San Diego Chargers under head coach Mike McCoy. Take it away, Justin. Well, that’s great news. Maybe he’ll make Mike McCoy his offensive coordinator. Would a Titans fan love that? I love the way the Titans offense is scoring three points right now. Um, well, okay, so here’s the interesting thing about Schula, and I did decide to focus specifically on him. I don’t know why, may maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like the coordinator conversation is so much more interesting around Chris Schula because he’s been with McVey and the Rams since 2017. No surprise throughout these eight years that he’s been there, he’s encountered, rubbed shoulders with a lot of really interesting offensiveminded guys who have obviously worked under Shawn McVey and gone on to get other jobs or some of them are still on staff right now. Um, and and and and the reason I want to bring this up is because if the Titans are going to hire Chris Schula, who is a very inexperienced candidate, I think one of the most important questions in that interview, and they’re probably going to interview him, is who’s your offensive coordinator going to be as an inexperienced defensiveminded guy? What can you bring to the table to help our franchise quarterback Cam Ward? The offensive coordinator hire would be so important. It is so important to Chris Sula’s candidacy. Right. So, what I did this morning is I went through every single season um that he’s been on staff with McVey 2017 to now and put together a list of guys that he has coached with in LA that would potentially be an offensive coordinator candidate for him. And remember, every team that’s going to interview him, not just the Titans, a very normal part of that process, a question that they’re going to ask him is, “What would your coaching staff look like?” So, he’s going to have to present this to the Titans. Well, I’m going to run through uh I don’t want to rapid fire some of the guys um that he’s worked with. Maybe I’ll put them into two buckets. Experienced potential potentially experienced candidates and young candidates that may also have a little experience or have no experience. Now, some of these names are going to make you say absolutely not, but I put them on this list anyway because uh you have to acknowledge all possibilities, I think, when it comes to this. Right. And um I I was going to make this point after the fact, but I’ll make it before right now. When Shawn McVey got hired in LA, he knew that it was really important to have experience on his staff. He had Joe Barry as like an assistant head coach and position coach. He had Wade Phillips as a defensive coordinator. If the Titans are going to hire Chris Schula, there’s a lot of concern that you don’t want to replicate the Brian Callahan mistake. You don’t want to hire a firsttime head coach and then maybe allow him to hire a bunch of firsttime coordinators with Nick Holtz and Dinard Wilson. A lack of experience was absolutely a problem on Brian Callahan’s staff, at least from a coordinator perspective, because hindsight, I don’t want to say that hindsight’s 2020. I remember complimenting Brian Callahan and I to it’s it holds true to this day for trying to supplement that with a lot of experience at the position coaches like Frank Bush who’s been around forever and uh all throughout obviously Bill Callahan coming in, right? He had a lot of experience throughout his position coaches, but it still hurt I think that they didn’t have any experience from the head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator. Well, special teams coordinator. Don’t write that one off. Yeah, sorry. Colt Anderson as well. I I I certainly should have included in that. Well, here are some of the experienced candidates that Chris Schula could present. Some of them are going to make you say, “God, no.” Uh, one of the first ones is Greg Olsen, who’s currently the Las Vegas Raiders interim offensive coordinator. He’s been the Raiders offensive coordinator three times. It’s hilarious. Okay. And uh, he was on one of those Rams coaching staffs. I think it’s the quarterback’s coach. I forgot to write it down. I believe it was as a quarterback’s coach. Uh, to me, I’m running for the Hills. I think if if if they hire if you know Greg Olsen that immediately removes Chris Schula from candidacy for me I don’t think it would be Greg Olsen but that’s a nameless Shane Waldron who flamed out horribly with the Seattle Seahawks and the Chicago Bears. Yeah after flaming out horribly with the Chicago Bears. um a guy whose players espec look at Jackson Smith and Jigba one of the best receivers in football right he came out and had some pretty damning things to say about Shane Waldron’s offense um yeah so I like how you’re starting off with the guys that will make us say sorry Chris thanks for coming in um come back when you have better OC candidates is that the that what you’re doing essentially but these are the guy he’s worked with these guys they’ve been coordinators in the NFL that immediately puts them on a potential short list Right. Two of them are employed by the Rams right now. One of them uh as