NASHVILLE — Bill Callahan never thought he’d work for his son in the NFL. Not at his age and after all his years in the league.
As Brian Callahan interviewed for head coaching jobs in 2023, father and son talked at length about the idea, leaving Bill convinced he wouldn’t join his son if and when a team hired him.
Then the Tennessee Titans hired Brian in January. With permission from the Cleveland Browns, his employer at the time, Bill said he felt compelled to join his son.
“It really was a kind of a no-brainer in that regard,” said Bill, who turns 68 in July and will work with offensive linemen in Nashville, just as he did in Cleveland. “So it’s family, and I want to see him succeed. Just like any parent wants to see their children succeed. So it’s rare. It’s unique. And so, oh yeah, I’m fired up about it.”
Bill was in charge of the Oakland Raiders for two seasons (2002-03) — they beat the Titans in the AFC championship game during his first season before losing Super Bowl XXXVI to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — making Brian, who turns 40 next month, the seventh son to follow his father as a noninterim head coach in the NFL. After his time leading the Raiders, Bill returned to the college ranks as head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, but he made his way back to the NFL as an assistant and was interim head coach for the Washington Redskins in 2019.