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The Tennessee Titans picked their next head coach on Saturday, and as it turns out, he came from the exact same place where their football team started two decades ago.
Reports broke Saturday that the Titans hired Houston Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel to replace Mike Mularkey as the team’s head coach. Mularkey and the franchise mutually parted ways shortly after the Titans were eliminated from the postseason by the Patriots in the AFC Divisional Round last week.
The Texans’ defensive coordinator may be best known as the linebacker who would score touchdowns on offense for the Patriots when Bill Belichick wanted to catch opponents off guard. Now, he’ll be responsible for hiring an offensive coordinator who can get the most out of the team’s star quarterback, Marcus Mariota.
Vrabel interviewed for the position on Thursday, one of three people to get a look at the head coaching vacancy.
“I am excited to have Mike Vrabel joining our organization as our new head coach,” Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a team release. “In the interaction between Mike and Jon (Robinson) during the interview, you could see their connection right away from the history they have with one another – seeing the game in a similar way and talking the same language. Mike has a commanding presence and a deep knowledge for how he will attack this head coaching opportunity. Throughout his football career, he has played for, been mentored by and coached with successful teams and organizations. He knows what it takes to reach that level of sustained success – he has seen it first-hand. We have a chance to build on the solid foundation that we established over the past couple of years and I believe Mike is the right person to continue that progress.”
Vrabel played 14 seasons and won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, so he certainly knows how to win. Whether that translates into being a good head coach remains to be seen, but he has worked his way up the ladder, as he spent three years at Ohio State before joining the Texans’ staff in 2014.
