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Brian Callahan happy for 'awesome' chance to work with dad Bill with Tennessee Titans
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- Brian Callahan happy for 'awesome' chance to work with dad Bill with Tennessee Titans
INDIANAPOLIS — Brian Callahan is living every son's dream. The new Tennessee Titans head coach is getting to be his own father's boss.
That's not quite how the younger Callahan would characterize the relationship between he and his dad, Bill, who he recently hired away from the Browns as his offensive line coach .
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"It's no different than being anybody's boss, to be honest," Brian Callahan said Tuesday at the NFL combine . "It's been great. Him and I get along really well. There's not a whole lot of bossing around, if you will. There's not many people that are going to tell him how to do his job. He's about as good at it as anybody."
The 39-year-old Brian Callahan was hired in January to replace Mike Vrabel as Titans head coach. He had spent the previous five seasons as Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator.
Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan talks to the media at the NFL combine on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
The last four of those seasons, son and father crossed paths twice a year when the Bengals and Browns played each other. Now, they cross paths virtually daily inside the Titans' facility.
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"It's been a dream come true to be able to sit and have a cup of coffee with my dad in the morning and talk about what we got coming up that day and talk about pass protection and technique and watch him do his job, too," the younger Callahan said. "It has been really fun. I've never had a chance to do that in that element where I'm in the building with him every day. So it's been really, really, really cool for me to experience that. It's been awesome."
Bill Callahan's established himself over a coaching career that began with him landing his first NFL job in 1995 as Philadelphia Eagles offensive line coach. Since then, save for a stretch as head coach at the University of Nebraska from 2004-07, the 67-year-old has been regarded as one of the league's top offensive line minds.
The younger Callahan first broke into the NFL in 2010 as a coaching assistant for the Denver Broncos . He worked his way to becoming Detroit Lions quarterbacks coach in 2016-17 before one year in the same position for the Oakland Raiders — a franchise his dad had led to the Super Bowl as head coach during the 2002 season — before ending up with the Bengals when they hired Zac Taylor as head coach in 2019.
Not once over that span did the two Callahans share a staff room. That wasn't necessarily a coincidence.
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"Early on in my career when I was first starting out, he had made a very pointed emphasis that I should try my own way and not work for him," Brian Callahan said. "He never wanted to be one to give me a job. He felt like it would serve me better if I had went my own direction and earned my way through it. I think that was the best advice he's probably given me. It's worked out great that way.
"I've always wanted to work with him. Never knew if I'd have an opportunity, to be honest. It's one of those things when you got guys under contract and we're in different places, never knew if it was going to work."
Browns guard Wyatt Teller speaks with offensive line coach Bill Callahan during practice Aug. 10, 2021, in Berea.
The elder Callahan maintained that approach after the 2022 season when his son was interviewed for head coaching jobs with both the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals . That changed, though, when the Titans hired Brian in January.
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There was one hurdle, though, and that was the contract the Browns had with Bill Callahan. However, Browns general manager Andrew Berry acknowledged Tuesday the rare opportunity to have father and son together was something the organization didn't feel like it could block.
"It was tough," Berry said. "I mean, look, I think all of us realize that it's pretty unique for a situation where a father gets to work with his son in the NFL, but at the same time trying to balance the fact that really just purely — I'll use the term since I'm so cold and calculating that way — the best thing for the organization with me for Bill to be our offensive line coach.
"But that's one of those moments where some of those decisions go beyond, go really beyond football. That's just kind of a really special moment for Bill and Brian."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Brian Callahan glad to get 'awesome' chance to work with father Bill
