This is the OTP presented by Farm 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. My name is Mike Keith and this is Amy Wells, and we're actually together. We are in the Bay together MGM Studio.
It feels good.
It's good to have you back. You're technically in the Snickers hot seed, but not really because you know I'll take it, but you're the co host, so you can't be.
I can't be in the hot seed. I suppose.
I mean, I guess I could be the jars a little far, but I'll find a time to get a snicker there. You go throughout the program really satisfies, it really does.
That's what I've heard. So last week was quite the adventure for the Tennessee Titans and the Titans staff and Titan fans for that matter. The week began with the Titans doing a couple of interviews, and the second one
was Brian Callahan. Brian Callahan was in in the afternoon and in the one of sixty four Brian Callahan interviews that has been done since that time, you have probably heard the story that he walks in to the head coach's office and sits behind the desk to see what it's like, and they offer him the job and he's very excited and it's really a cool story, but kind
of leading from there, it got interesting. And that's what we want to take you through on this edition of the OTP, pull back the curtain just a little bit and take you through what went next because this lady Amy Wells, Ashley Ferrell, a couple other members of our staff, Donald Page and Gray made a trip that you're probably just now becoming aware of. That added sort of a special element, an extra special element, if you will, to the Brian Callahan piece. So Monday night, the word gets
out Brian Callahan is going to be the coach. The Titans have offered him the job. He's accepted. Now all the things have to happen, settling on a contract. And that's why the Titans don't release it because while it's reported and nobody's denying it, which is always your hint. If people start denying it, then it's not true. But if the media is reporting it, if several sources are reporting it, it's out there. But what you're learning from the time in between the report and the time in
between the release. Is there a lot of things that have to happen.
Right, And that's standard practice.
I mean the Tennessee Titans always operate in that fashion, and most organism zations operate in that fashion where it might be out there but until things are signed, sealed and.
Delivered unless your owner, because he was not.
All teams operate him in this manner.
He would normally tweet out he likes to be on.
The very very very beginning of breaking news. He likes to break the news. But a lot of organizations operate in the manner where it's until the ink is dried on paper, we are not going to confirm anything because, in keeping with the cults theme, they got in a situation a couple of.
Years ago where Josh McDaniel, yeah.
It was mostly done, but it wasn't completely done, and then some things got harry on.
The back end.
So you want to be sure sure, And we do this in a lot of different ways with player acquisitions, with a free agency, and there's all kinds of things where you hear about it, you see it, but it's not done, done done Because there's so many things that have to happen.
Well, and we talk about this on the OTP and the ot people know, if you've listened for a long time, you understand what we're really discussing here, and that is that, Okay, he's got an agent. Brian Callahan has an agent, and the agent hasn't said yes yet. So you've got to work that out. What are going to be the details. Here's the other part of it. You got to call home, right, You've got to the family. You probably you probably want
to tell your wife. I accepted the job with the Titans in nineteen ninety eight before I had consulted with my wife.
You did that.
It was a huge mistake. Let me just it was not bold, it was it was very stupid. It was really a dumb move. You really did I've really did that? Whoa, I really did that. And the worst part was I didn't have a cell phone.
Can't tell her till you get home.
No, I had to pull off and use a payphone in Crossville. So fortunately Brian Callahan's a lot smarter than me. He called home and just made sure that I can't believe.
You did that.
I know. Yeah.
So Brian Callahan wins in that regard.
He really did.
He told his wife.
But you do that, You've got some calls to make. You're certainly going to call the Bengals. If you're him, you want to call Zach Taylor and let him know what's going on so he can put things in place. You're going to call I would imagine the Brown family who owns the Bengals, and just to let them know out of respect. So there are all these boxes that
have to be ticked off. Well, Amy and Ashley had come up with this great plan to do a story, and it was to go with the new Titans head coach back to where they were from and to do kind of the story coming out of where they were from as they make the trip to Nashville. Now, it worked particularly well because Cincinnati is not that far away.
It's not at all. It's a very easy drive.
If you had had if the Titans had hired a coach from say Seattle, might not have been doable. But so Tuesday, you're just waiting on official words so you can leave for Cincinnati. Yep, we what time were you prepared to leave?
I was ready to leave at nine am on Tuesday.
I actually got the rental car at seven.
Yeah, especially got the rental car at seven am, so you're ready. I was ready to go.
They were going to swing by my house and pick me up on the way out of town. Nine o'clock. My bag's by the front door. I'm waiting. I'm ready to go. But there hadn't gotten word yet.
There's no there's no official announcement.
Attempt, no official announcement.
Not that there's anything wrong, it's just it.
Hadn't gotten the go yet. We need a green light. Yeah, that's all we needed. And so we waited, and then it seemed like, well it might be a little while. There's still some stuff going on. So I throw my bag in the trunk, get all of my things. I just leave from the office. That's fine.
So you come indoor, you come to Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park, yep.
I do, and sit down at my desk.
Don't even really get my computer out for a while because I think I'm just here for a minute. And we wait, and we wait, and we wait and we wait some more.
So it's five o'clock and I've had a conversation with Amy. I'm actually technically on vacation.
Yeah, well not.
Technically no, you are actually on Vaca on vacation. And so I get notifications shortly after five that the Titans are going to make the announcement at nine to fifteen Central on Wednesday, and I relay this immediately to Amy and you are standing where when I called you.