quarterback’s coach, I believe, is his current role. Dave Rigon uh Rigon Regoni. Dave Rigon, who you might, I mean, ring a bell. He was an NFL quarterback and he was a Titans position coach for several years. Like I think he started out with quarterbacks and then moved to wide receivers about a decade ago. Dave Raone was on Titans and he was a C. So he started with quarterbacks and then or were started with receivers and then went to quarterbacks for the Titans. That’s right. And he’s currently quarterbacks with the Rams, right? It’s quarter. Yeah. So, and I forgot this. He was an offensive coordinator for three years with the Falcons. Under Arthur, was it under Arthur Smith? I think. Yep. Yep. So, maybe he’s also a candidate if the Titans hire Arthur Smith. So, there’s another So, Dave Reon, Alex Van Pelt, who I’d also run for those. He’s currently on the Ram staff as I believe like a senior offensive assistant, but he’s got quite a bit of coordinator experience throughout his NFL career. I think those four um Olsen, Waldrin, Regone, and Vanpelt are the ones that would make me go, “Oh god, no. Please no.” But some of the other ones that are also experienced candidates that I think are have a lot less experience because they’re not 80 years old like some of those guys are. Um, I look at a guy like Zack Robinson, who’s currently the offensive coordinator for the Falcons. I think it’s within the realm of possibility that the Falcons clean house this year after another losing season under Raheem Morris. Maybe he becomes available. Zack Robinson was a guy that had a lot of intrigue like eight months ago, but things haven’t gone well in Atlanta this year, specifically on offense, you know, with Michael Penn. And I I just that offense to me isn’t as productive as it should be. But that’s when you have like four top eight to 12 picks including the quarterback and your best three skill players in Drake London, Kyle Pitts, Bejian Robinson. Like that offense should be humming and it’s not. So the sign has really worn off, Zack Robinson. But I wanted to mention him because again, he he worked with uh he worked with Schula and he’s probably going to become available after this year. Uh, here’s one that I can’t help but chuckle at, but Zack Taylor, you know, the head coach of the Bengals, if you want to replicate that Brian Callahan offense, Zack Taylor, of course, you know, worked with Schula. If the Bengals do fire him, I think he’s going to be an offensive coordinator somewhere. So, it would be silly to uh to not at least mention the possibility. Um, Thomas Brown, who uh is currently working for Mike Vrabel as a the Patriots tight end coach and I think passing game coordinator, similar to Zack Robinson almost where there was like a lot of intrigue about him and then he had a nightmare stint as like the Bears interim and then another nightmare stint as the Panthers offensive coordinator. Like maybe he’s rehabilitating the reputation enough under Vrael in New England right now. Again, another guy who’s on the list um of someone who worked with Schula that would maybe be on the short list. Here are I think three final ones I have and I’m rapid fire. Nick Kaye. I don’t think Nick Haley’s actually going to become available. The current Houston Texans offensive coordinator, but the Texans offense has kind of been bad enough that maybe it’s within the realm of possibility. How like they’ve looked better under Davis Mills. I mean CJ Stout is coming off a pretty good game, right? He’s coming off a pretty good game. Shook off some rust and started to look pretty good. Yeah. But at the start of this season, it was terrible under Nick Kaye and CJ Strad. And then it got like better under Davis Mills, which maybe says more about CJ Strad than it does about Nick Kaye. Um, but it looks better now uh at least in the short term. I I don’t think Kay’s be going to become available, but maybe. U here’s a name that really does intrigue me. And if Chris Schula could I feel like all these names everyone’s like no here’s a name that that would really intrigue me. It’s current Rams offensive coordinator Mike Lafleur. Remember he’s not calling plays there uh in LA. Of course that goes to Shawn McVey and he wouldn’t be the first Rams offensive coordinator to leave the Rams to call plays for the Titans like his brother Matt Lafleur did once upon a time. We know if you’re a coordinator that’s not calling plays, it really hurts your candidacy to become a head coach. It didn’t for Brian Callahan, but maybe it should have. But it hurt Matt Laflur. And he did the right thing. He came to Tennessee. He called plays. He got a head coaching job. I think it’s well within the realm of possibility that Mike Laflur would leave the Rams for an opportunity to call plays. And maybe that’s under Don Chris Donula. Maybe that’s under Chris Schula. And maybe that’s for a sophomore number one overall pick at quarterback in Cam Ward. Maybe that would be enough to tempt Mike Laflur. I am significantly more interested in in Chris Schula if Michael Laflur is his offensive coordinator. This is based partially on the list that you just