Titans Head Coach Candidates Ranked: 22 names in eight categories, from John Harbaugh to ‘they can’t do this’

Ranking coaching candidates for Cam Ward and the Titans in 2026.

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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The Tennessee Titans are officially in the thick of the search for their next head coach. A growing list of officially reported interview requests have come out and can be tracked here, as Mike Borgonzi & Co. undoubtedly plan on sending out a couple more for coaches in the playoffs.

The annual coaching carousel is a strange time. This year, things have quickly gone from a seemingly quiet cycle to a full-blown college transfer portal. What was just two in-season openings became three on Sunday night, then grew to six by the end of the day Monday, then a shocking seventh on Tuesday, and finally (we think?) an eighth on Thursday. Just like Black Friday during the holidays, Black Monday is experiencing something of a creeping sprawl.

But the head coach discussion we have each winter is perhaps the least-substantive, most vibes-based conversation on the NFL calendar. Most of us don’t really know as much as we think we do about these guys, we overwhelmingly tend to like the names we know best, and way too many candidates are unfairly written off by wide swaths of the public as unacceptable; without seeing so much as one (1) game coached, let alone hearing them out in a press conference.

But it is fair to have general opinions on these guys, and today, I’m going to share all of mine. This is my definitive tiers list of Tennessee Titans head coaching candidates, ranked best to worst into tiers. As you’ll soon see, I consider the vast majority of these candidates to range from truly exciting to perfectly acceptable. The bar to clear is low if you ask me, and that has everything to do with how little we actually know about each guy on average. So here they are, the 22 names from the official list of invites (names with a hyperlink), my official short-list prediction, and the recently fired coaches who have become obvious candidates league-wide.

Titans head coach candidates who would be celebrated

These first three tiers contain six coaches that would get me legitimately excited.

Tier 1: CARTWHEELS

  • Former Ravens HC John Harbaugh

John Harbaugh sits alone in the tier appropriately named after what I would be doing around the room if I landed him: cartwheels. He is an elite coach who is in extraordinarily high demand and will have his pick of a new job for a reason. If Mike Borgonzi convinced him to take on the Titans’ project, he’d be revered as a hero by fans.

Tier 2: Exciting Retreads

  • Former Browns HC Kevin Stefanski
  • 49ers DC Robert Saleh

Stefanski was the recently-fired belle of the ball for just a day before Harbaugh stole is thunder, but he’s still in high demand and is no consolation prize. He lasted six years and won two coach of the year awards in Cleveland. That’s basically akin to winning two Super Bowls in Kansas City if you ask me.

I kid (mostly), but he really did get to the playoffs in 2023 with Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, P.J. Walker, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Jeff Driskell. This past season, he was working mostly with Day 3 rookies Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel under center. I believe strongly that he is a good ball coach who needs a new situation and a real QB.

Robert Saleh was the head coach of a different deeply incompetent franchise from 2021-2024: the New York Jets. His defenses were the best in the league during that stretch, and fell apart the moment he left. His players talk about him exceedingly glowingly. And he has a handful of years of play calling experience to boot. I think he’s exactly the kind of culture-building alpha the Titans need.

Tier 3: High-Caliber Fresh Faces

  • Packers DC Jeff Hafley
  • Rams DC Chris Shula
  • Chargers DC Jesse Minter

This trio of defensive minds have zero NFL head coaching experience between them, but they’re all very hot candidates to change that this cycle.

Hafley’s reviews out of Green Bay are glowing, in particular his ability to relate to his players. He has collegiate experience as a head coach, coming to the Packers from Boston College. He got that program to bowl eligibility in three of four years with his best player during that span being Zay Flowers. That right there is an accomplishment.

Shula is the next wunderkind to come from the McVay tree. His defenses have been amongst the league’s best even since losing Aaron Donald, and he’s got the shiny pedigree most teams are looking for. Jesse Minter is similarly positions across the city in LA, leading an impressively disciplined Chargers unit since leaving Michigan to join Jim Harbaugh. Both of these young west coach defensive coordinators have strong head coaching resumes.

Titans head coach candidates who’d get split reactions

Tiers 4, 5, and 6 make up the bulk of this list. While I’m less bullish on these names, I think they’re all perfectly acceptable choices if this is who Mike Borgonzi and Chad Brinker decide is best for the Tennessee Titans.

Tier 4: Less Exciting Retreads

  • Broncos DC Vance Joseph
  • Former Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy
  • Chiefs OC Matt Nagy
  • Steelers OC Arthur Smith

The Titans search is focused heavily on coaches with serious experience, if you can’t already tell. These four names aren’t the most exciting on the list, but they offer previous head coaching experience and lessons learned for their second (and third) stints.

Vance Joseph might be the most under-discussed name on the market this year. He’s been leading a top-3 defense in the league for two years now, and I’ve only heard good things about him from those who’ve worked with him. He deserves another shot somewhere.

