20+ Head Coaching Candidates Titans Should Consider (with Conor Orr) | MCA Titans Podcast

20+ Head Coaching Candidates Titans Should Consider (with Conor Orr) | MCA Titans Podcast

The Titans will soon be conducting another head coaching search and they will hopefully this time be casting a very wide net. I feel like as Titans fans we’ve been talking about the same handful of potential candidates over the last few weeks. So I decided to bring Connor our senior writer at Sports Illustrated onto the show because he just put out an article earlier this week identifying 20 20 different head coaching candidates. We’re going to talk through all of them now and maybe one or two others. This is the Music City Audible. Let’s get to it. Welcome everyone to another episode of the Titans Titans Titans podcast presented by Sinkers Beverages, the premier wine, spirits, and beer store in East Nashville in partnership with 440 Sports. I’m Justin Graver and joining me today with Justin Melo, still out of the office, is senior writer for Sports Illustrated covering the NFL, also the co-host of the Monday Morning Quarterback podcast and you can find him on Heed the Call, my other my full-time job. Please welcome to the show Connor or Connor, thank you for being here with me today. How’s it going, buddy? It’s good. And don’t let Dan win. call it the Music City Audible podcast. We don’t have to call it Titans Titans Titans or Titans Web Zone or Viva Titans. We can call it the what it’s supposed to be called. Don’t let Dan win. This is your space. Protect it. Ah, good call. Good call. So, yes, we will continue on with the Music City Music Podcast. Uh, with that in mind, thank you, Connor, for backing the show. Um, Connor, you just wrote an article for Sports Illustrated published earlier this week. I would encourage all Titans fans to go find it and read it. It will be linked in this podcast description here. 20 candidates to replace Brian Callahan as the Titans head coach. And I don’t know if it’s like a little early for the Titans to actually be thinking about this. I have we’ve heard reporting from inside the building that they haven’t actually started putting their list together yet despite some insiders like Ian Rapaort and Peter Shger throwing names out there as if these are names to watch as if they already have actual information versus just like connecting relationship dots. But I still think it’s always good to know what the options are going to be, what guys out there to watch for the rest of the season, basically like in the jobs that they currently have, if they currently have jobs in the NFL or college football or whatever. And you got 20 great candidates here that I would love to talk through with you. I know some Titans fans are going to hate some of these names. Other Titans fans are going to be very excited about some of these names. But you also put together lists like this every single year of upcoming head coach candidates. What’s your process like when you start finding these names? Oh man. Okay, that’s a great question. Before I answer that, I will defend Rap Sheet and Peter by saying this. If Amy Adams Strunk is a good owner, she already has a list. And I will say this, back when the Giants, I used to cover the Giants and uh is it like a day-to-day beat reporter? And even during the height of the Tom Coughlin era, so we’re talking about 2013, this was probably the tail end, right? But 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, John Mayer had a list of replacements for Tom Coughlin. And every good owner, I think, has that little index card in their desk that when they meet people at, you know, accelerator programs or at the combine or something like that, they write down like, you know, that guy was interesting. Um, I don’t know what Amy’s process is, you know. Um, but I will say that a lot of owners do have, you know, their kind of emergency preparedness kit just in case, you know, something like this happens and and they need to go their separate ways. As for putting the list together, last year we only had 109 names on it. So, um, and what we’re doing basically is you’re trying to you’re trying to start the process like an owner would and then you continue to branch out. And every year we miss somebody. Last year was Pete Carol. Um, which just really frustrated me. Um, but what you do is you start the way that almost an owner would start, right? And you’re going to be contacted by agents. you’re going to be contacted by, you know, power brokers and saying, “You should hire this guy. You should hire this guy.” Okay. So, then we go out and we talk to those guys and say, “Hey, who who are you guys, you know, who are you guys recommending to owners, you know, and then once we have those guys, then we reach out to, you know, those people and we say, hey, what, you know, what’s your process? You know, what were your responsibilities um with your team? What were you doing?” And then we ask them, “Hey, give me three other coaches that you think are really talented.” And then you branch out to those guys and those guys and those guys and you try to create a web where you’re pretty sure that this is what it’s going to look like because every year, right, it’s not just the head coaches. If there’s 10 or if there’s seven to 10 head coach firings, that means there’s like over a hundred people that are in flux here. And so it’s like, okay, um, what does this look like? How does this look? And, you know, their names on there. You know, I think what gets me going is like, you know, I got a call last year um right around that time and I got tipped off that the Cowboys were going to hire Clayton Adams as their offensive coordinator and it was one of those things where they were like, you know what, he was on your list three years ago as just an anonymous offensive line coach with the Arizona Cardinals. And you know that was kind of an acknowledgement that like okay like you know every process is flawed but uh you know at least sometimes we we get it right you know so yeah identify those upandcomers which makes you I think the perfect person to write this 20 head coach candidates for the Tennessee Titans article and I’m just going to go through this list. We’ll talk for a little bit longer on some of these guys. other guys we might breeze past. But one name that I want to start with is not even on your list. And