gave, but also just on how it kind of works in the NFL. I think M Mike Lafleur is by far the most likely person that Chris Schula has at the top of his OC list. He uh Mike Laflur coached under Kyle Shanahan with Robert Salah in San Francisco. Robert Salah left to become the head coach of the Jets and Mike Lafleur came with him as his offensive coordinator. Mike Lafleur then goes back to the Rams as soon as the uh the the Jets thing didn’t work out and Soliga and the whole staff gets fired the next season. He’s the offensive coordinator of the Rams and he’s been in that role since 2023. And Chris Schula is there as well. And he like once upon a time the defensive coordinator for the team that uh Mike Laflur was a coordinatorish on when at the 49ers he was just pass game coordinator but he wasn’t calling plays. A non-play calling coordinator of sorts. The DC leaves for a head coaching job calls you up and says come be the OC and he said yes. I think it would follow a similar pattern um if that happened here with Schula leaving. And I like that is a name that I’m in on if Chris Schula pitches that as his OC choice because look, he’s learned under Shanahan and McVey now. He’s brothers with another NFL head coach who has done a pretty dang good job coordinating offenses and just leading that Packers team and Matt Laflur. and he’s watched this year specifically as McVey has like created this amoeba flowing shape of an offense for the Rams where they can be, you know, in 13 personnel one week and 11 personnel the next week and just seen how you put players in a position to succeed and throw off the defense anyway. Like learning under Kyle Shanahan and Shawn McVey, I don’t know if it gets much better than that. And that situation with the Jets, you know, Zack Wilson, Aaron Rogers comes in and gets hurt. Like talk about an impossible situation for him the floor as a coordinator. I’ve got one final name for you, one that you’ve potentially never heard of that I’m going to plant my flag right now as a future NFL offensive coordinator, and that is current Rams passing game coordinator Nathan Sheielouse. Now, this would certainly not check the experience box. Nathan Sheel House is a 35year-old former college quarterback at Illinois. I watched a bunch of interesting YouTube videos on this guy. He is incredibly impressive. He was quarterback in Illinois. He beats RG3 in like a bowl game, a really interesting game against RG3. Then he gets injured the following year and it kind of goes to crap. His college career, it just kind of ends there with the injury, the adversity. So he immediately goes into coaching at Illinois after he graduates as their quarterback. He becomes a football operations member of their staff. He then becomes a running back’s coach and offensive assistant. Long story short, this guy is a former quarterback who at the college level coached running backs, wide receivers, and quarterbacks before becoming Iowa State’s running game coordinator and then their offensive coordinator. This guy had started putting together one hell of a resume when Shawn McVey, one of the best coaching recruiters in the nation, brings him on staff last year as an offensive assistant and passing game specialist and now promotes him this year to passing game coordinator. This guy might be the next Kevin Oonnell, Mike Kfka, whoever you want to talk about as a former quarterback that is kind of climbing the ranks and I think is going to be a future NFL coordinator. Uh, would the pairing scare me with Schula? A little bit due to the inexperience of both of them, but this is a guy that you might want to get in on at some point. I don’t know if it’s going to be the Titans, but someone’s going to get in on him and steal him from McVeyy’s staff at some point. What’s going to happen is Mike Laflur is going to leave to call plays somewhere and Nathan Shielhouse is going to get he’s going to be the next non-play calling officer because it’s not going to be Dave Regone for the Rams I don’t think or Alex Vanpelt like they or you know they got a ton of older experienced guys in these lesser roles. It’s going to be a guy that’s more of an upandcomer and it might be Nathan Shield House. I want to quickly touch on um you know something quickly because we’re getting longwinded and and I want to get to your short list still as well. Uh Jeffrey Simmons who the other day and we talked about it on yesterday’s episode, but after Sunday’s loss to the Jags, embarrassing loss, talked about how the next head coach has to be like a a culture builder leader type of guy. Well, who are some candidates that check that box? I actually wrote a short article on Music City Miracles about this. I don’t know that it’s Schula or Mentor, but it might be like they both strike me tough, hard-nosed, that Schula family. Mentor learning under Harbaugh. Like I have no doubt that those guys are, you know, tough, hard-nosed leaders. But when I think of culture, I kind of think of someone that’s a bit more experienced. Someone who knows what it’s like maybe to build a culture because they’ve done it before. I think of Mike McCarthy, obviously, who