Checking on the Haters

Well well well. Here we are again. 2 years, 2 GMs, and 5 wins later, we’re right back in the coaching carousel. 

Typically, I love coaching searches. You get to make up some reason in your head why the best coach available obviously wants to come to your garage team. There’s hope and excitement in the air. You can feel the winds of change. This team might just figure it out if we get the right guy.

None of this applies when the big name around your team is Matt Nagy. Now, obviously the Titans did not end up hiring Nagy. However him simply being a serious candidate, and the mess of this coaching search, has to be talked about. 

Ultimately I think what it comes down to is that nobody respects the Titans, or the Titans’ Ownership. On 3 separate occasions in the last month, a coach has used the Titans as leverage towards a job they’d rather have. John Harbaugh, Kevin Stafanski and Jeff Hafley, were all set to meet with the Titans one day before they ended up accepting a deal. The Giants, Falcons, and Dolphins (respectively) are in no better shape than the Titans. John Harbaugh didn’t choose to go to New York for Dart, Nabers, and definitely not for the cost of living. He went to the Giants because the Mara’s wouldn’t let him leave. They know the Titans have the former #1 pick, $100 million in cap space, no state income tax and a top 5 pick (and a better defense than those other teams but that’s for later). Yet they still wined, dined and were able to persuade Harbaugh to stay. 

This raises several questions, especially when you consider it happened the exact same way 2 more times. What did John Mara, Arthur Blank and Stephen Ross say that Amy Adams Strunk didn’t? What do they have to offer that we don’t? Or yet, what traits/trends/tendencies do we have that they don’t want?

I think the answer is an unreliable owner with a trigger finger. An owner who has proven over the past 3 years, that’s she is not in the front office’s corner and will turn on them if needed. Now take this as you will. You can say it’s a cutthroat league, that’s how it goes. Maybe she’s just addicted to winning and wants that for the team and fans and will settle for nothing but the best. You could also say she’s a nepo baby who inherited a 1/32 gold mine, is content being a billionaire forever, and only makes changes when it’s drastic one way or another.

I tend to lean towards her NOT knowing what she’s doing, but i’ve been wrong before. There were reports (conflicting) that Borgonzi was fighting for Nagy, and ownership had to come in and say no. I’m not even sure if that’s reassuring, it seems like the bare minimum is to keep Nagy out of your building (Chiefs learned the hard way).  We may never know why nobody wanted to touch us with a billion foot pole, but I can assume it wasn’t because they just really loved JOHN MARA of all people. 

But again we’re in the spot where us, as Titans fans, have no choice but to buy in. Saleh is a good hire! Right? I hope so.

It’s even more concerning when ownership says they want a coach who is “a leader of men” and “a culture guy”.  It’s the classic case of “We can either have Vrabel, or a mystery box that could be Vrabel” and the first roll was Brian Callahan. Hopefully this will be better. I like Saleh, his players would die for him, and I don’t think he got a fair shot in New York.  I think there were certainly better coaches out there (don’t get me started on us not even waiting to interview Sean McDermott) but ultimately it could’ve been much worse. Maybe that was the plan all along. Scare us with whispers of Matt Nagy, and its a lot easier to buy into Bob Saleh.

There’s still a lot to be opportunistic about. Great draft position to get, hopefully, either a blue chip edge rusher or an actual WR 1 (please god). Cam Ward heading into year 2 off a promising rookie campaign. The defense should be top 10, at the least. We’re close to getting out of this never ending mess. We just need a couple things to go our way, and we’re right back in the mix. It’ll take more time, but I do genuinely believe things may be headed in the right direction. Maybe.

Titans still dead (for now)

Haters don’t care about Bob Saleh

Currently taking questions