The Tennessee Titans kicked off their search for a new head coach Thursday with a pair of interviews – both defensive coordinators who’ve never been NFL head coaches.
The Titans confirmed they interviewed Houston’s Mike Vrabel and Carolina’s Steve Wilks. Tennessee is looking to replace Mike Mularkey Joe Mixon Jersey , fired Monday after he went 21- 22 and won the franchise’s first playoff game in 14 years.
Vrabel, 42, has never been a head coach at any level. He is coming off his first season as defensive coordinator for the Texans. Vrabel played 14 years in the NFL with Pittsburgh, New England where he won three Super Bowl titles and Kansas City before going into coaching. He started coaching in 2011 at his alma mater, Ohio State. He coached linebackers and defensive linemen.
Vrabel went to Houston in 2014 and coached linebackers with the Texans for three seasons before becoming coordinator. The Texans won the AFC South in 2015 and 2016 thanks to strong defenses. The unit slipped this season with the Texans’ defense decimated by injuries to players including J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus .
General manager Jon Robinson gave little indication Monday of what he’s looking for in the man who will be the Titans’ fourth head coach eight seasons and third in quarterback Marcus Mariota’s fourth season.
”Leader of men,” Robinson said of what he wants in a new head coach. ”Obviously, the things that are stamped out there on those pillars: team-first, detailed, tough, dependable. One that’s going to Rigoberto Sanchez Jersey , like I said, maximize the abilities of the players in all three phases of the game.”
Wilks has only been a head coach in college at Savannah State in 1999. His first season as defensive coordinator with the Panthers was 2017, but he has coached with Chicago, the Chargers and joined Carolina in 2012. Wilks was assistant head coach in 2015 and 2016.
Interviewing Wilks helped the Titans satisfy the league’s Rooney Rule, and Wilks also interviewed with the New York Giants about their opening. Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis certainly thinks Wilks has earned the right to be a head coach.
”He has done a tremendous job of coming in and taking over this defense and really giving us a chance to be successful,” Davis said.
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AP Sports Writer Steve Reed contributed to this report from Charlotte.
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Follow Teresa M. Walker at LeBron James has made Boston’s TD Garden his personal playground during the playoffs in recent years.
The Cleveland Cavaliers entered the Eastern Conference finals with a 9-3 record against the Celtics in games played at the Garden over the last four years, including six straight wins.
James’ 979 postseason points against Boston were the most by any player against any opponent in the last 50 years. And his 21 playoff wins against the Celtics were also the most against them during that span.
But none of that mattered Sunday in Boston’s dominating 108-83 win over Cleveland in Game 1 , in which James committed seven turnovers while being held to just 15 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.
It would be solid night for most NBA players, but was pedestrian by the super-human standard that LeBron has set for himself this postseason Terrell Davis Jersey , at times single-handedly carrying the Cavs to victories.
But he was clear that his concern level down being 1-0 was ”zero.”
”I didn’t go to college, so it’s not March Madness,” he said. ”You see ways you can get better throughout the series. But I’ve been down 0-1, I’ve been down 0-2. I’ve been down before in the postseason.
”But for me, there’s no level of concern no matter how bad I played tonight with seven turnovers, how inefficient I was shooting the ball. … We have another opportunity to be better as a ballclub come Tuesday night and we’ll see what happens.”
James said the Celtics deserved credit for the defensive strategy they employed against him, which started with Marcus Morris challenging him from outset, limiting him to 2-of-6 shooting in the first quarter as Cleveland fell into a 36-18 hole.
”I think they had a great game plan in Game 1, and he was the start of it,” James said. ”He was my matchup and I think they did a great job of communicating throughout the whole game John Franklin-Myers Jersey , knowing where I was and all of my teammates was. (Celtics coach) Brad (Stevens) did a great job.”
”We have an opportunity to look at some film tomorrow and see ways they was making us uncomfortable.”
The Celtics showed James several different looks throughout the game, switching as many as five different players on him.
Morris, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart and Aron Baynes all took turns guarding James at times. Boston frequently sent a double team when he got the ball in the post. It forced him to settle for jump shots early and limited his ability to get to the rim.
That in turn kept James from creating shots for his teammates. For the game Cleveland was outscored by 18 points with James on the floor.
”We are just going to try to make it as tough for him as we can,” Rozier said. ”The other guys, obviously, (Kevin) Love and J.R. Smith, we don’t want to give them open looks. … That has been a big emphasis the last couple of days. We did a good job of that and we just have to keep it up.”
When the Cavs did finally show a little momentum Josh Sitton Jersey , cutting Boston’s lead to 14 at the end of the third quarter, the Celtics responded with a 7-0 run at the start of the fourth.
James was asked afterward what happened during that flurry and he responded with a verbatim recitation of each play , down to Tatum’s coast-to-coast layup off a Eurostep move in the lane.
When he was finished James leaned back in his chair, spread his arms and wryly said, ”There you go.”
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