the reason I bring him up first is because not just myself, but I know a lot of our audience, Justin Melo, would also if he was here, would back me up on this. We kind of want this guy to be at least considered as a front runner for the job. And that is former Packers and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy. And the reason I really like Mike McCarthy, and I think a lot of people listening might know this already, is that I think he brings a high floor to this organization, a stabilizing presence, someone who’s worked with young quarterbacks and gotten really high level play out of quarterbacks, who knows offense, and who knows how to run a team as a head coach and be a leader and do all the things that I think Brian Callahan was missing. Get guys on the details and like really executing at a high level. won had multiple 12- win seasons with the Cowboys with Jerry Jones like breathing down his neck. Obviously won a Super Bowl with the Packers with what feels like, you know, a different lifetime ago. And maybe that’s too long ago to really be considered, but I think his work with the Cowboys was pretty like, yeah, they they kind of hit a ceiling and I think that could be what happens in Tennessee, but the Titans need to come be brought out of the basement dwelling tier of the NFL by just getting a professional in the room. And I that’s why I one of the reasons I’m so high on Mike McCarthy. I think the risk for this team hiring a firsttime head coach that Brian Callahan was a highly soughtafter candidate, right? And there are a couple of guys on your list who mirror his experience a little bit, you know, whether it’s their dad was a head coach or they’re a non-play calling OC or whatever. Like, and we’re not going to I think it would be a mistake to just rule out guys that have a similar background to Brian Callahan because Callahan failed. Like, and not everyone’s going to fail in those with the same resume. But just like if you swing and miss on a high upside coach who is unproven, that could have ramifications that mean you’re drafting a new quarterback in two or three years, and that that is the worst timeline to go down. So, that’s why I feel like Mike McCarthy is a solid choice. Is there a reason, any particular reason he didn’t make your list? Yeah, I mean, so a couple things. I think that Mike is a great coach. I think where Cam Ward is at in his stage of becoming a good NFL quarterback doesn’t necessarily line up with Mike’s timeline in terms of, you know, I mean, he came to the Cowboys and yes, I will acknowledge the fact that like he he won some games with Cooper Rush and had some success with Cooper Rush, so I’m not I’m not passing that over. Um, but you know, we had Brett Favre into Peak Aaron Rodgers into Dak Prescott. And one of the interesting things that um when I was doing some reporting on Adam Stenovich last year as a Packers offensive coordinator, I talked to some of the offensive linemen in Green Bay and they said when Mike was here like so just to give you a perspective on what Adam has taught us, we didn’t have like run fake blocking in our repertoire because Aaron Rogers was going to drop back and pass and we were going to hold the island and we were going to get our asses kicked 50 times a game. And when Matt Lafur came in, it was like, “Okay, we need to we need to fake run block to set up play action.” And everyone was like, “Well, how the hell do I do that?” And for me, and this could just be over inellectualizing it, and you could accuse me of that, and that’s totally fine, but I want Cam Warden in a movementbased offense. I want him on the move constantly. And I’m not saying I want him to run constantly. I want him rolling out. I want him outside of the pocket. I want him to be able to create and do what he does best. I I just don’t think that’s Mike. I think Mike is good for a quarterback who’s a good pre-nap developer, a guy who is maybe a little bit more of a veteran who can see things and and and make it work the right way. This has got to be a camcentric hire. I mean, it just does. And and and at least in my opinion, again, this is just me. Um I I didn’t see him as as that kind of guy. I think that’s a fair criticism and it’s definitely something to consider that like McCarthy has the most recently worked with quarterbacks who already had been established as like that’s obviously your guy whereas Cam is obviously the guy for now but how long does that last uh if he doesn’t find success TBD so let’s start with the uh the top of the list here 20 names to go through we’ll be quick on some of them but the first name right off the bat I think many Titans fans are going to be like huh no please not him Naggie offensive coordinator of the Chiefs, obvious connection with uh Borghazi, and well, as we move on from Mike McCarthy, I should also mention the obvious connection there with him and Chad Brinker, who spent years with the Packers organization. Um, so that that’s something to just consider that there’s a relationship, but same thing with Mike Boranzi and Matt Naggie, who obviously flamed out as the head coach of the Chicago Bears after winning a coach of the year award and a 12- win season. And the way you put it was that um maybe we look back on his tenure a little bit different with a little bit different perspective after what Matt Eberloose did. Why does Matt Naggie deserve another shot as a head coach? I mean like to make the playoffs with Mitch Trabiscy and we forget how I mean there was the doink game. They were like a dod field goal away from beating the Eagles um when he was there in the playoffs as well. and Naggie to me, yes, it it didn’t go well towards the end, but that is probably the second most vicious market in the NFL to coach him behind Philadelphia. And so, he’s battle tested. I don’t think Nashville is going to provide nearly that kind of teeth. I think he can go in a little bit more relaxed. Um, I think he’ll be able to staff well. That Chief’s uh coaching staff is deep. I think there’s a lot of really good guys who just for some reason or another kind of haven’t just been pulled apart um and and taken to other places. Uh Blameleer there I think as their passing game coordinator there I think would be a good uh person to bring with him. But I I think he is a good developer of the quarterback position. And I think Mahomes I mean you’ve you’ve done