Brian Callahan Admits Father, Bill Callahan Didn't Want To Leave Browns

Through a serious of coaching changes this offseason, the Browns lost one of the best assistant coaches in the business in Bill Callahan, who his son admits struggled with leaving Cleveland.

The Browns navigated a series of changes to their offensive coaching staff this offseason, most of which were team decisions to simply go in a different direction.

One that wasn't quite as expected, however, was the departure of legendary offensive line coach Bill Callahan, who went to join his son, Brian Callahan – the newly minted head coach of the Titans – in Tennessee.

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Despite being under contract the Browns brass, in good faith, didn't hesitate to allow Bill to leave the team under these unique circumstances. It was an opportunity Brian himself admitted at the NFL Combine on Tuesday, that he wasn't sure would ever even happen considering his dad was plenty happy working in Cleveland. .

"I always wanted to work with him, never knew if I'd have the opportunity to be honest," Brian explained. "It's one of those things when you've got guys under contract and we're in different places, never knew if it was gonna work. We had a conversation really the year previous when I was interviewing for a couple jobs and he had said that 'we wouldn't work together.' He was very happy where he was at, didn't really wanna leave and felt like I should do that on my own,. But it just timed up great. It's kind of where he's at in his career." 

 Bill's departure didn't come until about two weeks after Brian left his post as the Bengals offensive coordinator to take the Titans job, giving credence to the idea that it wasn't entirely clear if he would leave Cleveland. Brian also explained that his father was always adamant that he blazed his own path in the NFL and made a point in not working with him along the way. 

Ultimately though, the pull of family was too much for Bill to not want to take advantage of what is a special opportunity. 

#Titans HC Brian Callahan on being able to work for and with his dad, Bill Callahan: pic.twitter.com/WXm1dOSLLX

— JT Ruhnke (@jt_ruhnke) February 27, 2024

"I didn't really know if he wanted to come or not until he got the job cause I was kind of working off the assumption that he was that way last year where he wasn't interested," Brian added. "Thrilled to have him and be able to work with him every day."

While Bill's presence will be profoundly missed in Berea, the Browns turned to well respected o-line coach Andy Dickerson to fill the void he left behind.