NASHVILLE, Tenn. —The Tennessee Titans announced several changes to the team's front office today, including that Steve Underwood will serve as the team's president and chief executive officer on a permanent basis, and the interim tag has been removed from his title.
The team has also announced that it will not renew the contract of executive vice president and general manager Ruston Webster. The Titans will begin conducting interviews this week as a part of the searches for the team's vacant head coach and general manager positions, both of which will be led by Underwood. Interim head coach Mike Mularkey is a candidate for the permanent head coaching position, and he will be interviewed as a part of the head coach search process.
Vice President of Football Administration Vin Marino will oversee the Titans' football operations during the general manager search.
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"Today, I am glad to announce that Steve Underwood will be continuing in his role as our president and chief executive officer on a permanent basis," said Titans Controlling Owner and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors Amy Adams Strunk. "I have had ongoing discussions with Steve on this issue for a while, and I feel his leadership is vital in order to move us forward. He has brought much-needed stability to our organization, and I look forward to progress that will be made under his leadership.
"Additionally, I would like to thank Ruston Webster for all of his efforts with our franchise, as he is a man of great character and integrity and someone for whom I have tremendous respect. Our mission is to become one of the elite franchises in the National Football League, and we have fallen short of this goal in recent years. We are in the search process for our head coaching and general manager positions. We share our fans' frustration about the team's recent performance, and we are committed to doing everything we can to return our team to a perennial postseason contender."
Underwood is in his 35th year of service to the organization and served for four years as the team's senior executive vice president and general counsel from 2008-11 until retiring in 2011. He rejoined the Titans as interim president and CEO in March 2015.
"I am honored and humbled to be asked to continue to serve in this leadership role," said Underwood. "We have a great deal of work to do to set up our franchise for long-term success, and we will continue to do everything in our power to move this organization forward. I believe brighter days are on the horizon for our franchise, and I am thankful for this opportunity."
Webster spent four seasons as the Titans' general manager and was named to the post on Jan. 18, 2012. He previously served two seasons as the team's vice president of player personnel (2010-11) in addition to previous stints with Seattle (2006-09) and Tampa Bay (1988-2005).
"I want to thank the Titans organization for the opportunity to be their general manager over the last four seasons," said Webster. "I have always had the best interests of the franchise in mind and did my best to move this franchise forward. The most important thing to me are the relationships I built within the building and the Nashville community. My family and I will be forever grateful, and we wish the franchise the best of luck in the future."
Mularkey has served as the Titans' interim head coach since Nov. 3, when the team released then-head coach Ken Whisenhunt. He is currently on the team's coaching staff for the second year, having joined the team in 2014 as associate head coach and tight ends coach. Mularkey was previously the head coach in Buffalo (2004-05) and Jacksonville (2012).