work on this Justin is a similarly I I don’t know what you want to call it. um mildly improvisational, whatever, whatever it is, like he likes to set the tone from the pocket and likes his options spread out in a certain way. And I think Cam is similar to that because he grew up in some way, shape, or form watching Patrick Mahomes. I think Naggie understands that. And I’m big on um especially guys like that, like second chance head coaches for guys who have exhibited real talent as play callers. And I mean, shoot, we would have, you know, Shane Stiken was almost fired, you know what I mean? And and because his quarterback play was just awful. And then you give him Daniel Jones is definition of middle tier quarterback in the NFL and now they’re five and one. And I think that Naggie has that kind of potential in my mind. Like I mean, we forget that. remember there was like feature stories written about like how creative his play calls were and they all had cool names and they all like it was fun to watch the Bears. It was it was like Tariq Cohen and like all these guys we were like holy what is this? And so I um you know I don’t know I I think he’s a guy that and again that one was was brought up to me as I was putting this together and so it’s it’s obviously it needs to be on there but I I think he’s a guy that deserves another shot. Yeah, I mean I could be talked into Matt Naggie. I think there are worse options because everybody everybody associates all these guys with the end of what happened and then it’s mixed into like this hyperbole and all this stuff. I mean Matty Rafloose as it turns out you know is I mean he went from struggle to struggle you know he’s having a hard time seeing it right now. Naggie went from, you know, a bad ending, but a couple really good seasons to, yeah, just going right back to the Super Bowl. And I don’t know, I think we we he doesn’t get the credit because it’s Patrick Mahomes, but this offense was basically running off like Kareem Hunt for like a year and a half. So, you know, there’s some challenges there. And um Cam Ward, the guy who recruited him to Incarnate Word, was Patrick Mahomes offensive coordinator at Texas Tech University. Why not do another thing where, you know, bring in a new guy to be his head coach who is Mahomes offensive coordinator like it’s happened before. Do it again. Next guy on the list is a guy Titans fans are very very very familiar with. Arthur Smith obviously rose to offensive coordinator level in Tennessee after starting as like an assistant in the film room and getting all the way through the tight end’s room and then up to OC, had a stint as a head coach of the Falcons where you know Justin Melo and I on this podcast like two or three years ago would talk about how the Falcons are winning more games than their talent level. Like he comes in and goes what he go eight and eight his first season I think or something seven and nine something seven and 10 for three straight years. Yeah, there you go. Seven and 10 for three straight years on a team that like well didn’t have a lot of talent. And I think the fact that he didn’t um and uh obviously like Amy Adam knows him and would be very comfortable I think bringing him back. I think they were sad that he left and the offenses really took a nose dive in Nashville after Mike Vrabel was working with you know Todd Downing and and Tim Kelly instead of Arthur Smith. So, I don’t know. Like, I’m not anti-Arthur Smith. Is there any further talking into talking him talking him into Titans fans? I guess talking us into Arthur Smith here. I think Arthur Smith uh if if he were to create his dream offense, it’s a really fun offense. And if you go back to those Falcons teams, people don’t believe me when I say this. Um they were right behind like the Miami the early Mike McDaniel era. Miami Dolphins in like explosive plays and this was his Desmond Ritter at quarterback and even prejun Robinson like Tyler Algier at running back and I think it’s like kind of like this highwire outside zone explosive shot taking offense that I think Cam Ward would be really really good in and I think that we saw little pieces of it with Justin Fields and really really good in offense last year and one as a starter than the Jets and looks just completely out of answers in that offense with arguably more talent, right? And so and and so I think that he’s got a lot going for him. He’s going to interview well. Uh he’s probably going to come off a playoff season with the Steelers. He has familiarity in the building. And you can say what you want about Art, but I mean those Falcons teams were I mean that was a railroad job, right? Where it was like, “Oh yeah, you’re going to have Matt Ryan and Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. Psych. You’re going to have Matt Ryan for a year and then have to take a historic amount of dead money and then Julio Jones is going to get traded to the Titans and then Calvin Ridley is going to get suspended for gambling. So you actually you don’t have any of those guys and uh we’re going to draft a fantasy football team and not help at all with the defense and uh uh here’s Kyle Pittz like and he’s hurt by the way. So, I I think that there was again I mean if you want to dig into like I think it’s worth digging into what happened with some of these guys because we just keep going next up next offensive coordinator up like who touched Sean McVey and Starbucks okay you’re the next head coach like go ahead and like instead of being like some of these guys might have actually been pretty good they have additional perspective and um the place where they were at before might have been a tire fire you know and so I think that’s the case maybe with Daggy and and with Artsmith a little bit and maybe the case in Nashville too with the Titans is like yeah you have experience with a tire dysfunctional organization and I’m not saying the Titans are still dysfunctional in fact I I took a little bit of not issue but I just I disagreed with your colleague Albert Brerier’s assessment of the Titans dysfunction. I just feel like it’s we’re doing this conversation a year and a half after we should have been having the conversation, but right um no matter the the Titans have fired and hired and fired a lot of people and hopefully this is the last big hiring they’ll need to make for a while. Cliff Kingsbury is next on