Titans & HC Mike Mularkey Agree To Part Ways

Update:

Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk released a statement on Monday morning regarding the decision to part ways with HC Mike Mularkey.

“I want to thank Mike Mularkey for his contributions to our franchise over his tenure with our organization. He took over our team during a low moment and together with Jon built a solid foundation for our franchise. I appreciated that Mike devoted himself to this team and the community.

In fact, we did discuss extending his future with our team over the past week, but in those discussions about the direction of the team, it became evident that we saw different paths to achieve greater success.

It is certainly unfortunate that we couldn’t find enough common ground. I generally believe that continuity is the best path for success, but I also view this as an important moment for our football team as we try to make that next step to sustained success on the field. Jon will begin the search immediately to identify that person.”

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Field Yates of ESPN reports that the Titans and head coach Mike Mularkey have mutually agreed to part ways.

Last night, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that the Titans had offered Mularkey a contract extension following the team’s playoff performance, which would have prevented him from being a lame-duck head coach in 2018.

However, it appears as though there were more issues in play than just a simple one-year extension.

While ownership has come up with a statement supporting Mularkey as their head coach moving forward, Rapoport reported Saturday that a few members of the Titans’ coaching weren’t sure they believed this.

According to Rapoport, these members of the Titans’ coaching staff still thought they could be jeopardy.

All eyes will now be on Patriots OC Josh McDaniels as a potential target for the Titans, given that he has ties to GM Jon Robinson and could help Marcus Mariota’s development in the coming years.

Mularkey, 56, began his NFL coaching career with the Buccaneers in 1994 as their tight ends coach. Since then, Mularkey has worked for a number of NFL teams including the Steelers, Bills, Dolphins, Falcons and Jaguars before he joined Ken Whisenhunt’s staff back in 2014.

After Whisenhunt was fired in 2015, Mularkey was elevated to interim head coach and managed to hold on to the job.

During his tenure as the Titans head coach, Mularkey has led them to a record of 20-21 (48.8 percent) and one playoff appearance.