At five eleven PM, I get notification from Mike Keith as I am putting my hand on the handle of my car in the parking lot.
So you're the home, You're the US go home. You're in the parking garage. You just figure this and Tom we'll try gear.
They're figuring everything out. I am getting ready to go home.
He I got a text message from you, Mike that said we're a go, and I just turned around and walked back in the building.
Like, okay, now what do we do?
So at that point we kind of huddled the group together, had a conversation about what we were going to do, what the new plan was, what our new timeline was going to be, and then we left the next morning and I.
Went in Charleston, South Carolina and got a rental car.
You did, and Mike got a rental car and hit the.
Rom h Well hit the road the next morning as did you, guys, you didn't have to leave so early.
No, we didn't.
So so Brian Callahan and Alison Callahan, his wife, say, yeah, we'll do this feature, and the plan is to do it at their home.
Yes.
So what we wanted to do was we wanted to document what is a historic event for any organization, the higher of a new head coach, and we wanted to do the best that we could to introduce this person in a very different way. You don't usually have the opportunity to see a head coach outside of the facility.
Sure, it's just in general.
You get to know them over the years, you get to know their personalities, that kind of thing, but you don't get to see.
Much of their lives outside of football.
And so we wanted to start off right from the jump, really get to know this person and get to know this personal away where they're really comfortable, and that's around their family, in their home. That felt like the best way to get to know him. That felt like a good way to kind of get things started off. And he was gracious enough to allow us to do that.
All right, So you get in the van, you drive from Nashville to Cincinnati. Does he actually live in Cincinnati.
He lives in Cincinnati, Yes.
So not like Florence, Kentucky or where he's in.
No, he lives about five minutes from the Bengals stadium.
Okay, so you drive up to his he answers the door, Brian Callahan answers the door.
He answers the door.
We walk up to his. How there's four of us, So we troop up the front stack.
Now he knows.
That we're coming.
I had text with him back and forth, but I've never met this person.
Sure, and.
We get to the front door, and what strikes me, which is so strange because he's in his own house. But my first thought was he's not wearing any shoes. I've never seen a head coach not wearing shoes before. But I mean, he's at home. A lot of people don't wear shoes in their own house. But it just felt in that moment, I realized, like, oh, we're actually gonna pull this off. This is going to be a casual,
comfortable thing. He's not even wearing shoes. I don't know why that's a thing that's stuck in my head, but it felt very intimate somehow, you know, it felt very personal. You don't see very many people without I've never seen you without shoes on, Like it's just a way you don't see people outside of work.
I guess that's true.
Yeah, it's for whatever reason.
It just oh he is in his house. He's even wearing shoes, so that struck me. He was very kind, greeted everybody, invited us in. You know what the first thing he did was, no, he offered us sandwiches.
What kind of sandwiches? I don't know.
I never had a sandwich.
You didn't accept a sandwich from the new head coach. You know.
It was one of those things where it was like, you know, we're good, right now, let's get our stuff down, unload the car and everything. And then I never circled back to the sandwiches.
But you didn't want a sandwich, not at that moment. I mean, don't you think there's stuff I'm not thinking back about it, and I think the ot people might agree. I think it's rude that you didn't accept a sandwich.
You know, honestly, when I left, I was thinking that because if I had food and beverages for people who were coming into my home and no one accepted them, and then I had just like four sandwiches sitting in my house. I'd be annoyed. So Coach Callahan, I apologized, I didn't take a sandwich.
I'll take one now.
But it was another one of those gestures that was just welcome to my home, can we feed you?
That is so nice?
It was very nice. It was incredibly hospitable. He's going to fit right in in the South. I mean it was the most Southern gesture to offer someone a sandwich. But really it was just another moment where I was like, oh, this is this is really like how he is as a person in his home.
He offers you food and drink.
So Alison is his wife. Yes, she's originally from New Jersey. She is she lived in Denver. Yeah. What was she like?
She's delightful.
They have two young kids, and so she is a mom who is keeping up with two young kids and is so excited for her husband and was just the most delightful person. She was incredibly accommodating of the things that we need. I mean we basically walked into their home and were like, can we rearrange some of this furniture, Like, because you're trying to get.
A shock, So what room were you in?
We were in the living room, living room.
How would you say the house is decorated beautifully? Okay, well, I mean I mean yeah, I would think you could say that, But you have a style.
I don't know the words, like a moderate. I don't watch it as you do. It was nice. The couch was white.
It was nice. I don't that's gutsy to have a white couch with kids, especially with a six year old boy.
Yeah, as someone who just unloaded a white couch because kids, I mean proud of them.
Yeah, like that's incredible, strong place.
Yeah, it really is a strong play.
They're really good parents if they can keep a couch that look nice like that. But I mean really they were super hospitable. Come in, What can we do? How do we make this shot work? Can I move this plant across the room for you? What if we move these six chairs to a different location, like the most accommodating.
So you're in the New Titans head coaches house, rearranging his furniture. He's offered you a sandwich, and so what would you say. We're gonna play the interview. We're gonna let the OT people hear this interview. That no one else has because it was in Cincinnati at his home and what.
And they gave it, showed us around. He showed us some of the memorabilia that he has throughout his house.
I mean, how many pictures of Peyton Manning? None?
Maybe one? Maybe one? But it wasn't overly paid.
