The Tennessee Titans' last two head coaching hires have been first-time head coaches who have struggled to start strong out of the gate, and they need to avoid doing that with their next hire.
Go back a decade and look at the 2015 Titans. The team fired Ken Whisenhunt and promoted Mike Mularkey to the top job. Mularkey took the Titans from a three-win team in 2015 to a nine-win team in 2016, and he repeated that record in 2017. After back-to-back nine-win seasons, the team moved on from Mularkey and hired Mike Vrabel.
It took Vrabel two years to improve this team, and he also had back-to-back nine-win seasons before taking a step forward. Vrabel's successor, Brian Callahan, failed in the leadership role that this team needed, and never really found a way to make the Titans better than the sum of its parts.
Why the Titans need an experienced head coach in 2026
The Titans need to take these things into consideration when they hire their next head coach. They need someone who can be involved with both the offense and the defense, and that person also needs to possess the ability to lead a team. A retread candidate would understand the role of a head coach, preventing them from feeling initially overwhelmed.
That brings us to the titular character of this article, San Francisco 49ers DC Robert Saleh. Nick Wagoner had an article for ESPN on Monday where he talked about Saleh's future as a hot head coaching prospect and why he is a great candidate even though he isn't desperate to move on to that role.
This section of text from that article stands out should be music to the ears of Titans fans. Mike Borgonzi should be looking for a candidate that fits the description of who they need leading this franchise as they attempt to pull themselves out of the basement.
"Before he took the job in New York, Saleh spent almost two decades working only with the defense. Suddenly, he had to connect with an entire team, not to mention the support staff in the building. It wasn't until his second season with the Jets that Saleh says he prioritized connecting with anyone and everyone in his orbit.
'Being a head coach did help me understand that,' Saleh said. 'I do think it's important anytime you can connect with anyone in the building.' Saleh is back to coaching just defense with the 49ers, but he still wants to be a resource for everyone in the 49ers' facility.
"I think his understanding of offensive players and just kind of what we go through has opened up his understanding of being a football coach," Kittle said. "I just think he's grown as a coach."Spending time in the top job allowed Saleh to gain a greater understanding and respect for what other head coaches go through. Saleh and Shanahan have remained close, but their understanding of each other has evolved because of their shared head coaching experiences."
Robert Saleh is ideal Titans head coaching candidate
You can see that Saleh wasn't immune to the struggles that first-time coaches go through. It took him a year to figure out what his role as a head coach actually was and how important it was for him to spend time with the offense and the defense. He has learned that lesson and is applying it now, even though he is only a DC for the 49ers.
Going a step further, time has made a rough New York Jets tenure look better because it has become obvious how much he was able to get out of a group that had almost no real talent on its roster. This quote from the article reinforces that.
"Another veteran coach said Saleh's tenure in New York should age better than his 20-36 record there might indicate. In 2021, Saleh took over a two-win team and proceeded to win seven games in each of 2022 and 2023 with the likes of Zach Wilson, Mike White, Brett Rypien, and Trevor Siemian starting games at quarterback.
The franchise's regression under current coach Aaron Glenn (with a 3-12 record) this season only offers further proof of how difficult it is to win with the Jets, that same veteran coach said.
'It showed what Robert had to overcome and that it wasn't easy,' the coach said.
While it would be reasonable for Saleh to fear that his Jets tenure could work against him in the pursuit of another head coaching job, history has been surprisingly kind to coaches with similar profiles."
Put all of that together, and you can see the big picture coming into focus. Saleh is a coach whose tenure was underappreciated and who has learned from the mistakes he made during his time in New York. He has focused on figuring out how to build connections with offensive and defensive players, and he will surely be looking for a team with a quarterback that he can form a long-term connection with, and Tennessee is a place that can offer him that.
Everything about him suggests that he will hit the ground running wherever he lands because he won't have to go through the transition process that most first-time head coaches need to go through.
Titans fans should consider the following. The 49ers are a cornerstone franchise in the NFL, and have been one of the most stable and successful teams for decades. The fact that they were desperate to fire their DC in the hopes of getting Saleh back should tell the Titans' front office everything they need to know about Saleh's football character and his role in the culture they have built.
Looking at the big picture, do you think it is more likely that the Jets made a mistake firing someone, or do you think it says more about Saleh that a team like the 49ers hired him twice? Which of those franchises do you trust more?
If the Titans can pry him away from the 49ers, it will be because he has a clear vision for how to lead this team to success sooner rather than later.