McCarthy and Nagy have been talked about for months thanks to their connections to Brinker and Borgonzi. Nagy is already on the books to interview this weekend, and McCarthy will come soon after him. In fact, Nagy is a pretty hot name across the league to interview for openings. It seems likely he gets another shot.

McCarthy’s been around the block twice already, but he wasn’t fired from Dallas. He walked away. Does he present a high ceiling? Debatable. Does he set a high floor? If history is any indicator, then very.

And finally, former Titans OC Arthur Smith is on the books to interview for the head position too. He’s a unique flavor of offensive mind, but he had great success here the first time around.

Tier 5: HC? Maybe. Coordinator? Absolutely.

  • Former Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel
  • Former Falcons HC Raheem Morris
  • Former Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury

These three former head coaches are questionable in the main chair, but they’d make really exciting coordinator hires.

McDaniel is the newest addition to this list, and perhaps the most misplaced as well. I’d take him as a head coach quite happily. I think the issue in Miami was Tua and roster-based, not McDaniel. But it’s looking like he’ll be an OC this year, and a lot of Titans candidates have connections to him. More on that here.

Morris is also a fascinating coordinator option, especially if the Titans hire an offensive or CEO type who needs a “head coach” of the defense. The way Morris’s players reacted to his departure in Atlanta was telling. His guys buy-in.

And finally, the man in perhaps the most strange position this cycle: Kliff Kingsbury. Recently fired from Washington (they “mutually parted ways”), he’s fielding head coach interest around the league anyways. His first stint in Arizona never quite got off the ground, so I’d have questions about how he would attack another head coach job differently. But as a coordinator? Bring it on.

Tier 6: Willing To Hear Them Out

  • Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver
  • Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak
  • Giants Interim HC Mike Kafka
  • Texans DC Matt Burke
  • Broncos Passing Game Coordinator/QB Coach Davis Webb

These five candidates would be new to the head coaching ranks, but they each have resumes that make them interesting should Titans leadership decide they were worth placing a bet on.

Anthony Weaver’s Dolphins defense surged this season, and I’ve been really impressed by what I’ve heard from and about him in my research. I think he’s a bona fide leader of men. I feel similarly about Texans DC Matt Burke, who I think has done a really nice job taking over as the play caller from DeMeco Ryans this season. I do wonder if Houston’s “line up and play ball” approach on defense this year, which has leaned on the supreme talent of their players instead of deceptive scheme, has hurt him in getting more attention so far this cycle.

A guy who intrigues me for his ability to do it without “the guy” at QB is Klint Kubiak, who kind of represents the opposite pedigree of Brian Callahan in that way. There’s not much worry about an elite QB buoying his resume this season (though Darnold is still underrated). Mike Kafka is a guy the Titans are familiar with already from an interview in the last search in 2024, and he’s been a popular interview for a couple of years around the league.

Lastly, Davis Webb is my dart throw on a hire that comes out of nowhere. The only non-HC/OC/DC on this list, I’ve heard good things about him from the coaching ranks all season long. He’s already gotten at least one head coach interview this year, and maybe the Titans give him another.

Titans head coach hires who would be rejected

Tiers 7 and 8 are where I must put my foot down. While I don’t think Brinker and Borgonzi are idiots—a real hot take depending on who you ask—I’d have real questions about these choices. My bar to clear for acceptable hires is low, but these four candidates fall short.

Tier 7: Really The Best They Could Do?

  • Colts DC Lou Anarumo
  • Former Cowboys HC Jason Garrett

Anarumo has received multiple interview requests so far this month, and he must have one heck of an agent because I’m not sure why. I think he’s a really good DC who got unfairly scapegoated in Cincinnati. But at age 59, is head coaching really in his future? I also can’t help but laugh at the idea of trying to sell the Titans public on replacing Zac Taylor’s old OC with Zac Taylor’s old DC. He’s not a serious candidate.

Nor is Jason Garrett, who has been out of coaching for over four years. The NBC studio analyst gave Mike Borgonzi’s brother his start in coaching at the beginning of his tenure in Dallas in 2011, and this feels like a favor interview. They’re learning what they can and moving on.

Tier 8: They Can’t Do This.

  • Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo
  • Titans Interim HC Mike McCoy

Spagnuolo and McCoy are the worse of the worst on this list. Spags is a legendary DC who has devised some of the greatest bespoke game plans that we’ve ever seen in huge spots. But the first time he was a head coach, it was one of the worst tenures of all time. He’s got the second-worst record of any coach to reach 50+ games in the Super Bowl era, and lately he’s been the subject of annual retirement rumors. They cannot hire him.

Mike McCoy gets the same answer. Thank you for keeping the team from imploding down the stretch, now goodbye.

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