There's probably more pictures of Peyton Manning in your house than is I don't.
I don't think I have. I mean, I have a couple of autographs. Yeah, he signed a couple of footballs that that I have. Very nice.
You all have any pictures of Peyton Manning?
Why any pictures? I don't know that I have any pictures of any athletes in my house.
Surprising to me.
I have. I have things.
Yeah, most of my I mean mementos.
Well, ninety percent of the stuff out in my house is Titans. A football, the racing helmet I got to wear, the Mario Andretti size. That's my favorite piece of memorabile outside of my football. That every first round pick as a Titan has signed. Oh yeah, except you know who didn't. The only one, pac Man Jones.
He didn't sign it.
I'd never had a chance to get him to sign it.
That's disappointing.
I think I'm going to have to rectify that at some point. Speaking of Cincinnati, I think at some point I'm going to have to rectify that. No, I don't think I have any pictures of anybody.
Huh. That's surprising to me.
Maybe Dyson scoring on the Music City Miracle. Ye don't have to look around my house. Maybe I should go.
There, just go home and just survey see what you got. No, I mean, and his house was does.
He have like a a man cave?
So No, he has kind of an like a wreck room area where they had some different things, and it was one of those like rooms we thought we'd use more than we do. Like everyone has in their home, like the aspirational entertainer room that you really never used and just put stuff in.
That's kind of what they have.
They're just like real people.
They are one hundred percent regular, normal people. And that's what I walked away from this whole experience with. I mean, there's a million stories I could tell, but what really struck me is you are like I felt very comfortable there. I felt very like these people could be friends of mine. We have a lot in common.
Yeah, you could go to church with them. You could do. They could be friends of yours from your kid's school.
That that's yeah, I mean very much. We're talking about like kids clothes.
That he left in the middle of the interview because he had to go take his son to get a haircut.
He was gone for about forty five minutes.
So is that before after the interview.
Before the interview he left. He welcomed us into his home.
We were there for a while and then he looks as watch and goes, I gotta take Ronan to get his haircut. That's his son, Ronan, and who stole the show at the press Cotton.
Ronan is going to be a fan favorite.
Yeah, he's going to be a mainstay around Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park, I believe, and Nora as well, their daughter, Yes, but both, I mean just the most delightful children. And but yeah, Ronan needed to get a hair his haircut. So headball coach leaves about forty five to an hour.
So you sit down to do the interview. Yes, which we're going to hear. This is the back cell. You gotta love this. I'm setting it up. Are you nervous?
You know I was not, because I felt incredibly comfortable in that space.
Did you write down the questions?
I did.
I had about four pages of questions, so we had to I had to rein in my excitement a little bit. I have my questions, you know, for a standard interview,
I've got my notebook, I'm ready to go. But it we have been talking this whole time and having conversation, so it didn't feel weird to be doing an interview, and honestly, I was thankful for it, because you know, there's those questions that you want to ask somebody, but you want to be polite, and well, surely they don't want to talk about football, so I'm not going to ask him, you know, about putting together a staff or this and that. But for an interview, I'm able to
ask those questions. So it was it was things that in polite conversation I probably wouldn't have asked. But because I was doing an interview for a football team and this is what's top of his mind, I got to ask those questions that I think people want to know. But if you and I just meet at a party, I'm not going to ask you too many questions about your job, because that's not what we're what we're doing, you know.
So I was thankful to have.
The opportunity to do the interview because I got to ask him the things that were on my mind. And it's like, oh, I'm sorry, I have to chos for my job, which I was great. I always do, and he was just it was a great interview. He is. He's just very well spoken. He's very thoughtful with the things that he is trying to get across. You can tell that this is something he's been thinking about for
a long time. He's one of those people that you know, as he's been doing his job, he's been observing and thinking about how he do it when he got his chance, and now that he has his chance, this is something he takes very seriously and is very excited about and is really really ready for.
All right, we're ready for the interview, but first we have to make sure and give everyone a chance to get Duncan. Go to Duncan and grab a coffee and kick off the action. Whether that's drinking a cup of coffee on your way to the game or grabbing one to go before watching Amy's interview with Brian Callahan. Duncan is always there to help you get your game on.
Just like the pros. We need to be at our best come game time or interview time, which is why Duncan is the most important part of your game day ritual because it's always the best call for football America runs on Duncan. So from the OTP amy Wells, Cincinnati, Ohio, at the home of New Titans coach Brian Callahan enjoyed this.
So, I guess the.
Best place to start is telling you or reminding you. I should say that you were the head coach of an NFL football team.
That doesn't feel real yet, right, It doesn't.
That's the question.
Has this sunk in that the last twenty four ish hours have actually happened and you are now stepping.
Into this role.
No, I haven't been able to process at all.
It's been such a you know, because I went in, I interviewed, and then I get the job, and I go to dinner, and I wake up. The next morning, I leave and I come home and then there's just like this forty eight hour period. I got to get a bunch of stuff ready to really get to work. When I get back and do the press conference, and
you're starting the staff hiring process. It's it's like infancy stages, but it's starting, and so it's just a it's a whirlwind of things that I probably won't ever fully process it until I'm in front of the team that first time or the first OTA practice where you're it's like you're out there and you're on the grass coaching football. The rest of it up until that point feels very much like office work until you get to go coach
football again. So yeah, I have not been able to really process all of it in the factory in my living room with a camera talking about it.
