The Titans elected to fire General Manager on Dec. 6, back when the team was still 7-5 and looked headed for a third consecutive AFC South crown.
But then the bottom fell out and Tennessee finished 7-10, its first losing season since going 3-13 back in 2015.
Owner Amy Adams Strunk said in an interview with Jim Wyatt of the team’s website that interviews are expected to begin this week for the open position.
“We’ve been working on it for at least four weeks now,” Strunk said. “I’d like to have a G.M. as soon as possible, but we’re not going to rush the process just to get someone in as quickly as possible. The way we have it planned right now is we have two rounds, and we’re going to see where these interviews take us.”
Strunk noted that the team has “cast a wide net” in terms of candidates for the search, including in-house candidates Ryan Cowden, the current VP of player personnel, and Monti Ossenfort, the current director of player personnel. Strunk said she’s looking for an “exceptional talent evaluator” who is also “exceptional at roster building.”
Strunk will lead the search committee with a few other representatives from the top of the club’s front office. Head coach Mike Vrabel will also be involved at some point in the process.
That’s important because Strunk wants collaboration and everyone to be on the same page.
“The G.M. and the head coach are going to report to me, but as an organization, we expect a culture of working together,” Strunk said. “I think collaboration amongst all of us is going to be important to take that next step in the goal of winning a championship. The two of them are going to report to me, but the two of them are going to be working together to get us the best team we can possibly have.”
The Titans reached the AFC title game in the 2019 season but haven’t won a postseason game since.
