The OTP | Brian Callahan Pt. 2

The OTP | Brian Callahan Pt. 2

sign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] up this is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans plan on paying less for the coverage you need with Farm Bureau Health Plans get a quote today at FB hp.com that’s fbp.org Wells I’m Mike Keith and our special guest for part two coach Brian Callan hey thanks for sticking around or coming back or however we’re trying to sell this lingering we’re hanging we’re hanging we’re continuing the conversation with the coach let me ask you first and foremost what does Brian Callahan do for fun during this four or five week period generally in most years I’ll play a little bit of golf I’m not very good at it but it’s my one one hobby I have that I enjoy playing haven’t played any golf this year obviously been a little busy yeah and then my in-laws um for the last they’ve had a house up in Lake George New York for about 20 plus years and so every summer since I’ve met my wife we spend some time up there so I’m a big pull the boat on the lake and be on the lake and not do much of anything is that one of the Finger Lakes no it’s actually it’s it’s just south of Lake Champlain so it’s Vermont New York border okay so right up just straight north of Albany about 45 minutes and we’ve learned something education on the OTP well it’s a beautiful place like it’s up in Adera so it sits you know it’s it’s kind of hilly and it’s really pretty oh that sounds just fantastic how in the world do you turn your brain off of all of this stuff think about all of the details that are just living in your head right now you don’t you don’t great um you do try to get a a breather from it um but I would just say there’s it’s sort of a constant thing when as I’m learning when you’re in in in in the head coaching rle is you’re always thinking about something um it might be as simple as you know this the schedule for an off day in training camp it might be the a roster thought but you’re always there’s always something going on what how do I want to message this part of training you know all those things are sort of always churning um so yeah I don’t think it ever really shuts off it’s probably the best way to put it there’s no real Break um my mind is always moving but I would say there is you know this time of year particularly you get a chance to at least step back and maybe focus on some things that you know like your family which is solid they’re important so we we met your family when you came in after you’d accepted the job Nora yep and she’s nine she’ll be turning nine in July okay so nine and then Ronan who we really met oh yeah I mean he’s yeah you think he he’s rolling man you you think he owns the place well and and he does he did I think he did that day so from January to now yeah roughly six months how has he reacted to dad being the head coach full-time what new developments have gone on with him um you know I I think that not much I don’t think they really they get it I think that they love coming to the office that’s their favorite thing to do for whatever reason that’s just that’s like they all they want to do is come here and I’m like guys I don’t really want to go there right now um but they just they they think it’s like the coolest thing in the world and that’s how I grew up too is playing around in football facilities forever so that part’s fun I think they they don’t really get it though I don’t think they really understand um probably until the season starts I think they’ll they’ll have a better picture for what that looks like but um I they think they’re more just excited to they just want to come color on the whiteboards and run around the building that’s great that’s their that’s their that’s their main goal well going to work with Dad regardless of what Dad does it’s cool it’s cool it’s a great thing yeah it’s a cool thing to do well speaking of dads now that you work with your father when when you have kids especially when you have free time there’s a lot of going to visit the grandparents especially during off times and for the longest time you and your dad kind of had competing schedules and they lined up perfectly and so this was the time that you had to go see each other do you have to vacation with your parents anymore or is the show kind of over in that the funny thing is actually all my um my brothers and sisters are all coming here which is great because we normally we would take like a week vacation as a family somewhere we’ meet somewhere in the summertime and so it’s convenient because they all have to come to Nashville for a couple for a couple days but um I don’t know what that’s going to look like in the you know future year like I will say this the for all the day like we’re together all the time and for all the time we spend together there’s definitely I might go two or three days without even like seeing my dad if that makes like just in but we’re all we’re kind of all working and so right um there’s it’s not like I’m I’m you know constantly with him all the time um and so there’s like all of a sudden yesterday I think it had been like three days since I sat down and talked to him and I just went and sat in his office and I was you know it’s like go talk to my dad not not going and talk to coach talk to you know and so it’s I don’t think it’s it’s really hard to articulate I think but there is still like a a work relationship and then there’s you know father son yeah grandparents um and so I I futurewise I’m sure we’ll still do something but um my kids are the ones that are way more excited about it because Grandma and Grandpa right down the street and huge my daughter my daughter and my my my mom and my daughter have like a really kind of cool relationship and so she’s fired up she can’t wait to oh that’s 10 minutes from Grandma’s house like fired up yeah oh so that part’s cool I love that a lot of cookies yeah yes yeah a lot of lot of cookies a lot of fun lot of fun so in watching your dad at practice I think the thing that I enjoy most is how all the coaches and former coaches who come to practice have to go watch your dad work yeah all of them all they that’s the first thing they have to do mhm I mean they they don’t want to watch the quarterbacks and the receivers or the defensive backs they’ll get to them they’re excited but they have to go watch Bill Callahan coach yeah not necessarily watching the offensive line per se they have to watch him Coach what a compliment I I think it’s pretty incredible um he’s earned that right you know over the years and um he’s G he’s gone out a lot of respect in the coaching Community um people idolize him um as strange as that sounds to me um but but he’s he’s deserving of it I mean he’s he’s he’s one of the there’s there’s guys that get to certain points in their careers and and we’ve always I’ve always defined them as sort of like Master coaches these guys that that are are so good at what they do and have done it for so long at such a high level um they become almost it’s like a a legend legendary almost in a sense and and more so just because everyone watches and they just have so much respect for for what he’s done in his career and so all these guys come in and visit and and come seeing a former coaches they just want to go watch him Coach because he’s he’s got such a reputation as that as a coach that’s worth watching you know um and I think it’s an incredible