Tennessee Titans interim head coach Mike McCoy will lean on his previous experience as head coach in his attempt to right the ship.
The Titans fired head coach Brian Callahan after starting the season 1-5. McCoy was serving as a senior offensive assistant, but was the only person on Tennessee’s coaching staff with previous head coaching experience.
McCoy was hired as a senior offensive assistant in March, after spending three seasons as the quarterbacks coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
McCoy expressed sympathy for Callahan’s firing and reflected on the difficult nature of the business side of the NFL. But he also accepted the responsibility.
“I’ve got a job to do now, and I’m excited for that opportunity,” he told reporters. “It’s an honor and privilege to be standing here in front of you guys today and leading this organization. We’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us.”
McCoy stressed the importance of players and coaches sticking together and taking accountability.
“We all have a part in this where we are today,” he said.
“It’s not just Brian, and that’s the unfortunate thing in this business that happens, and we all have a hand in it. Every player, every coach, every person in the organization, we have to hold each other accountable.
“So, we all have to be accountable for everything we’re doing on a daily basis...Those are two big things that I’m going to stress to everybody, because it’s a bad feeling when you see someone that’s such a good person like Brian have this happen to. But we all have to understand, ‘hey, we’re all in this together and we all have a hand in it.’”
After a brief playing career as a quarterback, McCoy took a job as an offensive assistant with the Carolina Panthers. He spent nine seasons in Carolina, which included a brief stint as wide receivers coach in 2001 and a promotion to quarterbacks coach in 2006, then passing game coordinator and QBs coach in 2007.
McCoy joined the staff of the Denver Broncos as QBs coach and offensive coordinator in 2009. He helped lift Kyle Orton to career highs and earned widespread fame for helping the offense to the playoffs with Tim Tebow in 2011. He spent 2012 as OC with Peyton Manning, before being hired as head coach of the San Diego Chargers in 2013.
McCoy spent four years as head coach of the Chargers, going 9-7 in each of his first two seasons and making the playoffs in 2013. But he went 4-12 in 2015 and 5-11 in 2016 and was fired after the 2016 season. He returned to Denver as OC but was fired midway through the 2017 season. He was hired by the Arizona Cardinals in 2018 but only made it to October before being fired again.
McCoy spent 4 years out of football before he took a job as quarterbacks coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars under Doug Pederson. He joined the Titans staff in 2025.
McCoy was the only coach on the team with real head coaching experience; special teams coordinator John Fassel served as interim head coach of the Los Angeles Rams for the final three games of the 2016 season.
“It’s invaluable, because nobody knows until you’re in this role,” he said of his experience.
“You think you’re ready. You’ve got no clue. There’s so many things that come up on a daily basis that you have to deal with. I was young back in 2013 when I first got the job in San Diego, and the things that [came] across my desk, I’m like, ‘I’ve got to I’ve got to answer this? What are you talking about? I mean, isn’t that his job to do that?’...There’s just so many things—whether it’s the practice schedules, it’s game days, it’s the offseason, it’s travel—there’s so many things you have to do...I’ve learned so much from [that time] and it’s going to really help me in my situation now.”
McCoy worked with several great quarterbacks in his time, including Jake Delhomme in Carolina, Manning in Denver, and Philip Rivers in San Diego; he also helped develop Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville.
Now he will be tasked with developing this year’s first overall pick, quarterback Cam Ward. From his experience in Jacksonville, McCoy learned that it takes time for a young quarterback and an offensive system to click, and for the game to slow down for him.
