Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel stresses the importance of family first to his staff during the offseason.
The rigors of the NFL life can be extremely demanding on both players and coaches, but Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel reminds his staff that family still comes first.
Vrabel spoke about his philosophy to Turron Davenport of ESPN in June, saying that it’s especially important during the offseason to make time for family, as the regular season doesn’t leave much time for anything else but football.
“I tell our staff that we work too much during the season for any of our guys to miss something that their family has in the offseason. That’s not healthy for their families,” Vrabel said. “It’s not healthy for them. They’re not going to be productive here at work if they’re thinking, ‘Man, I wish I was at that game.’ If their kid has a game or a dance recital, I need them to be involved in that.”
And Vrabel certainly practices what he preaches.
The Titans head coach will leave work early to catch his son Carter’s baseball games, which are sometimes as early as 4:30 p.m. The 17-year-old is a pitcher on Father Ryan High School’s baseball team in Nashville, per Davenport.
Vrabel’s oldest son, Tyler, is an offensive lineman for Boston College, and Vrabel flies up to see his games during the season when the Titans are on bye or have a Thursday night game that week.
Davenport also reports that Vrabel will allow his coaches extended time off when they have something to attend. It’s an approach that is undoubtedly popular among his staff.
During the season, Vrabel still sleeps at the team’s facility sometimes, but tries to avoid that as much as possible. When the team has home games during the season, Vrabel is afforded the time to see his family, and he takes full advantage of it.
There are a ton of reasons to like Vrabel, and this just adds to that list. It takes a special dedication to be the head coach of an NFL team, but it takes even more dedication to be able to balance family life, as well.