This is the OTP presented by Far Bureau Health Plans. Plan on paying less for the coverage you need with Farm Bureau Health Plans. Get a quote today at FBHP dot com. That's FBHP dot com for Farm Bureau Health Plans With Amy Wells, I'm Mike Keith and our special guest for part two, Coach Brian Callan. Hey, thanks for sticking around or coming back or however we're trying to sell this hanging. We're continuing the conversation with the coach.
Let me ask you first and foremost, what does Brian Callahan do for fun during this four or five week period.
Generally, in most years, I'll play a little bit of golf. I'm not very good at it, but it's my one one hobby I have that I enjoy playing. I haven't played any golf this year, obviously, I've been a little busy.
Yeah.
And then my in laws for the last they've had a house up in Lake Georgia, New York for about twenty plus years, and so every summer since I've met my wife, we spend some time up there. So I'm a big pull the boat on the lake and be on the lake and not do much of anything.
Is that one of the finger lakes?
No, it's actually it's just south of Lake Champlain, So it's Vermont, New York board. Okay, so right up just straight north of Albany, about forty five minutes and we've learned something. Yeah, at the OTP, Well, it's a beautiful place. It gets up in Adirondack, so it's it's you know, it's kind of hilly and it's really pretty.
Oh it sounds just fantastic. How in the world do you turn your brain off of all of this stuff? Think about all the details that are just living in your head right now?
You don't, you know, you do try to get either from it.
But I would just say there's it's sort of a constant thing when as I'm learning, when you're in in in the head coaching role, is you're always thinking about something. It might be as simple as you know, the schedule for an off day in training camp, it might be the roster thought, but you're always there's always something going on. What how do I want to message this part of training? You know, all those things are sort of always churning. So yeah, I don't think it ever really shuts off.
It's probably the best way to put it. There's no real break. My mind is always moving, but I would say there is. You know, this time of year particularly, you get a chance to at least step back and maybe focus on some things that you know, like your family.
So yeah, yeah, at the point, so we met your family when you came in after you'd accepted the job. Nora, yep, and she's nine, be turning nine in July, so nine. And then Ronan, who we really met. I mean, he's you think he's rolling man. You think he owns the place well, and he think I think he did so. From January to now, roughly six months, how has he reacted to dad being the head coach full time? What new developments have gone on with him?
You know, I think that not much. I don't think they really they get it. I think that they love coming to the office. That's their favorite thing to do for whatever reason. That's just that's like all they want to do is come here. I'm like, guys, I don't really want to go there right now, but they just they they think it's like the coolest thing in the world. And that's how I grew up too, is playing around in football facilities, forever, So that part's fun. I think
they don't really get it though. I don't think they really understand. Probably until the season starts, I think they'll they'll have a better picture for what that looks like. But and they think they're more just excited and they just want to come color on the whiteboards and run around the building. That's great, that's their that's their that's their main goal.
We're going to work with dad, regardless of what dad does. It's cool, it's cool. Yeah, it's a great thing.
Yeah, it's a cool thing to do. Well, speaking of dads, now that you work with your father. When when you have kids, especially when you have free time, there's a lot of going to visit the grandparents, especially during off times. And for the longest time, you and your dad kind of had competing schedules and they lined up perfectly, and so this was the time that you had to go see each other. Do you have to vacation with your parents anymore? Or is the show kind of over?