your list. I think most Titans fans would be cautiously happy with Kingsbury. We know a lot about Kingsbury and his work with Jaden Daniels, so I’m going to move past him. Um a couple other guys, Marcus Freeman, head coach of Notre Dame. uh would be an interesting guy to to bring in obviously um the way you put it. It’s like he’s already running an NFL type of program up there in uh at Notre Dame. So, interesting experience. But the next guy on your list is a Titans legend. Eddie George. Would Eddie George actually be ready to make that jump from the college ranks to become an NFL head coach? So, here’s what um uh someone brought this up to me the other day and I thought it was an interesting point and while it wasn’t about Eddie George in particular, I think it relates to the Titans in this way. Um now, in the absence of getting your guy in in the coaching industry, the next best thing to do is to get someone who can have at least a short-term Deion Sanders-like impact on your program where he’s going to bring a lot of attention. He’s going to bring a lot of eyeballs and he’s going to it’s going to be like a violent storm that sweeps through and like it can either lead to growth or whatever. It wasn’t going to be good anyway, so who cares? And so, um, that was like someone made that analogy, um, when it came to like the UCLA job where it’s like, hey, they’re not going to get anybody good, so why not hire like, you know, John Gruden, right? And and everyone be like, whoa. And and it’ll be weird, but at least it’ll be something, right? Yeah. And so if you’re the Titans, you’ve seen this guy coach at Nissan Stadium. He turned around a bad program. He’s a franchise legend. Um three and three, I think, at Bowling Green now. And it’s one of those things where, okay, let’s say you go after hot offensive coordinator A and B. Um you know, you’re Jesse Mter. Yeah. Something like guys like that, right? And then all of a sudden it’s like, okay, you’re kind of at the bottom of the pecking order. Like this could be an eight coach fire cycle. We don’t know how it’s going to end. Um, a lot of that will depend on the Giants and the Dolphins and how some of these other uh teams fare down the stretch, but um yeah, so I I think it’s one of those names that like I think he will get interviewed for the job. Uh he interviewed for the Bears job uh towards the tail end I think right before they hired Ben Johnson. And I think that there’s certainly curiosity there. I mean Dion, say what you will, but the year after he came to Colorado, all of a sudden a bunch of these players are getting put on my radar. former players being like, “That’s a Dion guy.” And so, okay, do with it what you will. I mean, I I I don’t know if it works. I still don’t know if Deion Sanders is a good coach, you know. Um, but, uh, it it has people thinking, and I think that’s something that, uh, I mean, I’m I’m I’m fairly confident that he will interview for that job. Interesting. Okay, keep that in mind, Titans fans. Um, the next guy on your list is another guy that I like that I have seen many Titans fans just for basically no reason. Like they can’t even explain why they don’t like this candidate. They do not want Mike Kfka to be the next head coach of the Tennessee Titans. And I’m sitting here like number one, his name is Mike. And with Mike McCoy now the interim head coach, Titans have had Mike Vrabel, Mike Mike uh Malarkey, Mike Munchack, Mike McCoy. Mike Kfka is next in line. um if it’s not Mike McCarthy. But talk to me about Mike Kfka because this is a guy that I said like would a few weeks ago we did a head coach candidates episode before, you know, like three weeks before Kellan was even fired. Um just because we were looking for something fun to talk about with this Titans team. Anyway, I in that episode I said something like Mike Kfka is the type of guy that would go like sort of under the radar throughout the actual process in terms of the news cycle of who got who’s getting hyped up as the next great coach. Mike Kfka is kind of an afterthought, but I feel like he’s the type of guy that would just emerge after two or three years as like, oh wow, he was actually the best candidate of the cycle and nobody realized it cuz maybe his like demeanor isn’t the same as some of these boisterous other guys. What do you know? Obviously, you’re you’re up there in the tri-state area. What do you know about Mike Kfka’s work with the Giants and what would make him a good candidate? Um, I think he’s doing a nice job with Jackson Dart now and that’s kind of why he he was kind of posited to me as a potential turnaround candidate. He’s got the head coaching demeanor and I’ll say that the industry is kind of split on Mike, right? There are people who even last year and he did, I think, get head coaching interviews last year if I’m not mistaken. Um, I have to double check that, but I think you’re right. There were people like, “Hey man, like stop sleeping on Mike Cafka. Like, he’s a good coach. He’s a good coach. Bad situation in New York.” And it is. Uh I mean, their personnel is awful. Uh they’re they have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. And so, uh, I I think that there are people who, again, it’s like one of those things where he’s been on the radar for so many years, and it’s almost I’m not going to compare him to Eric Benemy where it’s like, okay, well, if you interviewed for so many years and then you didn’t get it, everyone’s just kind of like, all right, well then get out of here because there was must be a reason that you didn’t get the job, but I think that there are some people who are so loud in his corner that it’s hard to ignore. And whether it’s uh the cool demeanor, whether it’s the fact that he’s a former quarterback, uh he played with uh Fitzgerald, played for Fitzgerald, the Northwestern guy that a lot of people love um and have a lot of respect for as a coach, and you go right into the Andy Reid system and tree and coaching tree and all that stuff. So, I think that there’s a lot to like about CFKA. And if Jackson Dart finishes the season as a potential rookie of the year candidate, um he’s he’s gonna get a job. It’s just a matter of where. And it’s nice to see him like fitting his offense. Like the offense with Jackson Dart as a starting quarterback doesn’t look like the same offense as Russell Wilson’s offense from a few weeks