This feels even stranger.
It definitely is, I'm sure, a whirlwind, and there's not a moment to catch your breath and really think about it until.
You're reflecting on it.
So in the spirit of reflecting, because you don't have time to reflect on this, let's reflect.
On your entire career.
Sure I can do that.
You have really started your career from in coaching, I should say, from high school coaching high school players.
You've gone all the way up.
You've seen every facet of this game, and now you're finally here where you want it to be as a head coach. At what point in your career. Did you think I could go all the way with this, I could be an NFL.
You know, I had a good example. My dad was one.
So just like anything you see that, it's possible, and I was able to envision that for myself. At some point, I didn't probably really want to go down that path until after I was a graduate assistant at UCLA. At I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to head. I wanted to be in athletics. I enjoyed being around football, and I didn't know which what that was going to
look like for me. And so eventually I went to go do the high school that I coached high school for two years, and that part really was enjoyable and it made me want to continue to do that. And then I just the opportunity came to get in the NFL two years after I started, and I was like, oh, I'll see where this takes me. But I was uncertain of what that was going to look like when I was first starting out. Then once I got in the NFL,
I felt like, you know, I could do this. I could end up in this seat that I'm.
In right now.
Coaching is not the most glamorous of jobs. Once you get to the head roll, it looks very glamorous. But football families, especially you mentioned that your dad was a coach, still is football families sometimes do not romanticize the the sport as much because.
It's taxing on the whole family.
Yes, I did that influence your career choice at all that you've seen how this really works.
I just knew what I was entering into and when I when I first told my mom that I wanted to coach football after I was finished playing. I was gonna be a graduate assistant. And that went two years and I said, you know, I think I want to do this for real, and she wasn't very happy with me. She's like, you got you have two groups from UCLA, you can go do whatever you want. Why would you do this? And I don't know. I just love doing it. But her point was, there's so many other things you
could do. Why would you choose to enter this volatile of a profession. And I just loved being around football and being around players in that part is what That's what I enjoy about it. The rest of it is the work part. You know, all the time and effort. It's a ton of work. There's really no shortcuts, and if you don't do that part, you're gonna have a hard time being successful. And so there's a lot of
sacrifice that gets made. But ultimately it's you know, I have a great wife and great family that that helps the process move smoothly. But I wouldn't say that there's a lot of glamour involved in it. For the most part. It's a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice, just like any jobs where you're trying to do something really cool and do something collectively that we're trying to do with the Titans, and there's no other way I know how to do it. But it is not the
easiest and it is not glamorous. I can promise.
You've had the opportunity to work in a lot of different places with a lot of different people. Have you given any thought to what your head coaching style is going to be, Like what pieces and bits you're going to grab from each place and kind of put together there to create what will be the coach Callahan way.
I think that's where I am now. I feel like I've been very prepared for this moment. There's a lot of people that have that invested a lot in me over over the years, and because of that, I've probably taken bits and pieces of them throughout without even really thinking about it, just things that I've liked. But I think what you see now is what you're going to get.
I'm not going to really try to be anybody else but but me and I feel really confident in that I feel good about where I am and who I am, and so that part feels really easy for me. And I'm pretty genuine and pretty authentic and that that's not going to change. You're gonna You're gonna get that every day for me here. So I don't know that there's any other you know, the influences are are probably more in the work as opposed to the personality, and I
think I'm I'm gonna be be be me. It's the best I can explain it.
Having worked your way up through the NFL, you haven't taken any shortcuts, you haven't done anything the easy way to quote unquote easily.
Yeah.
Do you think that makes you uniquely qualified for a role like this?
I feel qualified for it because of that. I don't know if anybody else feels that way or not, but I do think there is something to be said for for taking those steps in the journey, and the journey is certainly not over yet for me. But doing those things in the matter, in the in the sequence that they've happened for me, I think is prepared me to be here. I feel like I've earned my way here, and I'm proud of the work I've done in all
the places I've been. But there's no point where I've ever felt like it was easy, but it but it matters to me, and I'm proud of that. And I think I'm here today because of that journey I've had thus far.
What do you learn from being a high school football coach?
Yeah, there's a lot you learn from me in a high schoo football coach. In particular, I was I was the freshman offensive coordinator, so I get I call Patrick Wallah's the head coach at Sarta High School and he's one of my mentors. He coached me at Delasyle High School when I was in high school. And he'll be at the press conference too, by the way, which'll be cool. He said, I got a job for you, and I said, I need a teaching job. I can't just coach football.
I need to work at the school. I have my master's in education, like it fits, this will be great. So I get a job at the school and he says, well, only job I have for your coaching is the freshman offensive coordinator. And after playing Division one football and being a graduate assistant, that was a little bit of a humbling offer. That was the only offer I had, was
to go be the freshman football coach. And when you get a bunch of fourteen year olds that probably have never put shoulder pads on, don't know how to buckle their helmet, it really makes you refine how you teach and how you communicate with your kids, how clearly you tell.
Them what to do.
And so it really changed the whole foundation of what coaching is for me, and it really brought it back to it's about teaching, it's how you teach, and that hasn't changed in fourteen years in the NFL and at all the stops I've been, the best coaches I've been
around are great teachers. And that was probably the most foundational and influential part of my early journey was coaching a bunch of fourteen year olds and trying to get him to getting a three point stance and know how to get an athletics stance in general and how to communicate that. And so that part was a really invaluable experience for me as a really young coach, like I don't know everything, and I better figure out how to talk to these guys or they're not.
