List of Tennessee Titans head coaches explained

The Tennessee Titans, previously known as the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Oilers, are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are a member of the South division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Tennessee Titans have had 18 head coaches in its franchise history. As the Houston Oilers based in Houston, Texas, the team began playing in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). The Oilers won two AFL championships before joining the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL merger. The team relocated to Tennessee in 1997 and played in Memphis for one season before moving to Nashville. For two seasons, the team was known as the Tennessee Oilers before changing its name to the Titans in 1999.^[1]

Head coach Jeff Fisher led the Titans to their only Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XXXIV following the 1999 season. He continued his success with playoff appearances in 2000, 2002, and 2003. His coaching career began to decline and, from 2004 to 2010, his only playoff appearances included 2007 and 2008. In January 2011, it was announced that Fisher and the Titans had mutually parted ways. Fisher's tenure at head coach from 1994 to 2010 included six playoff appearances, one AFC Championship appearance, and one Super Bowl appearance.

Following Fisher, the Titans promoted former player and longtime offensive line coach Mike Munchak to head coach. He missed the playoffs from 2011 to 2013 before being fired in January 2014. Ken Whisenhunt became head coach shortly after, and tied a franchise worst 2–14 record in 2014. Mike Mularkey, who was originally hired as tight ends coach in 2014 and promoted to assistant head coach in 2015, replaced Whisenhunt on an interim basis after a 1–6 start in 2015. Mularkey was retained as head coach and led the Titans to two 9–7 seasons, including a playoff appearance in 2017.

Mularkey and the Titans agreed to part ways in January 2018. Former NFL player and coach, Mike Vrabel, was hired as head coach soon after. In his first four seasons, Vrabel led the Titans to an AFC Championship appearance in 2019, back-to-back AFC South division titles in 2020 and 2021, and earned the #1 seed for the AFC in the 2021–22 NFL playoffs. For his team's performance in 2021, Vrabel was named that season's NFL Coach of the Year. After back-to-back losing seasons in 2022 and 2023, Vrabel was fired by the Titans in January 2024. Shortly afterwards, former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan was hired as the franchise's 20th head coach.

Key

	Number of coaches
GC	Games coached
W	Wins
L	Losses
T	Ties
Win%	Winning percentage
†	Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
‡	Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
	Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Oilers/Titans

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2023 NFL regular season.

	Image	Name	Term	Regular season					Playoffs				Achievements	Reference
				GC	W	L	T	Win%	GC	W	L	Win%
Houston Oilers
1		Lou Rymkus	1960–1961*	19	11	7	1		1	1	0		UPI AFL Coach of the Year (1960) AFL Championship (1960)	^[2]
2		Wally Lemm	1961	9	9	0	0		1	1	0		UPI AFL Coach of the Year (1961) AFL Championship (1961)	^[3]
3		Pop Ivy	1962–1963	28	17	11	0		1	0	1			^[4]
4		Sammy Baugh ‡	1964	14	4	10	0		0	0	0			^[5]
5		Hugh Taylor	1965	14	4	9	1		0	0	0			^[6]
–		Wally Lemm	1966–1970	70	28	38	4		2	0	2
6		Ed Hughes	1971	14	4	9	1		0	0	0			^[7]
7		Bill Peterson	1972–1973*	19	1	18	0		0	0	0			^[8]
8		Sid Gillman †	1973–1974	23	8	15	0		0	0	0		UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1974)	^[9] ^[10]
9		Bum Phillips	1975–1980	90	55	35	0		7	4	3			^[11]
10		Ed Biles	1981–1983*	31	8	23	0		0	0	0			^[12]
11		Chuck Studley	1983	10	2	8	0		0	0	0			^[13]
12		Hugh Campbell	1984–1985*	30	8	22	0		0	0	0			^[14]
13		Jerry Glanville	1985–1989	65	33	32	0		5	2	3			^[15]
14		Jack Pardee	1990–1994	74	43	31	0		5	1	4			^[16]
15		Jeff Fisher	1994–1996	38	16	22	0		0	0	0			^[17]
Tennessee Oilers
–		Jeff Fisher	1997–1998	32	16	16	0		0	0	0
Tennessee Titans
–		Jeff Fisher	1999–2010	192	110	82	0		11	5	6
16		Mike Munchak ‡*	2011–2013*	48	22	26	0		0	0	0			^[18]
17		Ken Whisenhunt	2014–2015	23	3	20	0		0	0	0			^[19]
18		Mike Mularkey	2015–2017	41	20	21	0		2	1	1			^[20]
19		Mike Vrabel	2018–2023	99	54	45	0		5	2	3		AP Coach of the Year (2021)	^[21]
20		Brian Callahan	2024–present	0	0	0	0		0	0	0			^[22]

Notes

• A running total of the number of Oilers/Titans head coaches. Thus, any head coach who has two or more terms is only counted once.
• Each year is linked to an article about that particular Oilers/Titans season.
• Wally Lemm's full coaching record with the Oilers is 79 regular season games coached with a record of 37–38–4 and a W–L percentage of, and 3 playoff games coached with a record of 1–2 and a W–L percentage of .
• Jeff Fisher's full coaching record with the Oilers/Titans is 262 regular season games coached with a record of 142–120–0 and a W–L percentage of, and 11 playoff games coached with a record of 5–6 and a W–L percentage of .

Notes and References

1. Web site: History . May 25, 2008 . Tennessee Titans . https://web.archive.org/web/20080111142618/http://www.titansonline.com/history/ . January 11, 2008 . dead .
2. Web site: Lou Rymkus Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
3. Web site: Wally Lemm Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
4. Web site: Pop Ivy Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
5. Web site: Sammy Baugh Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
6. Web site: Hugh Taylor Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
7. Web site: Ed Hughes Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
8. Web site: Bill Peterson Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
9. Web site: Legendary Coach Sid Gillman Dies at 91. January 3, 2003 . May 25, 2008 . Pro Football Hall of Fame.
10. Web site: Sid Gillman Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
11. Web site: Bum Phillips Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
12. Web site: Ed Biles Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
13. Web site: Chuck Studley Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
14. Web site: Hugh Campbell Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
15. Web site: Jerry Glanville Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
16. Web site: Jack Pardee Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
17. Web site: Jeff Fisher Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Sports Reference LLC . Pro-football-reference.com . November 1, 2008.
18. News: Titans hire Mike Munchak as coach . ESPN.com . February 7, 2011 . February 8, 2011.
19. Web site: Ken Whisenhunt Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. January 4, 2016. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC.
20. Web site: Mike Mularkey Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks. January 4, 2016. Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC.
21. Web site: Mike Vrabel Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks . Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. January 8, 2024.
22. Web site: Titans Hire Brian Callahan for Head Coaching Job . January 24, 2024 . www.tennesseetitans.com . en-US.