In that funny thing is actually all my my brothers and sisters are all coming here, which is great because we normally we would take like a week vacation as a family. Someone we'd meet somewhere in the summertime, and so it's convenient because they all have to come to Nashville for a couple for a couple of days. But I don't know what that's going to look like in
the you know future. You're like, I will say this other for all the day, like we're together all the time, and for all the time we spend together, there's definitely I might go two or three days without even like seeing my dad, if that makes like just in but we're all we're kind of all working, and so there's it's not like I'm you know, constantly with him all the time, and so there's like all of a sudden yesterday, I think it had been like three days since I
sat down and talked to him, and I just went and sat in his office and I was, you know, it's like, go talk to my dad, not not go and talk to coach, you know. And so it's I don't think it's it's really hard to articulate, I think, but there is still like a work relationship, and then there's you know, father son, grandparents, and so future wise,
I'm sure we'll still do something. But my kids are the ones that are way more excited about it because Grandma and Grandpa right down the street and huge for my daughter and my daughter and my my mom and my daughter have like a really kind of cool relationship, and so she's fired up.
She can't wait too.
Oh that's the ten minutes from Grandma's house, like fired up.
Yeah.
A lot of cookies, Yeah, yes, a lot of cookies, A lot of fun, a lot of fun. So in watching your dad at practice, I think the thing that I enjoy most is how all the coaches and former coaches who come to practice have to go watch your dad work.
Yeah, that's.
That's the first thing they have to do. I mean, they don't want to watch the quarterbacks and the receivers and the defensive backs. They'll get to them. They're excited, but they have to go watch Bill Callahan coach. Not necessarily watching the offensive line per se. They have to watch him coach. What a compliment.
I think it's pretty incredible. He's earned that, right, you know, over the years, and he's he's garnered a lot of respect in the coaching community people eliz them as strange as that sounds to me, but but he's he's deserving
of it. I mean, he's he's he's one of the there's there's guys that get to certain points in their careers and and we've always I've always defined him as sort of like master coaches, and all these guys that that are are so good at what they do and and done it for so long at such a high level, they become almost it's like a legendary, legendary almost in a sense. And and more so just because everyone watches and they just have so much respect for for what
he's done in his career. And so all these guys come in and visit and come seeing former coaches, they just want to go watch them coach because he's he's got such a reputation as that as a coach that's worth watching, you know. And I think that's an incredible compliment that guys in our profession feel that way about him and look up to him that way, that that's the that's what they want to go see, is they want to go see him coach. And it's a huge compliment. It's pretty cool.
So when the huge family comes into town, are you going down to like Broadway to the honky tonks?
Are you Broadway Broadway? You don't know. No, I'm sure my younger sister and I don't know if I'll be out. Would you get recognized yet? A little bit? Okay, so that not a lot.
I still can run, you know, relative I'm relatively anonymous. Maybe I'm I'm like anonymous looking too. I don't know if it's I don't know if I'm like it's not. I've not had it.
We haven't done your TV show yet, I'm not. I'm not like real forward yet.
Yeah, we haven't played a game on television yet, which is which is good. I'm enjoying that part. It's not crazy people. I feel people look at me. It's like they like recognized. I'm not sure where like why so I feel I feel like I feel vision sometimes like it's really it's a very new thing for me and it's sometimes very awkward. But I feel people looking at me, but they don't say anything, and it's almost I'd almost rather someone like say something because they think.
Here, here's what they're thinking. They're thinking now, is he our new pastor?
Is that the weather goud channel whatever? Seen him look like somebody on the plane with me the other day. That's what it is. That's what it feels like is.
But the best thing about being here is that people will come up to you in the grocery store and they'll just say, I just want to want to let you know I'm behind you.
You know what I've had. I've had a few of those, and that's part's really cool. I mean, the welcome, the respect people show has been pretty phenomenal. Every everything that I would have I've heard about, you know that the Southern hospitality and the and the friendliness and the kindness, all those things have have shown up in most of the interactions I've had.
And you know, and people don't.