Going to have anything either. And so it was a huge part of my journey.
It has to be if you can get a fourteen year old to run a play, you can probably communicate with a professional athlete.
How to maybe do it at a higher level.
Yeah, And that's always going to be the key to all of it is how well do you communicate individually? How old do you communicate as a leader of a unit, and how old do I communicate as the head coach with everybody in the building, everybody on the team. When you refine those communications styles and techniques with your teaching as well, and so when you when you communicate well,
you're a good teacher. I think everybody would would think back to whatever teacher they had that they that made an impact on him, and it's because they were probably great communicators at what they were looking for. And so I pride myself on that, and it's you know, you can again get you can get a fourteen year old to do it. You certainly could get a professional athlete that's paid a lot of money to do that job.
As a coach, you obviously you've been quarterbacks coach, You've been an offensive coordinator, and you've had the opportunity to work with some pretty incredible quarterback But kind of across the spectrum, you've been in some different situations working with someone like Peyton Manning. So by the time you get to him, he's pretty much got his routine set. Yes, Peyton Manning knows what he wants to do by the time he comes to the Denver Broncos.
What did you learn from working with.
A player like that, Well, that was a unique situation because he was coming from a place he had been for fifteen years in Indianapolis. He had run a variation of the same offense for most of that time, so he was in transition. He was learning some of the things that we did in Denver, and we were trying to learn some things that he did. We're trying to meld the system of offense to one that was what we did and what he did, and to make it our system in Denver and that was unique because he
had never had to do that before. Everything was always how he had done it, and so we worked really hard to meld the systems. But when you talking about learning from a guy like Peyton, outside of helping a transition, was the preparation part, how intense it was. It was more me learning what a Hall of Fame quarterback looks like, what their process looks like, what their preparation on a weekly basis is supposed to be. And it was like
a PhD in quarterback play. And that part was the most probably most foundational piece of what I've done since then, is all those things I learned with Peyton in those four years in Denver, and it was it was a lot of fun every day to go to work. It was hard and he demanded a lot, but it made me a really good coach and I learned a whole lot about how what it looks like to play NFL quarterback at a high level. And I think I hopefully use those things to help a lot of guys along the way.
I want to fast forward a little bit.
You've worked with a lot of great quarterbacks, but Joe Burrow was a name that everyone knows, right now and a very different situation to where he's a young guy who's trying to learn how to exist in what is the National Football League? Do you have to resist taking some of that and overwhelming him?
Do you almost have to back off a little bit?
How do you manage that because it's such a different situation completely on the opposite side.
Yeah, that's a.
That's a that's a great question because you know, you have a guy in Peyton that knows what he wants, how he wants it, and there's not there's only a there's nobody that's Peyton.
You know, there's Tom Brady and Peyton Manny and Drew.
But like those guys exist in their own stratisy year player and they're all different, but they're not replicable. You can't replicate Peyton Manning. I didn't go to Detroit and try to get Matthew Stafford in his ninth year to be Peyton Manning.
He's Matthew Stafford. He does things his way.
And I learned that quickly as you deal with different players, that they're all going to be who they are, and you try to impart some lessons and some things that might have worked for somebody in it. You know, we'll work for Peyton and always work for Matthew, and will work for Matthew and always work for Derek Carr. And that's how you learn how to cater to the player that's there, and you find their strengths and try to
highlight those. Joe is probably the closest you know in terms of just personality ability to do the things that Peyton did. But he is also was a twenty one year old, twenty three year twenty two, twenty three year old rookie quarterback that had never played an football before.
As great as he was as a college player, he had never been in that arena yet, and it was really fun to be a part of his development and from you know, first overall pick, Heisman Trophy winner, a great player, still hadn't played it down in the NFL, and to be a part of his growth from that spot as a rookie starting quarterback on a bad football team into starting in the Super Bowl and back to back AFC Championship games and being the highest paid player
in football was an unbelievable progression to be a part of. And there was a lot that was so much different than these veteran quarterbacks because there was a lot he was learning, and he was trying to figure out what worked for him and what didn't work for him, and so that process to refine what he wanted to be and what he wanted to look like playing quarterback was really fun to be a part of.
Having that experience of working with so many different people in so many different organizations must give you a sense of maybe ease or calm walking into being responsible for an entire locker room of different personalities and different abilities and different strengths and weaknesses.
Right.
Absolutely, there's something to be said for working for a lot of different people, being a lot of different ways of doing things. There's no cookie cutter way that equal success in the NFL, there's a lot of ways you can win football games, and being a part of a lot of different places it just shows you all the ways that it can happen. And for me, I've taken bits and pieces and dealing with different types of players
and different places in their career. I feel about as comfortable as you could feel dealing with with any player in the locker room at any point, any stage in their career where they're at from an undrafted rookie college free agent to you know, a ten time Pro Bowl player that is the face of a franchise. I've seen
all of it in between. And I think one of my strengths as a coach is I've always been able to connect with players and regardless of where they're at in their journey or in their path, I've I've been able to connect and form great relationships and be able to really coach effectively because of it. So there's a lot of benefit to being a lot of places and
having experience. Even though I'm you know, I'm thirty nine, I've lived a long time in the NFL and I've seen a lot, so it's like dog years, you know, it's fourteen years in the NFL feels like thirty.
