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If Tennessee Titans have a clue, Amy Adams Strunk and Ran Carthon need to act like it | Estes
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- If Tennessee Titans have a clue, Amy Adams Strunk and Ran Carthon need to act like it | Estes
General manager Ran Carthon is so confident in the long-term vision for the Tennessee Titans that he won't even tell you what it is.
Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk is so secure in that vision that she won't even take questions from media members she doesn't employ, instead sending Carthon to do it.
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This, Titans fans, is your team.
Good luck with that.
Titans coach Mike Vrabel, an authoritative presence who projected competence if nothing else, was fired Tuesday by Adams Strunk for – succinctly as I can surmise – being an authoritative presence. Didn't fit the owner's long-term vision, we're told.
Weren't told much about that vision, though. Or the real reasons behind Vrabel's firing.
The hazy circumstances shrouding Adams Strunk's decision weren't cleared up by Carthon's ensuing press conference, during which the GM blamed the Titans' 6-11 season on injuries and bad bounces and held the team owner's "vision" as a secret to which media and fans aren't yet privy. "At the right moment, we'll define that," he said.
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Must be important, that vision, if the Titans just canned the 2021 NFL Coach of the Year because of it.
"We have a vision," Adams Strunk told radio play-by-play man Mike Keith in an in-house interview released by the team , "and we want that (new) coach to have that vision."
In speaking to Keith (and only to Keith), Adams Strunk cited disappointment in the past two seasons, but she wouldn't specify when she decided to fire Vrabel. She also said she wasn't "quite ready" to say whether the new coach would report to Carthon or be given the final say on the roster.
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Carthon had little to add about the indecision on that front, which didn't reflect wonderfully on him, though he did try his best to dispute months of well-worn speculation about his and Vrabel's inability to work well together. Not true , Carthon insisted.
"Our visions were aligned," Carthon said.
So why doesn't Vrabel still have his job?
"Well, I think Amy spoke to her decision. … And that was about her long-term vision of the organization and that's really, I think, what it was."
Ah, I see.
Wait, no, I don't.
The Titans' chronic lack of forthrightness and transparency as an organization – on this day of all days – would be humorous if it wasn't insulting to the fans who deeply love and care about a team that simply refuses to be straight with them.
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If Vrabel, after six seasons, wanted change and doubted the current structure and "vision" in Tennessee provided the best opportunity to win, that's deeply concerning.
Doesn't mean he's correct, but it does mean he saw problems that aren't going to be fixed while he's off coaching the Patriots or Chargers or Commanders or whoever rushes to grab him in the coming weeks.
Given all the rumbles of Vrabel's discontent in recent months, it's naïve to believe that had nothing to do with his firing. Vrabel never spelled out gripes publicly, but some of what he has said lately is worth revisiting in hindsight. Last week, when asked whether he wanted to stay with the Titans, Vrabel replied, "Of course, I want to be here." Then he added, "Be here as long as we can win."
Then there was Vrabel's address to New England Patriots fans earlier this season while being honored by his old team for his efforts as a player.
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"I've been a lot of places," he told them. "This is a special place with great leadership, great fans, great direction, great coaching. Enjoy it. It's not like this everywhere."
Days later, back in Nashville, Vrabel tried to downplay the significance of that statement. He still said it, though, during a prepared speech. Wasn't some off-the-cuff quip. He meant to say it. Wasn't difficult to catch the drift. Vrabel had issues, and if there are serious differences between a head coach and an owner, guess who wins?
Adams Strunk had legitimate reasons. Vrabel's time here had run its course. Her hand, too, may have been forced by the circumstances. Tell us about that. We're adults. We can handle it. We might even empathize with you.
But if a pivotal moment in the Titans' history is going to be pinned on the vague notion of a "vision," then the team's GM should at least be able to say what that vision is going to be.
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Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: After firing Mike Vrabel, Tennessee Titans brass makes bad day worse