People have been very respectful, very complimentary, and they sort of say alone, kind of keep it moving. And I think that's that's pretty cool. They're kind yeah, and polite. Yeah,
I would say all those things are true. The random one the other day, I was I went to a coffee shop over by my house and I walked in and Taylor the Long in there, and you recognize him because he stands out Yeah, And I and I had just done their their their podcast a couple of weeks back, and I just said, hey, Taylor, what's up man, And like nobody else, he took him a second to recognize me to you know, he's like, oh, hey, hey, hey, uh, but you know, the place was pretty crowded and nobody
else really setting, you know, so I was like, Oh, he's like, you're just kind of moving around town, huh, pretty anonymously. I was like, I guess. And so that's that's kind of what my experience has been so far. I haven't had a whole lot of interaction that's you know, uncomfortable.
Have you actually been able to do things in town? Have you seen any of Nashville outside of Ascension, Saint Thomas Sports?
I have not a lot, but I have some. I've been out of camp full of times, a couple of restaurants. I mean, the food here is fantastic. Everywhere I've been has been an excellent meal. A little bit of that I've I've been.
I want to.
Haven't been a couple of Preds games, of I want to. I still looking forward to going to the baseball stadium watching some baseball, which is kind of one of the summer pastime go watch some baseball. But it's a really good park, that's what I've heard. I've heard it's a really good park. And then I've been. I've been to. We've been up to the twelve thirty Club a few times because Rand had gone there.
Ran.
That's kind of RAN's spot. He was at a bunch and so I've been there a few times. I have not really like dove down into the Broadway honky tonk scene much.
You've got to do a concert at the Ryman. That's on the list. You've got to do the list. I've heard that. And you've got to go to the Grand Ole Opera. Yeah, I mean it is.
It is so special that it has the history and tradition and when you're there, you're like, I am so glad I'm here.
Yeah, you get it. When you're there, you feel it.
That's is it kind of like I feel like the Ryman and that and the Grand Opera like Red Rocks, and it's like Red Rocks is a place so you just you just need to go experience. Doesn't matter who's playing, right, you just got to go experience it. And it's it's
it's just that it's an experience. It's one of the I feel like those are the same type of place as that you got to check them off the list exactly to the Station Inn then at the Goulds, which is like this old yeah, old, like it's a bluegrass place, okay, And it was one of the coolest. I mean it was. We just ramly walked in there one night and really a good band was playing, and my wife's a big
bluegrass fan, and we sat there for like two hours. Yes, so I kind of sat off in the corner just watch these these guys play blue grass.
Was phenomenal.
It was, and you can do that anyway.
But you know what, that's my biggest disappointment with myself is every time I go hear live music, I think, why don't I do this more?
H It's one of my favorite things about this city.
I think I'm gonna I mean, I think I'm gonna do quite a bit of it because I love I love watching music, So I mean I'm all in on the music.
Oh yeah, I love it.
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So Titans fans, let me ask you.
Too about how you're going to play the preseason. How do you in your coaching philosophy from an evaluation standpoint, see preseason games.
Preseason is important. I think I've learned some lessons over the years. We you know, we kind of adopted that La Rams mentality when when we got to Cincinnati where we didn't play our starters at all, we had some injuries with with Burrow.
Last year.
We were going to play our starters more because we've we had been a kind of slow starting team out of the gate, and that was one of the things we felt like might help us as playing in the preseason more. And obviously we weren't going to put our guys out there in Cincinnati without Joe with them. It just didn't make sense. So I believe in those guys playing time in the preseason. I think it helps. It
helps you get ready for the opener. So the opener is not the first time you've been tackled or the first time you hit a game speed, and even the preseason game speeds that's the same as the regular season. It's still playing live football, and I think starters playing a little bit in those games I think is going to go a long way. The joint practices will be important where we get a ton of work against a team in a more controlled environment, but you'll see our starters play in the preseason.
With that mindset, how quickly do you want to establish kind of who those fifty three are going to be?