So I feel very prepared for it.
Great teams have great cultures.
Yes, for you, what does a winning culture look like?
What is that?
It's a great question to me. The culture.
The schematics is probably only about twenty or thirty percent of what makes a good team, and the culture is the rest of it. And you want to guys that are mentally tough. You want people that want to come to work every day, they want to be around the team. They want to be around the building. They want to
play for each other. And one of the greatest things, the most difficult things about when you look at good teams across all sports, is a bunch of guys that want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be a part of that team and play their role. And the best teams that I've been on have all shared that quality. The best teams that you look every year, these teams that are still playing,
they share that quality. And when you get into these moments where the talent is equal, because you get to that point where everyone's good, that's the difference is how hard these guys play for each other, how much they love playing football and being in the building together. And you want that sort of culture in your building where it's fun, it's enjoyable.
Guys love it.
They play hard, they play for each other, they play for the city. It means something to them. That's what That's what we hope to hope to be here in Nashville.
What's the best piece of advice you've ever sived? It can be coaching or otherwise.
Oh man, there's a lot in coaching, a very more specific to coaching advices. You know, turn, I think the best way to phrase it, but worry about the job that you have and do the best, be the best you can be, whatever your role is. My dad gave me that advice early in my career because in football, you know, you become ambitious. You want to be a coordinator, a head coach, so you're trying to find ways how do I get there? Uh, And my dad said early on in my career, just just worry about the job
that you have and be great at it. Uh, and the rest of those things take care of themselves. And so I've always tried to live that way. Is when I was a quality control coach in Denver, I was trying to be the best at that, And when I was an office coordinator here in Cincinnati, I try to be the best at that and not worry about everything
else that comes after that. And uh, that's really helped me, I think, be really good at my job and stay really focused on what's in the moment and what's important as opposed to thinking about what's what could be or what should be or where I should be after that.
Yeah.
Yeah, when you were offered the job as a coach of the Titans.
Who was your first phone call? Who'd you call?
Oh? My wife?
Absolutely, yeah, he was by father first. That was the first one. She was not expecting it, nor was I.
I wasn't expecting it either, but that was that was a really cool moment to be able to share because she's been through all of this and the moves and the back and forth and new job here, new job here, that part. You know, I'm gone a lot, I work a lot, She's got the kids all the time, and so for her to be able to share some of that joy was was a pretty awesome moment. And then obviously right after that, I called my parents and those are my first two phone calls when I after I
got the job. Is the most important people to me are my my family and my mom and dad.
So what was your dad's response.
He's proud, he's proud, he's excited.
You know.
It's I was talking in the car. I don't know how many fathers and sons I've been head coaches in the NFL. I know, it's not a long list. And so that's a that's very that's a very prideful thing for for him and I to be a part of and yeah, he was ecstatic. He was just you know, it's one of those things as a dad, as I have my own son, it's like to see your.
To see your your kids have success and whatever they want to do.
Uh, And I chose to do coaching, and I think there's something about that that he has a lot of pride in and really cool moment to see me be the head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
You mentioned that you have kids you too.
What's it like being able to share this with them and being able to bring them along for what is bound to be a crazy ride.
Yeah, you know, they they don't quite get it. They don't really. I don't think they understand like the gravity of you know, my dad's a head coach and there's only one of He's one of thirty two in the world that's that's in these positions, and so they don't get that part. They just think it's cool that they see dad on TV. Sometimes when I'm when I'm up
in the box, they get to see that. They try to see me on TV and they get their friends talk about it at school, But they don't really, they don't understand the weight of what this is and how much this means, and how much of a career pinnacle this is for me. Someday they will, but right now they don't quite understand, and they enjoy it. There's a lot of commotion to it, but they're not quite old enough to really understand the whole process yet.
But it's got to be cool to be able to bring them to games and have.
To maybe get a little bit more involved in the game. Is a football fan.
He's getting there. He's at six. He's starting to kind of be more interested. And I've always felt like that peak set around like nine or ten or eleven, where like boys are just dialed into sports and they know all the players, and so he's starting to learn players. This year he kind of got to. He would start asking about Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and the guys that he'd watched on TV, and they talk about at school.
And he likes being around and I like having real They love coming to the office, they love being on the practice fields, and they love coming to training camp. And so I want him around as much as possible. That's how I grew up and to have them be a part of that is really cool because That's how I spend my time of them too.
Other than Super Bowls. How do you measure your success as a head coach?
Oh, you know, I think you know, we're always going to be judged on on wins and losses ultimately, But do we have a team of people of guys like I said that, that want to play for each other, that when we go out on Sundays, you know that they put a product in the field that people are proud of, that they're excited to watch, that the city in Nashville can rally around and really have a lot of pride in what's occurring. Usually that means you're playing well enough to win games, but sometimes you.
Still play well and lose.
But I do think if you have a team of high character guys that really love playing football that the city identifies with, that to me is a success. On a more personal level, it's forming great relationships with the players, you know, making sure those guys are are developing as a whole person. They're still really young. Most of those guys are are, you know, in their early twenties, and so to be there for them to form those relationships
where I can help them grow and develop. It as people is another part of it too, So I do wish we were judged on more of those things, but we're not.
