New rival names emerge as Titans head coaching search is ‘taking shape’ in latest NFL report

The latest national reporting on the Titans’ coaching search demands context.

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
Add as preferred source on Google

If history tells us anything about the timing of head coaching hires, then the Tennessee Titans are roughly one month away from announcing their next guy. Coaching shortlists, deep dives, and “insider reporting” are only getting louder as the offseason nears, and the latest report out of The Athletic deserves some attention for a couple of reasons.

Coaches the Titans are ‘interested in’

I have a sobering reality about the insider game surrounding the Titans’ coaching shortlist to share in a moment. But first, let’s take a look at what Dianna Russini said in her latest post at The Athletic.

As most have assumed all along, “Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy is viewed internally as a serious candidate,” Russini wrote. “Nagy will be in Nashville on Sunday with Kansas City, but NFL rules state there can’t be any job discussions.”

The Titans have been bumping elbows with quite a few potential interviewees lately, as it turns out. They saw 49ers DC Robert Saleh last weekend, Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak a couple weeks back, Chargers DC Jesse Minter before that, and even Rams DC Chris Shula and Broncos DC Vance Joseph at the beginning of the year. And while it is technically illegal to talk about future employment as paths cross during the season, nobody is ignorant of the reality here. Winks and nods and whispers are surely exchanged at times.

The connection to Chiefs OC Matt Nagy is obvious, given GM Mike Borgonzi’s existing relationship with the former Bears head coach. His first stint in the lead chair has aged gracefully, and I don’t doubt that the Titans will give him an initial interview.

But this assumption that Nagy is atop Borgonzi’s list because they know each other is a lazy leap. The assumption that Borgonzi would hire him over an objectively better candidate for the Titans’ future is an even greater leap. And the greatest leap of all is the assumption that selling owner Amy Adams Strunk on the non-playcaller, second (third?) fiddle offensive coordinator of a team already eliminated from the playoffs will be easy. That doesn’t sound easy to me!

Nagy wasn’t the only name Russini shared, of course. Here was her list of names she said she’s heard are on the Titans’ list:

“Tennessee also plans to reach out to several defensive coordinators, including the Indianapolis Colts’ Lou Anarumo, the Green Bay Packers’ Jeff Hafley, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Anthony Campanile, the Rams’ Chris Shula, the Houston Texans’ Matt Burke and the Chargers’ Jesse Minter.”

The truth about insider coaching shortlists 

Many of those names make a lot of sense, and some of the less common inclusions — such as division rivals Anthony Campanile of the Jaguars and Matt Burke of the Texans — are the kind of interesting sleeper candidates who make a ton of sense. I’d bet quite a few of the names on this list get interviews.

Here’s the reality about the insider game as it pertains to this coaching search, though: nobody knows anything. These national reports are some combination of agent chatter, dot-connecting guesswork, and perhaps even some lower-level sourcing from inside the Titan building.

But the truth of the matter is that the actual list has been seen by GM Mike Borgonzi and President of Football Operations Chad Brinker. That’s it. I don’t say that based on an educated guess, or from having heard it third-hand; it’s a fact.

Nobody else in the Titans’ building is privy to who exactly is and isn’t on the list. This includes immediate lieutenants in the front office, such as Reggie McKenzie or Dave Ziegler. So, potential sources below Brinker and Borgonzi surely have some idea of who has been getting researched since Brian Callahan was fired, but nobody’s list is in any way definitive or comprehensive. So take all of these reports — specifically this far out in the process — with a big grain of salt.

Related Articles