Albert Brerier mentions in that article. I don’t know if I think of Matt Naggie in all honesty, but you know, learning under Andy Reid, I’m just I’m not totally ready to say he’s got no idea, but I’m also not confident that he does. I just wanted to throw Matt Naggie’s name in this episode because Albert Brier did mention him in that article. We’ve talked about him a lot as someone who’s got those connections to Boronzi from their times together in Kansas City. And he obviously checks the previous head coaching experience box and he also checks the play calling experience box because he did do it on in Chicago uh for a period as their head coach. Obviously hasn’t really done it under Andy Reid. He did do it under Andy Reid at points during like some some earlier portion of his tenor right before he left for Chicago. So he’s got five years of play calling experience and he’s got head previous head coaching experience and the connection to Borani which Brier notes but when I think of culture builders the guys who I really think of again Mike McCarthy and I do think of Robert Salah a not even a little bit a lot as a really tough sob hard-nosed leader I think he knows what it’s like to build culture he knows how to hold guys accountable um for meccarthy and him are at the top of the list. But I do wonder about the naggies, the Schulas, and the Menters as guys that might be, you know, hard-nosed leaders that could that kind of could get this organization to where they need to get. And I’m a little skeptical that Naggie is really a candidate because if you read this paragraph that Breer wrote and just look at the wording along those lines, that’s along the lines of more experience and someone who could work with Cam Ward. along those lines and tied into the networks of the guys on hand. He’s literally telling us, I’m just connecting dots based on who the front office knows and who they’ve worked with that meets criteria I’ve been told exists. And guys who meet that criteria include Matt Naggie and Mike McCarthy. And everyone’s doing the same thing. But the point is that’s not the first time Naggie has been mentioned. I think it was Diana Rsini who put out an initial short list and had him on it. Probably also due to the Borgansi connection. Stony Keely and Zack Lions like Stony tweeted the other day, you know, kind of tongue and cheek, but he had like a a picture of a book that was like the Bears offense, I think, from the Matt Naggie years. And he captioned it like studying the next Titans offense. Stony Keely and and and Zack are really driving home the Matt Naggie. I don’t want to say is going to be the next Titans head coach because I they they you know they said that maybe in just a little bit, but I do think they seriously you know strongly believe that Negi is going to be a really really strong candidate for this job. And that would be interesting because he uh you know it’s hard to say who who’s to blame for anything that happens in anyone’s tenure anywhere in the NFL. There’s always a new story hard in Chicago, right? After winning coach of the year his first like he won 12 games his first year or whatever won coach. Just saying. So we say he flamed out hard. He did win coach of the year. Yeah, he won 12 games his first year and then everything went downhill from there. He was working with Mitch Trabiscy as his quarterback. has to be acknowledged, but he didn’t necessarily I mean maybe he did get the most out of him cuz his like his rookie of year was his best season in the NFL. Um anyway, yeah, so Matt Naggie definitely like on the list of names that we need to be aware of. I personally would not get as excited for Matt Naggie. Let me tell you who I would get as excited about. Justin, this is my on December 3rd short list of top three options for the Tennessee Titans next head coach and all three guys have been mentioned. so far on this episode and this is the way I look at it. If they want to hire a firsttime head coach, which they might not, but based on this Breer report, they are looking at everyone. They’re not ruling anyone out because of experience or lack thereof. If they are looking at a first-time head coach, my top choice for firsttime head coach is Chris Schula. Now, for those of you who don’t know, you’ve referenced this a few times, the history, the football family. His grandfather, Don Shula, is the winningest coach in NFL history. His dad has been a head coach in the NFL as well. His uncle, Mike Schula, was a head coach at Alabama and has been a quarterback’s coach and an offensive coordinator and all kinds of roles in the NFL. So, he comes from a long line of football coaches. Now, that might scare you based on what happened with Brian Callahan, but then if that scares you, I’ll also point you to Clint Kubiaak and Kyle Shanahan and all kinds of other guys who found success as the son or grandson or nephew or whoever of former NFL head coaches. And here’s a really interesting point that you may or may not know about Chris Schula. He attended Miami University with Shawn McVey. They played football together for the university. They were roommates