Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh joined Barstool’s Pardon My Take podcast for a conversation that had nothing to do with football and everything to do with surviving parenthood.

As a father of a budding toddler, myself, I was glued to what the Titans’ first-year coach, a father of eight, broke down the logistics of raising kids ranging from 15 years old to one, and the back and forth with hosts Big Cat and PFT Commenter delivered exactly what you’d expect.

Big Cat, a father of three, kicked things off by explaining that going from two kids to three felt like the moment everything fell apart. Saleh’s response was perfect. 

“So it’s zone defense,” Saleh said. “You’re spread out anyway, right? So whether you have three or eight, it doesn’t matter.”

The difference?

Saleh and his wife now have built-in help. That sounds… incredible. 

Saleh’s ‘cheap labor’ system at home

The funniest part to me during this quick back and forth was Saleh describing how his older kids have essentially become interns (for lack of a better word). He told a story about a friend visiting with an infant, working himself to exhaustion while Saleh didn’t get off the couch. 

“He’s just working his tail off, and I didn’t get off the couch,” Saleh joked. “I drink water. I gave it to a kid. I need water. Kid comes, brings it to me. I’m not moving at all. My kids. I mean, we raise them. We pay for everything. The least they can do is get up and get us.”

His oldest, 15, was caddying for him at a celebrity golf tournament this month.

“I got cheap labor,” the head coach joked.

Six boys and two girls. The oldest is 15, the youngest is one. That means Saleh is simultaneously living through every stage of parenthood at once. Diapers, toddlers, pre-teens, and a teenager all under one roof. It sounds chaotic. Saleh, jokingly, made it sound like a well-oiled machine.

The moment kids switch from the ‘sibling team’ to the ‘parents’ team’

PFT Commenter asked the question every parent of multiple kids eventually faces: at what point do the kids stop being on their own team and start helping mom and dad? 

“My 11 year old daughter, I mean, she’s 11 going on 20. She is just like a little mom already.”

But the real answer to when kids officially join the parents’ team? Saleh didn’t hesitate.

“As soon as they can wipe their own (expletive), they’re on their own,” Saleh said, drawing laughs from both hosts.

Big Cat jumped in to co-sign, calling the post-diaper phase the part of parenting nobody warns you about. Saleh and Big Cat co-painted the picture of walking into a bathroom to find a kid with “their hands on their ankles” waiting for assistance. The frustration for Big Cat was clearly still fresh despite having gone through it multiple times over.

Saleh’s perspective on having a big family

When asked if he and his wife are done having kids, Saleh said this is the first time they’ve actually said they’re finished. But he acknowledged the obvious follow-up with a grin: how many times have parents said they’re done before?

He also dropped two lines that cut through the comedy with some genuine warmth. 

“There’s two things I always tell people. One, the good Lord will never put you in a position you can’t handle, and two, you’ll never find a set of parents that wish they had fewer kids.”

Big Cat agreed immediately.

“You know, having kids it’s like ‘we should have done this earlier’. It’s the best.”

It’s a side of Tennessee’s new head coach that fans don’t always get to see. Press conferences are limited to strict football related questions and topics. There’s rarely time or space for Saleh to just be a person talking about his life, especially to us on the record. Pardon My Take gave him that room, and he ran with it. 

Saleh continues to build his public profile as he prepares for his first season leading the Titans. The personality is big, the family is bigger, and Nashville is getting to know both.