But I think that's the mark of a of a good coach and a.
Good team is a is a bunch of guys that that have great character, that love playing together, and there's a there's a product in the field that the city and state can be proud of.
What are your interests outside of football? You don't time?
No, No, I don't and and outside of the free times usually spend with my kids and my wife.
But I like to play golf a little bit.
That's That's about my my relaxation hobby. I've played ice hockey my whole life, so I love watching ice hockey games. Uh, I'm excited to go see the Predators play, but I've I've always been in the ice hockey is like my second love and so I grew up playing it. I've I've played all the way through college and I love watching it. So that's that's kind of my other thing I like to to to go watch and do. I watch a lot of F one racing. I don't know
a lot about it, but I enjoy it. Other than that, though, it's it's really you're gonna find me in the office at the complex, with with the with the people in the building, or I'm gonna probably be at home with my kids and out doing stuff with them.
You excited to come to Nashville.
I can't I can't wait. I can't wait.
It's uh, it's got a it's got a great it's got a great energy to it. And you could feel the energy when you walk there. I felt the energy getting into the city. I felt the energy in the building. And I feel that there's there's just something about Nashville that appealed to me.
It felt like it fit me.
And and what a what an unbelievable, unbelievable city to be a part of. And and hopefully we can win a lot of games and have a lot of fun doing it.
You ready to get started?
I was ready. I'm ready, Trust me, I've been. I've been on the phone a bunch, and I'm ready to get get get settled, get started, and and and hit the ground running here and build us a build us a really good football team. And I can't wait to get You know, RAN's been great. I love working with Ryan and to build that together is going to be something really really cool.
It's I can't wait to get started.
Well, that was something. Also gives me a chance to mention that seat geek is now the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. Whether you're buying or selling tickets to Titans games or any live event in Nashville, seat geek is the place to do it. Seat Geek the new official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. So Titans fans can fan. It was really good.
You took my line.
I'm sorry, but I was thinking about I was. I wanted to make sure I complimented you. Thanks, Mike, and you clearly weren't nervous. I was nervous. When I interviewed him the next day.
Were you Oh, yeah, you didn't seem nervous.
I was nervous.
You're a professional.
No, I didn't have anything. Usually I have the you know, the handy dandy clipboard with my questions or at least just some topics or whatever. But I decided to go into it because he had just done the press conference, and I sat down with him and I just said, I want to see where it goes.
You know, And I told Ashley Ferrell this. I was very thankful that I was the very first person who was doing an interview with him after he had got this job, because there was no question that he had been asked thirty times, right, Yeah, I mean now there's six or seven questions that he has been asked three hundred.
Different ways which people should do. That's their job.
Yeah, and that's how it goes, and that's what happens with everyone. But in preparing for this interview, I didn't have to be like, well, I want to stay away from this because he's talked about it a lot.
I got to just is the.
That the pad that you're holding right here on the set? Is that? Are those the questions?
This is it? Yeah?
I have what what do you think? Your people have just heard it? But what do you think your best question was? What were the question? What was the question you liked the best?
Well, there were a couple that he said, that's a great question.
Don't you love it when people say I love it?
Oh?
Man, There's no better feeling in the world than when someone says that's a great question, unless they're being a jerk about it, which sometimes I just yeah, but I think he was being I think it was like a genuine like he was like, oh, that's a that's a great question. Let me think about it. And so like those were my favorite ones because then you're like, yes, hit it, you get a little like it endorphins, you get a little something good.
Yes.
Yeah, So those are my favorite questions. But I mean just being able to talk to him about kind of his journey and the people that he's worked with. He loves to talk about the quarterbacks that he has worked with.
It's remarkable.
And when you talk to him about just guys that he has formed relationships with and guys that he's worked with, the Peyton Mannings and Matthew Stafford's, i mean, Joe Burrow, all of them, he gets so like excited. Yeah, it's like bragging on his kids. You know, He's just excited
to talk about it. And I thought that that was so interesting because sometimes people get annoyed by the like, oh, yeah, they're gonna ask me about the time I worked with Peyton Manning, But he genuinely is excited to talk about those things.
And Peyton Manning was excited to talk about.
Him, which is also so cool.
Mm hmm, yeah, called from the golf course.
Yeah, yeah, to give us quotes, which I.
Mean had an eight iron in his hand.
Well, of course, but.
He really did. That's what he said on the phone.
I mean, what does that say about Brian Callahan that Peyton Manning would stop golfing to.
Call and give quotes.
Yeah, that's pretty great.
I mean you want to talk about a resounding recommendation right there.
I have a feeling Peyton Manning is going to be here a few times. Oh yeah, well yeah, because Brian Callahan's the head coach now, So you don't think he shows up at training camp or something.
Well, I don't know. You talked to him more than I.
I don't talk to him, But I'm just saying, I bet he. I bet he does.
I think you're probably right.
So tell the OT people what the flight. So you drop off the rental car. Yes, it was a one way rental car. It was a van, right, it sure was.
We took the mini van from Nashville to Cincinnati. It was just.
Luxury all the way, the old mini van. And then we drop it off at the rental place. This is on Thursday morning. Drop it off at the rental car place. Plane trains and automobiles to get from the rental car place to where we needed to be at the airport, and you're.
Getting to fly at the owner's plane.
We flew in the owner's plane, which is pretty delightful. Accommodations do you.