in college. And when Shawn McVey got hired as the head coach of the Rams, the head coach of the Rams, he was very young when you when this happened, if you guys don’t remember, he hired his buddy Chris Schula on the the staff there. And guess where Chris Schula lived when he first moved to LA to become a coach on the Ram staff in Shawn McVeyy’s house. These guys are super tight. I bet they’ve spent hours and hours and hours chopping up ball together. And if you think that like Kevin Oonnell and Zack Taylor and all these other guys just got a job because they rubbed elbows with Shawn McVey for a season or two in LA. Well, Chris Schula is the most elbow rubbing guy of all the previous McVey coaching candidates, eight years with him in LA, but even more than that going back to their time together at Miami. and they have like a friendship that goes beyond just colleagues in the workplace where they probably have talked so much ball together. Of course, I’d be all in on Chris Schula. If there’s one guy you’re going to take a chance on, he’s the guy I’m taking that chance on. Now, that doesn’t mean anybody will. It doesn’t mean he’s going to be successful, obviously, but he is the guy if you’re going to hire a first-time head coach, I would like it to be Chris Schula. You want to comment? We’ve talked a lot about Shoula. Should I move on to number two? No. Yeah, you could just Number two on my list is, let’s say you want to hire somebody for their second chance, their second time to be a head coach. My number one option there is, yes, Robert Salah, who just mentioned him, mostly because he threatened to kill Liam Cohen on the field. No, that’s not why, but that would be pretty fun. Can’t can’t lie, that would be pretty fun. But no, I think Robert Salah got a raw deal with the Jets. um stuck with Zack Wilson and then Aaron Rogers who then controlled everything and then he got fired in the midst of a season where it looked like they might have been able to turn things around. The drop off in defense defensive performance that the Jets experienced after firing Salah cannot be overstated and uh I think he is ready for another shot and I think he’s going to get another shot and if the Titans want to hire somebody for a second chance I do not want it to be Matt Naggie despite the offensive background that Naggie has. I would like it to be Salah because of what you mentioned already, that ability to build the culture to provide a schematic advantage on defense. Um, which he has definitely done everywhere he’s been. And, uh, he’s also a guy that’s like rubbed elbows with the Shanahan tree, which is very closely related to the McVey tree. So, yeah, I’m all in on Robert Salah. Yeah, you know, I am too. I I really am intrigued by him and I think he would have a good list of coordinators to pull from. His time in San Francisco previously, the current tenor in San Francisco, his of course his tener with the Jets. Uh I I I really like Robert Salah. I do. And I I know not everyone feels that way because of how it went in New York, but working for Woody Johnson and then letting Aaron Rogers do whatever he wants to because that order came from above him and drafting Zack Wilson at to be the franchise quarterback, like there was so much that went wrong in New York um that Robert Salah was not fully culpable for. Some of it he was not culpable for at all in my opinion. So for me, he he is a guy that really intrigues me as a as a second chance uh you know, candidate. And Mike Laflur could be a guy who like that could be where Mike Laflur wherever Salah gets hired that could be wherever Mike Laflur is calling plays next year because he’s done it with Salah once before. Um although Salah fired. Yeah. Salah fired him. So it’s it’s certainly not guaranteed that they’re going to team back up. Salah might look at that and be like didn’t work out between us. Never again kind of thing, right? Or might look at it and be like I’m sorry Aaron told me to. I had to fire you. Bring in Nathaniel Hackett or whoever Aaron Rogers best friend is. Um, yeah. All right. Number three. If you’re gonna give a guy I said if you’re gonna give a guy a first year guy, it’s a first time. I said if you’re going to give somebody a first chance, it’s Chris Schula. If you’re going to give somebody a second chance, it’s Robert Salah. If you’re going to give somebody a third chance, Justin, my number three guy on my list, it’s Mike McCarthy. I’ve been talking about Mike McCarthy since before Brian Callahan was even fired. I think like Mike McCarthy is the the the floor raiser. The we I know what I’m doing. This is going to be a competently run operation. The offense is most likely going to be very good because it’s been top 10 almost every year that he’s been a head coach in the NFL. He has a Super Bowl under his belt a long time ago, but still a Super Bowl in Green Bay with Aaron Rogers. He won 12 games multiple times with the Cowboys, went to the divisional round of the playoffs multiple times, couldn’t beat the San Francisco 49ers, so he got fired. Um, and Brian Shottenheimer’s doing a good job in Dallas, but you can’t say