The Filter
Mike Vrabel believes in people and he trusts the people he works with to lead him in the right direction. To that end, Mike Vrabel hired someone he trusted and who he had worked with in the past to be his DC when he first took the Titans HC job: Dean Pees.
He seemingly trusts people that he has worked with directly and if he hasn’t worked with him (or someone that he really trusts) good luck getting a job on the Titans staff. In fact, of the 8 DCs or position coaches that Mike Vrabel has hired, there is only 1 that didn’t work with him or Pees before joining the Titans.
That would be Terrell Williams the defensive line coach. Here is a list of the rest of the coaches that he has hired and their connection to him.
-Shane Bowen (OLB coach, sort of the DC): Worked with Vrabel at Ohio State and with the Houston Texans
–Jim Haslett (LB coach): Coached Mike Vrabel when he was with the Pittsburgh Steelers
–Tyrone McKenzie (former LB coach): Played under Dean Pees with the New England Patriots
-Anthony Midget (secondary coach): Worked with Vrabel with the Houston Texans
-Kerry Coombs (former secondary coach): Worked with Vrabel at Ohio State
-Scott Booker (safeties): Played and coached with Dean Pees at Kent State
Hiring people you know and trust can be a good thing, I mean Dean Pees, Kerry Coombs and Tyrone McKenzie were all good coaches. The problem is that for every one of those coaches, you also get a Shane Bowen, Anthony Midget, or Jim Haslett weighing your team down.
But, we can use this information to narrow down the list of potential DCs that Mike Vrabel might pick. Any candidate MUST have either coached or played with Mike Vrabel or they won’t be on this list.
So, starting at the bottom…