Get like juice?
Well, there was coffee, coffee, Yeah, I mean Danish.
There was no Danish snacks. There were lots of snacks, which the kids really enjoyed. At that point, all I needed was caffeine. Okay, that's that's really what we were looking for. But I mean flying on the owner's plane does not suck. It's pretty great.
And what's the conversation? Like, I mean, I don't want you to tell every story because you don't want to give it all away. But what's it? What's it like talking to the to the head coach and his wife is I mean he's going to become the head coach and you and Ashley and Todd and Donald are there with it.
Yeah, there was a little bit of the so how much sleep did you get? Not a ton conversation? You know. He spent a little time kind of working on the remarks that he was going to make at the press conference. Definitely took some time to like just kind of take it all in, especially when we were driving from once we landed in Nashville, when we were driving to the stadium, or when we were driving to Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park, we drove past the stadium and so that was kind
of a moment. And there were just little moments where like he realized that this was really happening. But then you're also having convers stations about so, what neighborhoods should we look for a house in, where's the schools, what's traffic, like any good restaurants around there? Like, there are also these conversations that are happening now.
But to back up to Wednesday night, he sent you guys to a good restaurant, I did. Brian Callahan sent you to his favorite restaurant in Cincinnati.
He did. It's a burger joint. It was really good. I don't remember what it was called.
That's okay, but I guess we don't work for No, they don't place in Cincinnati. Yeah, they are getting free pub from us, that's it, but send us there. It was really good food, just a cool place to hang out. And they put on their social media that they were going to miss the Callahan family when he got the job, because they are pretty consistent regulars there.
That's great, But.
I mean knew the cool places in town to send us, knew the places to oh, oh yeah, you might want to try and get this, try this place if you like Italian food. There's that if you want to do this, and that these are the places to hang out. So I mean, he's definitely someone who's plugged into the community there and wasn't gatekeeping his favorite restaurants like oh no, go try this place. So I am excited now for them to be here in Nashville and hopefully we can
return the favor. And I know that this community is going to love this family.
And I thought that was one of the most special parts of Thursday, was just the whole family. M M. I guess it's because my kids are grown, yeah, but to see the little ones again and that they were literally hiding in the cabinets in his office and jumping out at people, and Ronan was up and down the halls and they they are at home. They had a big time.
They had a big time.
That's how it. I mean, you think about it because you think about Nora and Ronan and wherever they go and whatever they do. I mean, these memories will be somebody because they're old enough that they will remember all of this well.
But and the thing that strikes me is that Coach Callahan is a coach's kid, right, and so for him to be able to have these moments now with his kids, Yea, it's important and it's special to him to make sure that they're incorporated in this because he was incorporated with his dad, and so passing that along, making sure that that's a priority. He understands the family piece of it.
He knows the things that they'll remember from these moments and from the spaces that they're able to be in and you realize you have moments where you realize how crazy this business is and what a big deal it is to be able to do what it is you do. He mentioned a couple times that there's only thirty two people in the world who do this job and he's now one of them. And having that realization always kind of strikes me because it's true and that's such a
small number of people when you think about the whole world. Sure, and so he wants to be able to have that experience for himself but also pass it down to his family and make sure that they're able to have those moments as well and really enjoy.
What it is that he does.
And I think that that's really special, and I think that his perspective on it is so unique.
Pretty good for you.
Oh it, I mean, I had the time of my life.
Welcome back.
Yeah, it is. It is really really good to be back.
But to be back like that, to get the first interview with Brian Callahan, that's pretty good work.
Yeah, it's not a bad first week back. Maybe a little rusty, but we'll shake that up.
I think it's interesting that he and Ran Carthon are not going to the Senior Bowl, sort of following a different trend. We're starting to see fewer and fewer headcat coaches go to the Senior Bowl. And I think in this case, however, it's largely about putting the staff together.
Yeah.
I think this is a timing thing more than anything else. That because of when he was hired, not that it was earlier or late, just how it falls on the calendar. He's got some things that he wants to take care of that feel more time sensitive, and there's enough people going down there that he trusts that he doesn't necessarily
need to be boots on the ground. There are other people who can evaluate scout, do the things that they're to do, and they still get another shot of a shot at a lot of these guys and the combine in a couple that's right. So just the timing of how things lined up. I don't think that he's anti Senior Bowl. I think it's just the way that everything
lined up. But I think you're right that we're starting to see different emphasis being put in different places when it comes to some of these kind of all star balls and some of the different scouting opportunities, And I thin I think a lot of that has to do with just how many things are digital now, or how many things are televised, and just the way that things are. He was talking about workouts even at the Combine, and he said, there's so much stuff that's on TV now.
You're not seeing anything different on TV than what we're seeing in the building. You know, it's the same stuff. So that makes it a little less not that guys aren't at the combine or anything like that, but it's not imperative that you are in your seat at a certain time in that moment because it's all recorded and it's all televised. So it's just the way that the world is. So many things are more available. You don't have to physically be there for every moment of every
event at every time. So just because someone physically isn't in a space doesn't mean they're not working. They're definitely working.
Good Angle, Thank you so much for your work.
It was fun.
Yeah, I am just I'm excited about the future. I'm excited about this human. I'm so glad he's leading the Titans.
I'm excited to do best.
Brabby wells I Mike Keith thanking you for this. Nig to the O T