that it’s like any better than Mike McCarthy did because I don’t know if Mike McCarthy had a losing season in Dallas. Like, he was they was good every year. But it was the year that Prescott missed most of the year. Thank you. Yes. So, I’m all in on Mike McCarthy, too. I I said on the Sunday show when you weren’t here, Justin, that like I said something like he may never get you to a Super Bowl. He may never get you past the first round of the playoffs, but he’s a guy that can raise a floor. And somebody commented that was like, “Why would you hire someone who’s never going to win a playoff game?” And I said, I mean, I didn’t even know how to re react to that. I think the reaction is like I said, he might never he might never win a Super Bowl. He might not get you past the first round of the playoffs, but he raises the floor just like Mike Malarkey never made it past the first round. Made it past the second round of the playoffs. But the I I said he might not. What? Somebody took this. Yeah. I also think it’s crazy to I mean, and you didn’t mean it that way, but like Mike McCarthy can’t win a playoff game. Of course he can. He won a Super Bowl, right? Like, right. That’s what I’m saying. I’m saying like I whatever you think of McCarthy, he might have a ceiling, but let’s bump against that ceiling before we worry about it. Pretty cool. pretty cool to have a ceiling than not be 1 in 11 in the basement every single year. Um, I hate to do this cuz I I like it better when we disagree and debate, but the more the way you put that and I it got me, you know, wait well as I was waiting for you to wrap up your point. I think those might be my top three candidates as well. I don’t know that there’s anyone that I like better than like Mike McCarthy, uh, Robert Salah, and Chris Schula. I like Jesse Mter. I like Clint Kubiaak. I even I I’m, you know, I like Arthur Smith. I know. I I’m sorry, folks. I can’t quit. Arthur Smith, give me flack in the comments. Like the offense that we had here under Arthur Smith. I’m yearning for that again. And then the fact that Atlanta’s gotten worse since firing him in my despite drafting a quarterback top eight and paying one400 cajillion dollars in Kurt Carter instead of giving Art Smith, Tyler Hineki and Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ritter, they’ve gotten worse. So I can’t fully quit Arthur Smith, but him and Clint Kubak and Jesse Mentor, I like all three of them, but they’re not in my top three. And even Matt Naggie, I don’t know why I don’t hate Matt Naggie. Maybe I should, but I feel like the Bears are going to Bears until they hired Ben Johnson. You know, it’s like they fired Naggie and they didn’t get better after, you know, under Matt Eberloose. And it’s not like someone came in and salvaged Mitch Trabiscy. Like Mitch Trabiscy was a bad decision to draft and maybe that, you know, screwed Matt Naggie essentially, right? So, I’m not fully out on him, but I’m not in on him either. I feel like like I wouldn’t get excited about him um like I would the others. I don’t know who I I would like there’s not a lot that I would hate. I wish there were but because I know that these coaching things could go any direction like a Brian Callahan. It’s hard for me to guarantee that I hate someone unless it’s like they bring in Lou Anarumo or Steve Spagnu. You know what I mean? Like an ancient another version of Mike McCoy essentially. You know what I mean? Like I would hate that. Anything else I’d probably be pretty open-minded to because the reality of the situation is you never know, right? We were pretty excited about Brian Callahan and uh Mike Vrabel. People were, you know, it was split down the middle if I recall correctly, right? And that turned out pretty good for a long time. So that’s going to do it, I think, for this episode of the Music City Audible podcast. a really good in-depth update on the coaching search with a really good report from Albert Brerier as we went in depth on the two candidates that he mentioned, more so on Chula. I’m sure we’ll go more in depth on Mentor at some point and maybe his list of potential candidates. But until tomorrow when we return with a pretty cool episode, a Heed the Call crossover with Mark Cestler of Heed the Call, talking Titans, Browns, Cam Ward, Shador Sanders, and probably some nonsense that we haven’t gotten into yet. Until then, y’all stay safe out there and tighten up. A Broadway sports media production.

Justin Melo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Justin Graver⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ are back to discuss the latest reports and updates on the Tennessee Titans head coaching search. Albert Breer’s MMQB pointed to two emerging candidates on the Titans radar. We also share potential Offensive Coordinator candidates for the next head coach and our Top 3 Short List (as of Dec. 3) for the job.

0:00 Latest Titans Coaching Search Updates
1:18 MMQB Report from Albert Breer
10:06 Potential OC Candidates
25:42 Next Head Coach Qualities
29:07 Top 3 Short List (as of December 3rd)
38:57 Wrap Up

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