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Why was Mike Vrabel fired? How the Tennessee Titans got to this point | Estes
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- Why was Mike Vrabel fired? How the Tennessee Titans got to this point | Estes
In the wake of Mike Vrabel's firing as Tennessee Titans coach , I'm convinced of two things:
One, Vrabel is an effective coach. He did good work here, winning a lot of games over the years with less talent than his colleague on the other sideline. Like most good coaches, he's a strong leader. He makes others want to follow him. He's a person of conviction and unwavering beliefs. He's going to take those somewhere else, and he'll win.
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But, two, it'll be best that he's no longer coaching the Titans. Best for the franchise. Best for Vrabel. Best for all concerned.
Time changes all situations. People can grow apart gradually, and sometimes relationships – even successful ones – end up in a divorce in which both sides deserve blame.
That's what happened here.
The following postmortem, based on conversations with multiple sources who spoke to The Tennessean, paints a picture of a deteriorating partnership – exacerbated by the intense pressure of trying to win in the NFL – that led to Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk firing a coach she'd lauded for years.
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Yes, it is complicated
If you've been part of a failing relationship, you know a clear warning sign is when sides just stop talking.
With the Titans, communication was lacking in both directions. As national media reports swirled this past season about Vrabel's unhappiness and possible desire to seek employment elsewhere, he didn't debunk those with a firm commitment to the team's leadership. Then again, Vrabel didn't have to commit. He already had. He was under contract and would be owed a hefty buyout if fired.
When asked whether he wanted to return at a press conference the Wednesday before the season's final game, Vrabel answered that he did "as long as we can win and as long as we can do this thing."
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"It's been great," Vrabel said at the time, "but it also has been just frustrating this year. And nobody wants to be where we're at."
Could Vrabel have been convinced to stay? I think so. I believe that both he and Adams Strunk wanted it to work. The fact that it didn't wasn't a result of one thing or one conversation. I read it more as a lack of conversation in general. The situation was unsettled, and it wasn't going to be settled without better communication.
Why was the situation unsettled?
Speculation in recent months has centered on Vrabel's relationship with first-year general manager Ran Carthon. While it wasn't the harmony extolled by Carthon in Tuesday's press conference, it also wasn't personal. This wasn't a power struggle between the two over roster control.
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Discontent traced back to the Titans' search to replace Carthon's predecessor, Jon Robinson. Vrabel favored Ryan Cowden – the interim GM after Robinson's 2022 firing – to become the full-time GM, with Carthon possibly being added as assistant GM. Adams Strunk, of course, hired Carthon instead, and Cowden ultimately wasn't retained.
In where the relationship between coach and owner started to sour, that seems a turning point.
Another was in mid-October when Vrabel returned to the New England Patriots for induction into the team's Hall of Fame. Vrabel cleared the trip with the Titans ahead of time, but it irked Adams Strunk to witness her coach buddying up to another team's owner and saying the following to fans in another team's stadium: "This is a special place with great leadership, great fans, great direction, great coaching. Enjoy it. It's not like this everywhere."
Meanwhile, the team was losing on the field and – as became readily apparent – lacked adequate talent, especially on the offensive line, to compete for a championship.
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The goal of collaboration
Vrabel's firing wasn't solely because of the Titans' 6-11 record. Losing didn't help, but at the heart of this was a fundamental disconnect in belief about the best ways to get back to winning.
The Titans have been in transition, caught between a reluctance to eschew methods that had worked under Vrabel and new approaches that Carthon – of the San Francisco 49ers ' school of success – had been hired by Adams Strunk to bring to the Titans.
Throughout his Titans tenure, Vrabel expressed how important loyalty was for him in hiring assistant coaches. He preferred to promote those he already knew into coordinator roles rather than bringing in outside hires.
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Carthon was an outside hire trying to fit into an established identity. For much of the past year, there was a duality in the Titans' roster decisions, wavering between a desire to rebuild and to keep it going with the same pieces and approach.
The franchise tried to blend old and new in 2023, and it just didn't work.
"As the NFL continues to innovate and evolve," Adams Strunk said in a statement Tuesday, "I believe the teams best positioned for sustained success will be those who empower an aligned and collaborative team across all football functions."
Something had to give.
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Ultimately, Adams Strunk decided who that needed to be.
I wouldn't say she chose Carthon over Vrabel. I believe she chose a path.
Whether it was the correct one, we'll have to wait and see.
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: Why was Mike Vrabel fired? How the Tennessee Titans got to this point
