Tennessee Titans head coaching search: Patience

In the past, the Titans have gambled and lost too often. The Peyton Manning race was close, but in the end it cost the Titans a lot of time in free agency and forced them to overpay for players like Kamerion Wimbley. Owner interference cost the Titans a chance to really commit themselves to the Jim Harbaugh race even though it is unlikely that they would have been able to sell him on Tennessee over the 49ers.

However, the titles of owner and GM have changed over that brief time, and the Titans look like a more patient and well-run organization which is good news to Titans fans. These two things indicate to me that the Titans are taking the right approach this time around.

Gauging the climate

Early on it looked like the Titans had put themselves in a hole by not immediately firing Mike Munchak and conducting interviews, however I disagree with that in retrospect. Think about it this way, there were six head coaching openings at the beginning of the offseason: Houston, Tampa, Minnesota, Washington, Cleveland, and Tennessee. You can already cross three of those teams off (Houston, TB, and Washington) because they found their head coaches already. Now that leaves three openings across the league.

I go into great detail here on why the Titans head coaching job is the best in the league right now, and even if it wasn't the Titans still wouldn't be in a jam. The Titans (inferred) top three candidates are likely: Mike Zimmer, Ken Whisenhunt, and Dan Quinn. So even if the other teams hire two of those guys the Titans will end up with a great candidate.

Getting the right guy

This time, instead of worrying about possible ties to the Houston Oilers, the Titans can sit back and pick the best available guy without considering being overruled by Bud. Each candidate brings something different to the table, (which I will get into on my next post) but just the fact that the Titans don't have to hire an Oiler re-tread is a victory by itself.