ago, which is like that to me is one of the things that is your like the biggest selling point for a head coach candidate is they all say, and even Mike McCoy said this I think yesterday. Yeah, yesterday. It’s all it’s about players, not plays. And they all say we’re going to build our system around the personnel. We’re not going to just do what we do. And then most of these guys end up just doing what they do and not actually fitting their system to the personnel. So it’s nice to see what’s happening in New York because it gives you confidence that he can actually do what he says he’s going to do. I ask people to put it this way. Don’t say the Giants are succeeding because of Jackson Dart and Cam Scatterabo. Say it this way. The Giants are calling a functional offense with a late first round pick quarterback that like 24 other teams didn’t want. A fourth round pick running back that like a hundred other teams didn’t want. And then again, one good offensive lineman like and and their generational pass rush isn’t even helping. And you know, they beat the Eagles. I mean, come on. They they something there. Yeah. And uh the same connection that Matt Naggie and Mike Borgani share. Mike Kafka has too because he was there for a long time in Kansas City while Boronzi was there. Um I’m gonna go a little quicker through some of these next guys. Vance Joseph. I think like I don’t want to be I don’t want to put anyone in a box or that’s not the right phrase, but I don’t want to just rule out candidates because they don’t coach the quarterback position. And so here’s the big thing that I will underline and not to cut you off, but when I texted a bunch of people, the reason that some of these guys are on this list is because what I heard immediately coming back from this is this doesn’t have to be a quarterback ccentric hire. Uh and like the word was leadership, leadership, leadership underlined, right? And Vance is I mean he was railroaded in that Denver job. I think he had to do like Paxton Lynch and Brock Osweiler and Trevor Simeon. I mean my god he’s had the best defense uh in the NFL the last two years. Had the one of the best defenses in the NFL when he was a head coach of uh of the Broncos. And sometimes like Mike McDonald in Seattle. If you can’t hire the offensive guy to keep up with the other offensive guys, you hire the best defensive guy you can to slow them down. And I think that Vance could get there’s a lot of good coaches on that Broncos staff that he could take with him as play calling OC. Like I I think there’s a lot to like there. Okay. The case for Vance Joseph has been made. Um the next guy on your list is Josh Griard. The the new Baker Mayfield. The next Baker Mayfield. Like is Baker Mayfield just lifting all these guys to head coaching jobs? It’s Josh Griard is next. Um, this is one of those examples I was talking about when we brought up McCarthy at the start of this is that like, yeah, he might be, you know, a great head coach, but are the Titans in a position to take a chance on somebody like that? I get nervous. If Liam Cohen wins 11 games, it’s going to be hard not to. If Liam Cohen stops winning games because the Jaguars turnover fountain runs out, then okay, then we’re going to look at it in a different way. But I mean, if there is a belief that there is something special happening down there and it’s the new hot coaching tree, then somebody’s going to do it. So, yeah. Yeah, that’s fair. Uh, Robert Salah is the next guy on your list. I think this is um you even said similar to um how we look at Matt Naggie now because the Jets have just continued to be functional. So, is Robert Salah a guy that deserves a second chance? Probably. I I kind of like like here’s here’s a pairing that I would go nuts for as a Titans fan. Robert Salah at head coach, Mike McDaniel at offensive coordinator. Is that a realistic future for some team in the NFL? It’s 100% a realistic future for somebody in the NFL. I think that they would absolutely work together. Um I think for a time shared an agent. I don’t think they do anymore. Um and they’re well acquainted with each other. Um obviously Robert’s now in in San Francisco and had worked with Mike for years and uh I think that makes a lot of sense. Um I the way that he approached that Jets job, I mean it was a steady build and then all of a sudden the owner came in and was like, “Hey, throw the hot pockets in the microwave. Like I’m bored.” And um I I just think it was just a I mean, listen, they were a touchdown away from beating the it was a close game with the Vikings in London. And then he fired Robert Solah for Jeff Wrich because he was worried that somebody else was going to hire Jeff Wi as a head coach, which probably would have happened that off season had um they just let Robert solid coach and they would have won eight or nine games, you know. And uh I think the stat was something like the Jets are dead last in like downto down EPA and defense this year and they were first like for the last like 20 games of Robert Solid coach or whatever it was you know and uh he’s got great vibes very chill um players really liked him uh but chill to the point where not like Mike McDaniel chill where it was a little too chill you know and uh I think he’s like he’s very good at coming into these situations and just being level-headed. Even Keel, if you get that offensive coordinator higher, right, you’re you’re away you go, you know, right? It makes the offensive coordinator higher like a paramount importance. Yeah, you would have to nail it. He’d have to go in knowing that I can get this guy, you know, right? Um, next guy is a guy many Titans fans are infatuated with and just NFL fans in general. Joe Brady, the officer coordinator of the Bills. And let me just tell you my reservation about Joe Brady and see if you agree or disagree. He hasn’t had success unless he’s working with a Joe Burrow Josh Allen level quarterback. Can he get those guys now? Obviously he had Joe Burrow in college. So maybe this is moot point, but can he get those guys from where Cam Ward is at right now to playing at that kind of a level assuming that they have it in them in them to play at that kind of a level or are we like was the Panthers tenure just not does it not count because of who the head coach was or like how are we supposed to look at Joe Brady because he’s one of the guys that I think like that