You know, every year your roster, you probably know who let's call it forty something. You know, you got a pretty good idea, but then there's a handful of battles at some spots, some of the depth spots, some of the special team spots that are are truly up for grabs that somebody could take. And so you've got a pretty good idea of what you're going to look like
around most of your starting positions. But then it's just a matter of what is the those those last couple of pieces of the roster that people are fighting for. But you certainly want to have a you know, when you're having competition up front, for example, offensive line, you'd like to get that solidified sooner than later, because you want those guys to bank reps and play together. So that's when you talk about that. Certainly, you'd love to
have your five starters pretty solidified sooner than later. But I think a lot of our battles are going to go probably well to the wire and training camp. I mean, there's going to be a lot of opportunity for guys to compete and have a chance start to earn themselves a job.
You mentioned the five starters on the offensive line. Do you feel the same way about the twenty two starters overall getting them established as quickly as possible.
Yeah, you hope.
So there's also the other part of it is that you hope that you know there's there's guys that are still even though their starters, are still preparing and fighting like they have a job that's up for crabs because that competition makes your team better. And so you hope that there's enough competition across the board for spots that I'm really pis those guys to not be complacent either, to know that you know, the minute you show up here and you think you got it all, you know, usually.
You get beat out by somebody.
But the competition is good, and so I hope that you want to play guys together, but you also want the same mentality of guys that are trying to earn them selves spots, even if their spot is solidified, you know, by contractual status or how much they've played. But I hope that we get a bunch of really good competition.
At fifty three guys on the active roster. When you go to Chicago, you'll certainly have the ability to call up people from the practice squad. But I wonder this being a first time head coach, do you already have in your mind how the game day forty eight will fit together, or do you have to wait and see how the roster is set before you can make your mind up about that.
I have an outline of what I think it'll look like, and then there's going to be those weekly decisions that come up. A lot of it's going to be in in the special team's realm. Where who's going to contribute there, and what's their value on the roster as the third running back or the fourth and fifth receivers or you know, where where are those guys playing roles? And that to me is usually where that gymnastics comes into play before you get to the injury part, which hopefully there's not
too many of those. Will knock Hoover playing wherever you can knock, Yeah, you should have been around.
Here the last three years, well knock anything.
And so that hopefully is you know, when you get to that point where you're you're juggling injuries and rosters, that that part will kind of solve itself. But the special teams part is really where the unknowns are at this point and then where those guys are going to fit in what roles?
Uh?
And then do you take You got to take some guys that maybe are really good Special Tams players but maybe not going to help you on either in any position, but their their role as a four phase best teams player is going to be critical, and so you may have to take that guy over a guy you think is you know, on game day, you might have to sit one guy down that's not going to help you as much because they're only going to play seven to ten snaps when those other guy's going to play you know,
twenty special team snaps for you too. So it kind of goes there's a lot of juggling when it gets to that.
Well, you mentioned the special teams component, and there have been some changes to what special teams is going to look like in twenty twenty four in a variety of different ways. How does that impact the calculus of what you are trying to put together and maybe who you choose to put where.
Yeah, I think you know, the kickoff obviously is going to be a huge change. I don't know what that's going to look like yet, you know, I think we have to get pads on and play and experiment. I think the preseason will be fun to watch and see what people do. They won't show you everything, but I do think as we get more comfortable with what that kickoff rule looks like, you can start making maybe some
personnel changes. I know Cole has messed with some lineups, but you know, the types of guys you might use in that spot might be different now than they used to so hard to know for sure, but I think we're kind of open to the possibility that may change how you can figure some of your roster because those spots are different now than maybe they used to be on the kickoff and kickoff return, so that part will
be exciting. I'm not a you know, I'm an offensive guy in the quarterback guy, so I spent most of my time there and the special teams never really intrigued me much. But the new kickoff, to me, is intriguing. That PARTI really fun to kind of see what that's going to look like.
Well, who are your returners? Do you go with a small, quick guy or a bigger guy who can break a tackle, and go who needs to be on the kick cover team? Who needs to be on the return team because you actually have a real chance to block somebody now, which as before it was very hard to get a real block on somebody. And then the discussion of who the kicker needs to be based on the fact that, as they played this out in the UFL and overall, the actual kicker had to make a lot of tackles, a
lot more than than normal. And some teams are even talking about using a safety who has had kickoff experience, maybe in high school, as the kicker.
Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure we have one of those. I'm not sure we have a guy that can kick and cover, I know, but there is some guys out there that head I think their especially coordinator might have came out and and even said they've practiced with him in that role because you gain an advantage. You know, you gain an extra tuckler, and the kicking is a little bit less about the distance now and so you don't have to have one's got a big leg.
You can just as long as they can get the ball in the air and put in the landing zone. You've now gained an extra cover player. So I would venture to guess there's a handful of teams that will do that. And maybe that's you know, now all the scouts are on the road this fall looking at safety kickers, you know, you know guys, that's guys got some flex, some roster value the full Yeah, but I don't think
it's that far fetched. I think if you if you found one that could kick it well enough, it's certainly an advantage. And I think the teams are gonna that have one of a guy that could do that, well, that'll work out, you know, to a small advantage for them. Brian, how much of that do you think you'll learn about in the preseason? Will anybody show much?
No? Okay, no, I don't think they'll just kick it. No.
I think they're going to show I think people want to see I think the the general concessus that I've gathered is that most teams want to see it be played out and and in in its most basic form in the preseason. There's not going to be a bunch of scheme, but I think just to see what it looks like live, because you're not practicing that live at any point during practice. I think that it'll be fun for the joint practices to see that against the opponent. But I don't know what that's gonna I think I
think you'll see a lot of returns. I don't think you'll see the the schematics that some of the you know, whatever the wrinkles people are going to have. I think you'll see a lot of just kick and cover so people can just watch it play out and see what it's going to look like.
The pundits who love the geekery like I.
Do, the geeky, I mean, I mean it's a I mean it truly is, because I think in listening to them, they may be right that early in the season we're going to see a lot of returns, and as people start to see the returns become the first offensive play of the game, for real that by mid season people just be kicking in the end zone and giving you the ball.
At the thirty. I think there's going to be.
A risk reward, and I think there's gonna be teams that maybe become really good at it, and you become concerned about that and say, well, we're better off. The chance of them getting to the forty five or the fifty on the kickoff is pretty good because there they got a dynamic returner, or they have a their scheme is really good. Whatever that may be, you're gonna see a lot more. I would venture to guess teams that maybe not feel as confident in what what they have
versus what the other team has. And you may just say this, they're going to conceive the ball at thirty and just kicking an end zone. That wouldn't surprise me at all. Can I ask one more kicking question?
Amy? Oh? Please?
Okaya kicking here?
So Folk is back and he's almost forty the young man from NC State and Harvissen is here and he appears to have quite a leg. Is that going to be something we need to watch when preseason starts in a few weeks.
No, I don't.
I don't think Nick's at any any real risk of losing his job. I think that it's good to have two kickers in camp, and I think obviously Nick has kicked for a long time, and so you are in for us as organizationally, you always want to have the succession planning in place for guys that that have played as long as as Nick has and and Morgan Cox two is they you know, these guys have They're very established and they've been great players for a long time at their jobs, and you always want to have a
in the back of your mind, Okay, well, what what happens next year of Nick DESI this is it for him? Or if you you know what I mean. That's you always have to plan for that. And so having and kickers, I've generally felt like young kickers need, you know, the exception of a handful, they need time, they need to learn how to kick. In the NFL, a lot of guys, you know, you see these guys kicking camps for two
three years and they finally getting the opportunity. So you're sort of always having that almost training ground for the next guy. So I think that's going to be a part of having two kickers in camp too.
Coach Brian Callahan, enjoy the rest of your offseason. Thank you for both parts of this. We have enjoyed having you with us so much. Always a pleasure for Amy Wells and hit Coach Brian Callahan, Mike Keith, thanks you for listening and watching the O t P.
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