NASHVILLE — Bill Callahan never thought he'd work for his son in the NFL. Not at his age and after all his years in the league.
As Brian Callahan interviewed for head coaching jobs in 2023, father and son talked at length about the idea, leaving Bill convinced he wouldn't join his son if and when a team hired him.
Then the Tennessee Titans hired Brian in January. With permission from the Cleveland Browns, his employer at the time, Bill said he felt compelled to join his son.
"It really was a kind of a no-brainer in that regard," said Bill, who turns 68 in July and will work with offensive linemen in Nashville, just as he did in Cleveland. "So it's family, and I want to see him succeed. Just like any parent wants to see their children succeed. So it's rare. It's unique. And so, oh yeah, I'm fired up about it."
Bill was in charge of the Oakland Raiders for two seasons (2002-03) — they beat the Titans in the AFC championship game during his first season before losing Super Bowl XXXVI to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — making Brian, who turns 40 next month, the seventh son to follow his father as a noninterim head coach in the NFL. After his time leading the Raiders, Bill returned to the college ranks as head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, but he made his way back to the NFL as an assistant and was interim head coach for the Washington Redskins in 2019.
He joined the Browns the following season, and the Titans are the seventh NFL franchise he has worked with in a coaching career that — including other levels of the game — goes back to the 1970s.
AP photo by George Walker IV / Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan, left, and general manager Ran Carthon watch players warm up Friday in Nashville for the first day of the team's rookie minicamp.Both his son and the Titans desperately need one of the NFL's best offensive line coaches after Tennessee gave up 64 sacks last season, more than all but three teams in the league. Left tackle has been a revolving door for the Titans for nearly three seasons, and four players started at that position this past season.
Titans general manager Ran Carthon signed Lloyd Cushenberry III as a free agent in March to play center. Left guard Peter Skoronski was selected by Tennessee with the 11th pick overall in the 2023 draft, and the team selected Alabama right tackle JC Latham with the No. 7 pick overall of this year's draft two weeks ago in Detroit. Ahead of the draft, Carthon even traded a seventh-round pick for Leroy Watson IV, a tight end converted to an offensive lineman and coached in Cleveland by Bill.
Tennessee's rookies reported for minicamp on Thursday and were on the field Friday with some new sleds — nicknamed Bertha and Olga — designed by Bill for offensive linemen to better mimic clamping onto a defender.
The Titans plan to move Latham to left tackle, relying on Bill's experience flipping players who were right tackles in college to the other end of the line in the pros. He moved Tyron Smith in 2012 with the Dallas Cowboys. He flipped Jedrick Wills, the 10th overall pick in 2020 by Cleveland. And the veteran coach isn't worried about Latham handling the switch, not with the 6-foot-6, 342-pounder's athletic ability.
"If you have the athleticism and you have strength ... and you have the muscle memory to change some skill sets, I think that's it's doable," Bill said.
Family ties usually don't trump NFL contracts for coaches, which is why Brian wasn't sure he would get this chance. Once the Browns gave permission, there was no need for an interview.
Father and son have been able to ride together to work in Nashville. When talking football, they've even tossed around a 16-inch softball Bill grew up playing with in Chicago.
"It's not something I ever thought would work, truthfully," Brian said. "So to be here with him is a really, really awesome moment for me, both as a son and as a professional, because I know how much he can help us with his knowledge."