Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Munchak during warm ups prior to the game against the Houston Texans at LP Field. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
The Tennessee Titans took an awfully long time to come to a decision on head coach Mike Munchak’s status with the team, and there were no indications as to whether or not he would be fired until it was reported yesterday by the Tennessean’s Jim Wyatt that Munchak is expected to stay. That led to an angry piece this morning from me in which I stated that keeping Munchak as head coach would be an awful decision.
Well, the Titans have come to their senses, as ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports, citing league sources, that Mike Munchak has been fired. CEO Tommy Smith and the organization took several days longer than most teams to come to a decision, as most teams quickly made decisions to either fire their head coach who was on the hot seat or affirm a commitment to them. Instead, the Titans put themselves behind the curve by waiting, and prudency turned to indecisiveness.
But despite my criticisms of the Titans truancy to come to a decision, I applaud them for firing a head coach who simply brought nothing to the table. Seriously, what has he done as head coach? Has he developed Jake Locker? Has he led his team to the playoffs? No, and that’s the biggest issue, because this team was supposed to be a playoff team by now, and that was the expectation when Munchak was hired. He never leads his team to wins in big games, as ESPN’s Paul Kuharsky shared the well-read stat that Munchak’s Titans are 3-20 against teams with winning records. That simply isn’t good enough, and it was time for a change. The Titans are behind the curve in the head coaching search after taking so long, but they can be happy knowing that they will move in the right direction by making a better hire.
The question is, who’s next?