Titans Coaching Staff Has Rookie in Each Leadership Post, and Brian Callahan Likes It That Way

The Tennessee Titans' Brian Callahan (head coach), Nick Holz (offensive coordinator), Dennard Wilson (defensive coordinator), and Colt Anderson (special teams coordinator) have never coached before at these levels in the NFL. Callahan sees an advantage in the energy they will bring to their jobs.

INDIANAPOLIS — When the 2024 regular season kicks off, first-timers will fill all the prominent leadership positions for the Tennessee Titans — head coach and offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators. 

While hiring younger coaches is a recent trend in the NFL — six of the eight new head coaches are 47 years old and younger, including the Titans' Brian Callahan — it is still common for teams to prefer some level of experience in leadership roles.

Where some might be distracted by the fresh faces, Callahan sees fresh ideas.

"There's a lot of benefit to it because we have a bunch of people who don't have preconceived notions about what it looks like," Callahan said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine when asked about his coaching staff. "We can do it our way. We can do with the energy and excitement that people new to the job tend to have. You can experiment some and lean on ideas guys have had for years."

And so Callahan, in his first head coaching job after 18 years as an assistant, also will be calling plays on offense for the first time.

And while defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, offensive coordinator Nick Holz,  and special teams boss Colt Anderson all have track records of success, this will be their first time running their respective units. 

"There will be growing pains," Callahan said. "We're all green at our jobs to some degree, but we're all fast learners and we'll do the due diligence to learn what we need to learn. But, I think there's an advantage to it because of our energy."

The rookie leaders also will have help from an experienced group of position coaches, including Callahan's father Bill, who is entering his 45th season as a football coach. 

Brian Callahan also knows that patience doesn't last long so he'll want to learn quickly: "There’s not a lot of patience in the NFL anyway. You're doing the best you can to build the best team for the current year while still having a little bit of a long-range plan. But the idea is to put a competitive team on the field every year, and our expectation is no different.”

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