I think of first when I think of high upside, high risk hire who could totally flame out. But yeah, I don’t who knows. Wasn’t just Joe Burrow, right? It was like Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, like that was a pretty good offense, you know, at LSU. Uh had some decent players. Uh and uh yeah, I think it was interesting, right? Because when they moved on from Ken Dorsey, Ken Dorsey was trying to follow the directive from ownership that like Josh Allen shouldn’t be running so much. And then when they fired Ken Dorsey, you know, Joe Brady was like, “Nah, Josh Allen should be running more, you know, and like he started to be good again.” And and so we’ll see. I mean, I think that the big indictment on Brady is to come, right? Uh now you’re kind of theoretically exposed, right? You only have wins against teams that are arguably the three worst teams in the NFL, four worst teams in the NFL. Um and have gotten beat by better opponents this year. Uh and the offense is starting to slow down a little bit. And Josh Allen’s like not taking some of the reads that are there. And so why is that happening? And so I I think that there’s going to be a lot of interesting factors here. I’m wondering what kind of staff Joe would put together too. Um you know because coming right from college to the NFL like I he was a Shawn Payeyton guy and Shawn Payton’s coaching now and so how many of those guys do you think you can get to come with you? What does that staff look like? Um, I thought he was going to get a more of a shot in Jacksonville for that job last year and I’m wondering why that didn’t uh formulate or take shape as much as it did. So, he’s an interesting guy. Like legitimately, I think that there were people who wanted to make him an NFL head coach after he was the offensive coordinator at LSU and thought that he would maybe even do like one year in Carolina and then immediately get hired. I know he interviews well, but we’ll see. Like you said, that’s a high-risk, highreward kind of situation. Yeah. Um, Clint Kubak is the next guy on your list and uh I’m not saying that he is in any way comparable to Brian Callahan, but his dad was an NFL head coach. Yeah. Yeah. So, but I think a lot of people like what Clint Kubak is doing. I mean, what he did the first two games in New Orleans last year was very impressive. And now taking that up to Seattle and getting Sam Darnold to continue looking like good version of Sam Darnold. I don’t think he can write that off. Um, but it’s another first timer which would scare me. And the next guy, I’m just grouping the next two on your list. Adam Stenovich, the offensive coordinator to the Packers, screams Brian Callahan like because he’s not a play calling, he’s a non-play calling OC. Can you really trust a guy like that to come in? And do the Titans do the thing that teams do where they’re like, we’re going to pivot away and get hire the opposite type of person of the one we just hired. We don’t want a play calling OC head coach anymore. Now we want the leader of men CEO guy who’s going to delegate those responsibilities. Would Adam Stenovich be that kind of guy or would he do what he’s seen Matt Laflur do? Like so maybe if you could talk about Kubak and Stenovich together. What do you like? What what are their strengths and what makes them ide like you know enticing candidates? I like so what I like about Kubak is I mean he has probably the most I mean whatever you want to call it like he has the most intimate knowledge of that Shanahan system because his dad is kind of a co-creator of it and it’s a bad cell for Titans fans to be like listen his dad would probably come and be on the staff because everybody celebrated that with Brian Gallian right and like how awesome is that like Brian we’re gonna get Brian Gallian too uh so I get it um there’s kind of a lover scorn uh thing there. But every time that he’s had pieces and been able to put together his offense, it’s been I mean, the first two weeks for the New Orleans Saints last year were awesome before everybody got hurt and uh and everything fell apart. He like a lot of the Shanahan coaches understands the why behind everything. And I think that’s one thing that Callahan just didn’t necessarily grasp. And you know, I get the the the that need to pivot away from whatever didn’t work before, but to me, it’s like you have to just hire the best possible coach. And as Amy, you know, in that situation, you got to understand your vibes. You got to understand your players. And that’s what you should be using these last I mean, you have a gift here. When Jeffrey Lur fired Chip Kelly, he only had one week left in the season, but he spent every day of it with the players saying, “What do you need? Who do you want?” hired Doug Peterson and they won a Super Bowl two years later with basically that core of players. That’s what she should be doing. And if Clint fits the vibes, you know, I I think that that’s that’s exactly what you want to do. And with Stenovich, um again, I I think really interesting guy. Like he um he’s got a really dry sense of humor. Um but like a really inspirational guy. Um and players really like him. uh have rallied around him in the past. And so and and again, it’s like when you come from the run side of it, I think it’s easier to find your pass game coordinator and the guy who’s going to design pass concepts off of your run game. I think it’s much harder to find a guy who understands how to block this system and how to run that system than it is again to hire someone to be like, “Okay, yeah, off this we’re going to run, you know, uh over out and a deep post and blah blah blah.” You know, I mean, he’s doing the hard work in in Green Bay and kind of laying the foundation for that. And he, you know, started in Green Bay in 2019, so has that, you know, overlap with Chad Brinker. So, there’s definitely some connection there. They those guys know each other. No doubt about it. Next guy on your list, Todd Monin. I think I don’t know what it is. I’d be down for Todd Monin, but there’s also maybe maybe. Is there a reason that he’s the age? What is he 59 years old and has never actually been a head coach? Does that matter to anyone? What’s the deal with that? I think that Todd has a reputation for being a salty dog and a little bit of a prickly dude. And okay, I mean, do you care when Lamar Jackson went from like 22 