MOBILE, Ala. – The 2024 season ended for the Tennessee Titans on January 5, and Brian Callahan went right back to work.
Exit meetings with players took place the next day, along with other responsibilities to close out Callahan's first season as head coach.
On the following day came the franchise's decision to make a change at general manager, which was followed by a hiring process that included Callahan in the interviews.
At the same time, Callahan began the process of evaluating his coaching staff, along with some prep work on the draft prospects. After conducting interviews with his own coaches, and interviewing others, he made the decision to do some shuffling.
Then came the eventual hiring of new GM Mike Borgonzi, and his press conference.
The next day Callahan, Borgonzi and a large contingent of Titans personnel were on a Southwest flight headed for the East-West Shrine Bowl. After a few days of conducting interviews and watching practices in Dallas, the group hopped on another Southwest flight from Dallas to Pensacola, Fla., where they rented a car to get to Mobile, Ala., for the Senior Bowl. Over the next several days, the group watched more practices, and they were involved in more meetings.
Wednesday made 24 straight days of work for Callahan after the season, without a day off.
Yet here at the Senior Bowl, Callahan sounded like a guy with an extra bounce in his step.
Callahan said he's motivated, and on a mission: He wants to reward owner Amy Adams Strunk for hiring him, last offseason, and for sticking with him following the team's 3-14 finish in 2024.
"I am trying to prove her right for believing in me, and I am going to do everything I possibly can to put together a winning team, one that she can be proud of and ultimately our fans can be proud of," Callahan said. "We have a lot of work to do. I think the urgency is high right now for me.
"But I am excited about it, and I am confident in the direction we're headed. I want to do right by her, and I want to make sure that everything we do is something she can be proud of and that she believes in what we're doing. That part is exciting, and I am appreciative of it."
Callahan, who replaced Mike Vrabel last offseason, has already made some changes on his own.
He parted ways with special teams coordinator Colt Anderson, and replaced him with veteran special teams coach John Fassel.
Callahan hired another veteran coach on defense, adding Tony Oden as passing game coordinator/cornerbacks coach.
He decided not to retain a handful of other coaches from his first staff, and he's still in the process of filling some of those positions.
Around him, there have been sweeping changes in the front office.
Borgonzi replaced Ran Carthon, and the team has added Dave Ziegler as assistant GM and Reggie McKenzie as Vice President/Football Advisor in the personnel department as well.
With roughly 20 players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents, Callahan knows the team on the field will look different in 2025 as well.
The Titans, armed with the first overall pick and a fair amount of salary cap space, have the resources to better the team this offseason. But the team has also preached a draft, develop and retain philosophy which could take time to produce dramatic, consistent changes in the results.
Callahan believes the experiences of last year will help him, and first-year coordinators Nick Holz (offense) and Dennard Wilson (defense).
During the course of his first season as a head coach, Callahan filled up notebooks with things he learned, or would like to improve in Year 2. And he believes the lessons will work to the team's advantage in 2025.
"You learn so much your first time through it," Callahan said. "You reflect, and this is for Dennard and Nick and everybody, guys in first time coordinator roles. You have so many things that you look back on and see where you can do better. Dennard learned lessons, I learned lessons, so did Nick. And, you are always going to be better for it. The challenging situations that we had this year, I think growth occurs when you are in those really kind of uncomfortable moments during the course of the season.
"I am really excited about where we are heading into Year 2. I feel like a whole different person with so much more clarity about what is to come, and how we are going to do it, and where we can improve. I can't wait to get going, that is why I am here doing this."
Borgonzi, who previously spent 16 seasons in Kansas City with the Chiefs, said he's enjoyed getting to know Callahan better during their travels in his first few weeks on the job.
He's looking forward to developing their partnership as the franchise attempts to change its fortunes, which includes losses in 32 of the past 41 games dating back to the end of the 2022 season.
"Just a great, great guy," Borgonzi said of Callahan. "I've heard a lot about Brian over the years. When you work in the league a long time, there's always crossover, people that work with him, people that work with me that he knows. Just a smart, detailed guy, I get that just meeting with him a few times during the week. He enjoys this part of it, too, which is great. We were at East-West together, we're here together. It's been great the first two weeks with him, sitting down with him having conversations about our roster and just the whole process."
Callahan has been a part of a turnaround before.
In his first season in Cincinnati, the Bengals went 2-14 in 2019.
Then the team went 4-11-1 in 2020, followed by a 2021 season when the Bengals went 10-7 in the regular season, and made it to the Super Bowl. The Bengals followed that up the next season with a 12-4 record, and a trip to the AFC Championship Game.
Callahan knows some things need to fall into place for the Titans to make a turnaround.
He also knows there are no guarantees from one year to the next, good or bad.
But, he's more than willing to put in the work.
"The one thing I've always believed to be true is every year in the NFL is a new year, and you can never rest on the year before, you can never assume what you did is going to carry over," Callahan said. "Every year you start new, and there are no shortcuts. You do your best to build that team up. This 2025 team is going to be dramatically different than the 2024 team, and the 2026 team will be different than the 2025 team. That's just how the NFL works. You always approach each year as its own. Now you have things you want to build on, things you need to improve, but ultimately the team is going to be totally different, the staff is going to be different, and there's always change, that's just the NFL.
"But as long as you go about your business with the right focus and energy, and don't skip steps and just assume something is going to happen, you just go back to work and you start from square one and you go again, and every year you have to do that. There will always be new pieces -- players, coaches, front office. It's how best you adapt to those changes is what helps you have success."
