The Tennessee Titans are hiring Robert Saleh to be their next head coach, according to multiple reports. This was exactly the move that the Titans needed to make if they were serious about team development.
Saleh is a defensive minded coach and maybe an offensive coach would have been the way to go with Cam Ward. However, the Titans needed intensity and a proven great playcaller on either side of the ball. Considering that this head coaching cycle wasn’t exactly a dynamite one, the Titans got themselves a great hire in Saleh.
A factor that fans outside of the Titans, or even the AFC South, is that with Tennessee hiring Saleh, it just ignited a rivalry after an interaction between Saleh and Jaguars’ head coach Liam Coen earlier this season.
Titans just brought huge AFC South rivalry with Robert Saleh & Liam Coen
In Week 4 of this past season, the 49ers faced off against the Jaguars where Jacksonville won 26-21. Saleh was calling the defense for San Francisco going up against Coen and the Jags. At the end of the game as coaches and players were shaking hands, Salen and Coen were seen arguing on the field and both coaches had to be separated by players, per Ari Meirov.
Saleh spoke with the media ahead of that matchup and talked about how Jacksonville had a “legally signal-stealing type of system” that put Jacksonville in advantageous situations.” After the game, Coen started yelling towards Saleh to keep his name out of his mouth.
It was one of those headlines that wasn’t expected, but it became something big in the moment. Now, Saleh and Coen will see each other twice a year and the interactions between them will be something that fans will want to see, both pre-game and post-game.
Coen's Jaguars finished 13-4 and won the AFC South this season. Saleh's Titans finished at the bottom of the division with a 3-14 record. It's safe to say Saleh must greatly improve the Titans if they intended to compete with Coen's Jaguars throughout 2026.