touchdowns to like 45 touchdowns and should have won back-to-back MVPs? Like, does that matter to you? And uh how much does it matter to players when like every game they’re balling out and scoring a ton of points and having a good time? He’s been a good coordinator almost everywhere he’s gone. Those guys at Georgia loved him. Uh the players of Georgia loved him and what they won the back-to-back national titles with Stsons and Bennett, right? Um he is a he’s a good he’s a great play caller. He’s a great designer of plays. If you just give him a chance, I think with that offense, he’ll be good. And you know, I I think he’s smart enough to surround himself with the right coaches who can make up for whatever it is interpersonally that he may or may not have, you know, and I think that’s the way that Baltimore is set up now where maybe even if Todd isn’t talking to the quarterback all the time, he has someone that he trusts who’s talking to the quarterback who’s getting the message relayed and and everybody’s on the same page. I mean, Lamar turned into and a lot of that’s credit to Lamar for sure, but like has turned into a deadly weapon as opposed to like, you know, I mean, three years ago it was like, is this guy, you know, what’s going on here? And, you know, Greg Roman really never put the wings on that offense like Todd Lincoln did. I I would I would give him a chance. I I think he’s an interesting guy. The next two guys on your list are both defensive coordinators in Los Angeles, Jesse Mter and Chris Schula. They’re both leading excellent units. I think they both come with the same kind of risks. Uh the first time head coach risk that any first- time head coach is going to come with. And you just wonder like can they be the leader of men that Brian Callahan could not be. Um I’m going to move past them because I think Titans fans are pretty familiar with those guys because they’re getting a lot of buzz. Same for Brian Flores. Um actually we could talk about Brian Flores for a second because I’d be super interested in Flores. I think what he’s done in Minnesota is incredible with the personnel that he has. And I have heard some things about Flores being super prickly and hard to play for in Miami outside of his whatever happened with him and Tua. Like it wasn’t just that. So has he because the Vikings players love Flores. So has he changed or am I was I getting bad reporting about what happened in Miami? No. I mean, I think that the idea that Brian Flores was probably a little bit too hard on his guys in Miami is legitimate. Um, I also think he has transformed into uh, and I say this all the time and people really don’t believe it when I say it, but that Vikings defense is basically player called like Harrison Smith and Blake Cashman and Andrew Van Ginkle. They are calling the defense empowered from Flores and Flores kind of introduces new wrinkles for them, gives them new options on their play card, but that doesn’t come without an immense amount of trust between both sides. And you know, that’s like, you know, he’s going out to dinner with them more. I know that there’s a lot of more like interpersonal work kind of going on there uh between those guys. And and listen, Brian’s shown a really good adaptation for personnel. I mean, Blake Cashman was kind of put on his doorstep as a potential option. He comes in and turns him around into one of the better defensive players in the league. Andrew Van Ginkle was not the kind of guy that we looked at in Miami as, you know, a defensive anchor player and is one of the more dangerous uh defensive players in the NFL. And so, I think if Flo could get the offensive coordinator higher, right, which was his main struggle in Miami, right, I I I think that he would be a really good head coach. I mean, Mike Tomlin told me this last year, like in my mind, he is the best non-head coach coach in the NFL and like couldn’t stop saying nice things about him in Pittsburgh. And uh yeah, so I mean I think he’s one of those guys that will crush it with a second chance. It’s just when does that second chance happen for him? I think like among the retread options, Brian Flores is up there for with Mike McCarthy for me as a guy that I’d really just get excited about because yeah, I think he’s just a really good ball coach. Look at your division, right? It’s like, can you do you think that you’re going to be able to get better a better offensive play caller than and and you can say what you will about these guys, but at this point, can you get a better offensive play caller than Shane Diken, Liam Cohen? I mean, I don’t know. And, you know, whatever’s going on in Houston, I don’t know. But, you know, you probably get a better offensive play caller than what they have in Houston. But, like, you know, uh, are you going to be able to out Jaguars? The Jaguars offensively. Are you going to be able to out Colts the Colts? I I don’t know. I don’t think so. Right. All right. There’s four guys left on your list and you grouped the last three of them together. So, we’ll quickly stop on Anthony Campille. Am I even saying that right? Anthony Campali. Campali. the current the current DC in Jacksonville, which like my favorite part about him being a possible candidate is that you would just weaken a division opponent. Um I don’t know how much I believe like he’s ready to be an NFL head coach, but perhaps he is. I don’t know. I think people are starting to look at So remember Green Bay was like a turnover machine defense last year. Um and they were picking up what was it Xavier McKenna had like seven straight games with an interception or something like that and they were like, “Oh, that’s cool.” Well, you know, and then he goes to Jacksonville and then they like they have more turnovers already than they did last year and Devin Lloyd looks like a potential defensive MVP candidate. And it’s like, okay, that’s not weird anymore. There is a pattern here. And Campali is one of those guys like reminds me a little bit of like not personally, but in terms of like lineage, like almost like a serriani in that he comes from like a family coaching dynasty up here in New Jersey. they’re legendary um you know for uh the footprint that they’ve had on New Jersey football. He’s been at the college level. He’s been at the pro level. Uh super affable guy like everybody loves him and that could be one of those guys that just