The 25th anniversary of 9/11 brings Robert Saleh’s football journey full circle with the Jets-Titans in Week 1
Saleh’s brother survived the attacks on the World Trade Center towers, beginning a period of reflection that led him from finance to football. On Sunday, his second chance begins with the Tennessee Titans against the New York Jets.
Twenty-five years ago today, September 11th changed everything. The attack on the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers reshaped the country, reshaped lives, and for Tennessee Titans coach Robert Saleh, reshaped his entire career path.
There is powerful irony in the fact that Saleh’s second head coaching opportunity begins this week against the New York Jets, the team that fired him, a franchise named after a New York City institution, just days after the 25th anniversary of the day that made him a football coach.
Robert Saleh’s family connection to September 11, 2001
Saleh’s connection to 9/11 is deeply personal. His brother, David, was working on the 61st floor in the South Tower that morning. After the first plane hit the North Tower, an intercom announcement told everyone not to panic and return to their offices. David ignored it. Something didn’t feel right, and he got out. He survived and has lived to tell that story, including attending his brother Robert’s introductory press conference in Nashville in January.
For the new Titans head coach, his brother walking out of the World Trade Center that morning was part of the “build up” to leaving his fresh career in banking he had just started out of college.
“My brother goes through his experience. It was hard,” Saleh told 3HL on 104.5 The Zone. “If I wanted to see what my mother looked like if she lost one of us, that was the moment. But just reflecting through tragedy, it’s unfortunate because through tragedy I was able to find grace, and not everyone can say that, but through that experience, just it was a buildup, and it built up to that Super Bowl. It was Patriots Rams.”
The morning after that Super Bowl Saleh knew his cushy bank job with a six figure salary felt wrong. It was a deep feeling he described to 3HL that his brother now mocks him for.
“My brother makes fun of me, but I was sitting in my cubicle, and I call him, and you know the type of tears when your mom pulled your behind, and you had the hiccups. So I’m just bawling. I am not where I am supposed to be, and I got up, I walked out, and then I never looked back.”
The weight of what happened on 9/11 pushed people across the country toward purpose. Some joined the military. Some felt called to fight, to unite, to bring communities together. Saleh was drawn to chase his passion and become a football coach, the one thing his dad always said he regretted not doing.
“My dad always wanted to coach. He did all the little league stuff, and he made a decision when he finished playing. You know, he had to try it with the Bears and all that stuff, and he decided to chase money, and I’ve always believed that if you’re willing to hustle, you could always make money. And if I gave myself till I was 30 to do something in coaching.”
“I was fortunate, though,” Saleh shared about his passion-chasing decision. “My parents’ unbelievable support system. But without them, I don’t know if I would have had the means to do it. But they supported me, and my brothers supported me, my sisters, and you know. So I’ve been fortunate.”
The Saleh football legacy runs deep. His family is well documented as a massive football family where at least one Saleh was playing at the same high school for 37 consecutive years, stretching from his father in 1961 to him in 1997 as bookend Salehs at Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan.
The Titans-Jets layers of irony in Week 1
Now here we are. Saleh is coaching the Titans in Week 1, his first game in his second chance as an NFL head coach, against the Jets. The New York Jets. A New York team. Two days after the 25th anniversary of the day that put him on this path.
The football conversation around this game has been all about must-win narratives for both Tennessee and New York. That’s fair. That’s what this week demands.
But the layers underneath it all are striking. Saleh’s brother survived the attack 25 years ago. Saleh left finance to chase coaching. The Jets fired him. And now, on this weekend of all weekends, facing New York to open the season.
I was in sixth grade on September 11th, 2001. I have a vivid memory of walking through that uncomfortable, eerie day. In one of our A to Z text groups, where the youngest is 35 and the oldest is 45, we all have different life experiences of living through that day. The conversation reminded me of the Saleh story.
Twenty-five years later, the emotions from that day still stick with me. They stick with a lot of us. And for Robert Saleh, those emotions built the foundation of everything he’s done in football since. The fact that his coaching journey comes full circle against a New York team, on this weekend, is the kind of thing you couldn’t script.
