On Monday, it was announced Mike Mularkey would have the adjective“interim” removed from his title and was named the 18th head coach in Oilers/Titans franchise history. The question remains though, was this coaching search a legitimate coaching search by Amy Adams Strunk and Steve Underwood?
When Ken Whisenhunt was let go 7 games into the season after a 1-6 start, tight ends coach Mike Mularkey was promoted to interim head coach. Most thought that, barring a miracle turnaround by Mularkey, he would not be retained. The miracle never happened for Coach Mularkey, as the Titans went 2-7 with many lopsided defeats and their only wins coming in overtime over the Saints and a close win over the hapless Jaguars. Beyond his less than stellar record this season as an interim coach, Mularkey’s two previous tenures as a head coach, in Buffalo and Jacksonville, ended less than ideally with firings at both and a combined 18-39 record in 3 years.
This offseason, there were 7 head coach openings in the NFL. It could be argued that the Titans had the best job opening with a potential star, franchise quarterback in Marcus Mariota, are in possibly the worst division in the NFL, and has lower expectations after 7 seasons outside the playoffs. By the time that Mularkey was announced, all the
other changes had been filled. With the other openings filled, the Titans would have had their pick of the litter for head coach. Despite this, the Titans interviewed only 4 candidates, Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, former Buffalo Bills head coach Doug Marrone, Titans defensive coordinator Ray Horton, and Mularkey. Notable names excluded from the list of interviewees include Patriots offensive coordinator and former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels and 49ers head coach and Mariota’s coach at Oregon, Chip Kelly.
The Titans might have gotten a great hire with Jon Robinson as their general manager, but rumors swirled that general manager candidates were asked about their willingness to work with Mularkey “if” he was kept on. Now that Mularkey has been kept on, both local and national pundits are calling the hire “uninspired” and saying “Really, Titans?” on twitter. However, after 5 wins in two seasons, even a 4-12 season may look like serious progress for Tennesssee.
[poll id=”58″] Titans Keeping Mularky
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