you know comes in brings the juice and turns this defense around. I’m confident that I mean being in Green Bay, being in Jacksonville now, I think he could take a good offensive coordinator or find a good offensive coordinator candidate and and get somebody in there to pair with him. But that’s one of those guys that you’re just going to let him in the building and he’s going to win the interview and he’s going to leave you with a very difficult choice moving forward. Interesting. The last three guys in your article, you you put them together and you you called this group the three musketeers, Davis Webb, Declan Doyle, and Grant Udinski. None of them currently call plays, but that doesn’t matter to you. Well, here’s here’s why I put them in there. In 10 years, all of these guys will have been an NFL head coach. I can pretty confidently say that. I think um I mean Declan Doyle was so good that he was the youngest position I mean he was a position coach at like 26 or something like that, right? And now you know he was a right-hand man for Shawn Payeyton. Now he’s with Ben Johnson in Chicago. That’s a great internship. And I know that being with a coach doesn’t turn you into a coach. I’ve I’ve learned that over time. But that’s just a guy to keep an eye on, right? Um, same with David Webb, former NFL quarterback. Um, a guy who really understands the position, is Shawn Peyton’s right-hand man now. And a lot of people are saying like, hey, in two or three years, you know, he’ll probably get the chance to call it somewhere next year and then be a head coach. And Yudinsky is the same way. I mean, when when he left Minnesota, everyone was pretty stunned. I think Kevin Oonnell was really bummed to lose him because I think he was a big part of that team uh and and what they were doing in Minnesota last year. So I think those three guys, if you talk to people who were hiring the same year that the Rams hired Shawn McVey, everyone was kind of like, “Yeah, we had him on our list as like a next year guy.” And then all of a sudden it’s Shawn McVey, right? And the Rams do it and then they just pair him with an older head coach. they let him grow his wings and then they get rid of the older head coach and let him pick his own staff. And so I mean, you know, we can’t forget that that happened and then that and and that teams were like, “Yeah, I really like this guy. He’s just a little young and I’m not sure.” I mean, sometimes, you know, like the Rams were not in a good place, right? they were just starting uh the to move to Los Angeles and build a new stadium and had a number one draft pick and like similar to the Titans. It’s like okay, you know, like sometimes it’s not like okay well we’re nervous and let’s bring in John Gruden because that’s the only way to fix it. It’s like no man like you can you can go the other way and like all these things are big swings and misses. You don’t know if they’re going to work out. So, those are the guys, those are like the three young guys that I would say that everyone’s like, hm, like I I I like them and I don’t know when they’re going to go, but I know that they’re going to go at some point. Interesting. And another similarity, Bones Fossil is the special teams coordinator in Tennessee. He was the the special teams coordinator for Jeff Fischer and the interim head coach before Sean McVey got the job. And he stayed in LA after McVey got the job. So, an interesting Well, I guess in LA. Yeah, it was in LA by then, right? You’re right. Yeah. So, no one’s talking about the fact, by the way, that special teams coordinators have so much to do now that they are not the obvious choice for interimm head coaches because of the fact that like the new all the new special teams rules and stuff, they are working like overtime. Uh, and uh so I think he he was he did a good job as an interim head coach, the Rams. I would have liked to see him get a crack at it uh in Tennessee, too. Yeah, I he was like the guy we’ve been talking about for weeks. It was either going to be him or Mike McCoy. And uh I I backed the Mike McCoy horse and I feel like a little smart for doing that because you should obviously he was the one who was named that. Yeah, thanks Connor. Um and thank you Connor for sitting in for this full episode. Really appreciate you going through these coaches with us. Again, Connor’s article is linked in this video description, podcast description, wherever you’re watching or listening. So go read it. It’s more in-depth then. Uh you’ll get more from some of these guys we passed over and other tidbits that we didn’t even mention here in this conversation. So, uh, thanks, man. And I’ll see you tomorrow on hate the call. Hooray. Or Connor and Gravy. That’s what the peopleing amazing stuff. Follow Connor on Twitter, Connor. Or that’s 1 N C O N O R O R R. Um, and yeah, we’ll be back. I’ll be back tomorrow. I have one last episode to do before Justin Melo returns. And we’ll be we joined by East Freeze tomorrow. So, that’ll be fun. Um, getting into the weeds of the recent reports around the Titans. Until then, thanks again to Sinker Beverages. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, drop a comment below. Y’all stay safe out there and tighten up. A Broadway Sports Media production.

Justin Graver⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is joined by Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Conor Orr to talk through more than 20 potential head coaching candidates the Titans should consider, from retreads who deserve another chance to first-time coordinators to guys plucked from the college ranks. There’s a good chance the next head coach of the Tennessee Titans is discussed on this pod!

0:00 Intro
5:56 Conor Orr’s Top 20 Candidates to Replace Brian Callahan
46:32 Wrap Up

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Read Conor’s article naming 20 head coaching candidates: https://www.si.com/nfl/titans-19-top-head-coach-candidates

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The Music City Audible is presented by Sinker’s Beverages in East Nashville and Bluegrass Beverages in Hendersonville. Join the Sinker’s Beverages In Crowd: https://sinkers.storebyweb.com/s/1000-1/register

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Order Justin Melo’s book “Titans of the South” here:

Titans of the South

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