compliment that guys in our profession uh feel that way about him and look up to him that way that that’s the that’s what they want to go see is they want to go see him Coach and it’s a huge compliment it’s pretty cool so when the huge family comes into town are you going down to like Broadway to The Honky Tonks are you Broadway Broadway you don’t know no I’m sure like my younger sister she probably go down there um and now I don’t know if I’ll be out on would you get recognized yet is yeah a little bit not not a lot I I still can run you know relative I’m relatively Anonymous maybe I’m rela I’m like Anonymous looking too I don’t know if it’s I don’t know if I’m like it’s not uh I I’ve not had we haven’t done your TV show yet I’m not yeah I’m not like real forward yet we haven’t played a game on television yet which which is good I’m enjoying that part it’s not crazy people I feel people look at me um feel like they like recognize not sure where like why so I feel I feel like I feel Vision sometimes like it’s really it’s a very new thing for me and it’s sometimes very awkward but um I feel people looking at me but they don’t say anything and it’s I’d almost rather someone like say something well because they think here here’s what they’re thinking they’re thinking now is he our new pastor or is is that the weather guy on channel whatever know I’ve seen this person somewhere seen him look like somebody he on the plane with me the other day that’s what it is that’s what it feels like this but the best thing about being here is that people will come up to you in the grocery store and they’ll just say I just want want to let you know I’m behind you you know what I’ve had a I’ve had a few of those that part’s really cool I mean the welcome the respect people show is has been pretty phenomenal everything that I would have I’ve heard about you know that the southern hospitality and the and the the friendliness and the kindness all those things have have shown up and most the interactions I’ve had and you know people don’t people have been very uh respectful very complimentary and um they sort of say hello and kind of keep it moving and I think that’s that’s pretty cool they’re kind yeah yeah and polite yeah I would say all those things are true I um the random one the other day I was I went to in a coffee shop over U by my house and I walked in and and um Taylor Lewan was in there and you recognize him cuz he stands out um and I and I had just done their their their podcast a couple weeks back and I just said Hey Taylor what’s up man and like nobody else he took him a second to recognize me too you know he’s like oh hey hey hey uh and but you know the place was pretty crowded and and nobody else really said anything you know so I was like oh he’s like you’re just kind of moving around town huh pretty anonymously I was like I guess and so that’s that’s kind of what my experience has been so far I haven’t had a whole lot of interaction that’s you know uncomfortable have you actually been able to do things in town have you seen any of Nashville outside of Ascension St Thomas Sports Park have I have not a lot but I have some I’ve been out of cample time a couple restaurants I mean the food here is fantastic everywhere I’ve been has been a excellent meal um a little bit of that I’ve I’ve been I went to I’ve been to a couple PRS games I’ve I went to I still looking forward to going to the baseball stadium uh watching some baseball which is kind of my one of my summer Pastime go watch some baseball but it’s a really good park that’s what I’ve heard I’ve heard it’s fantastic it’s a really good Park um and then I’ve I’ve been I’ve been to we’ve been up to the 12:30 Club a few times because ran had gone there but ran that’s kind of Ran’s spot he was at a bunch and so I’ve been there a few times I have not really like Dove down into the Broadway Honky Tonk scene much you’ve got to do a concert at the Ryman mhm that’s on the list you’ve got to do the list I’ve heard that’s unbelievable and You’ got to go to the Grand doll opery yeah I do I mean it is it is so special that it has the history and tradition and when you’re there you’re like I am so glad I’m here yeah you get it when you’re there you you feel it that’s is it kind of like I feel like the Ryman in that and the ground Opera like red rocks in like like Red Rocks is a place you just you just need to go experience doesn’t matter who’s playing right you just got to go experience it and it’s it’s it’s just that it’s an exper experience it’s one you I feel like those are typ same type of places that you got to check them off the list exactly 100% I I went to the station in then at The Gulch which is like this old yeah old like it’s a Bluegrass place okay and it was one of the coolest I mean it was we just randomly walked in there one night and really good bam was playing and my wife’s a big Bluegrass fan and we sat there for like two hours yeah so I kind of sat off in the corner just watch these these guys play Blu grass was phenomenal it was in and you can do that but you know what that’s my biggest disappointment with myself is every time I go hear live music I think why don’t I do this more it’s one of my favorite things about this city I think I’m gonna I mean I think I’m gonna do quite a bit of it because I love I love watching music so I’m I’m all in on the music oh yeah I love it we’re all in on SeatGeek SeatGeek is now the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans that’s what I’m supposed to do that was really good that’s called a s yeah it was a good one just whether you’re bu uhhuh top not not really whether you’re buying or selling tickets to Titans games or any live event in Nashville like live music SeatGeek is the place to do it SeatGeek the new official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans so Titans fans can fan let me ask you too about how you’re going to play the preseason MH how do you in your coaching philosophy from an evaluation standpoint see preseason games um preseason is important I think I’ve learned some lessons over the years we you know we kind of adopted that LA Rams mentality when when we got to Cincinnati where we didn’t play our starters at all um we had some injuries with with burrow um last year where we were going to play our starters more because we we had been a kind of slow starting team out of the gate and that was one of the things we felt like might help us is playing in the preseason more and um obviously we weren’t going to put our guys out there in Cincinnati without Joe with them it just didn’t make sense um so I I believe in those guys playing some in the preseason I think it helps it helps you get ready for the opener so the opener is not the first time you’re you’ve been tackled or the first time you hit a game speed and even though the preseason game speed is not the same as the regular season it’s still playing live football and I think starters playing a little bit in those games I think is going to go a long way the joint practices will be important um where we get a ton of work against a team in a more controlled environment um but you’ll see our starter play in the preseason with that mindset how quickly do you want to establish kind of who those 53 are going to be you know every year your your roster you probably know who let’s call it 40 something you know you got a pretty good idea and then there’s a handful of battles um at some spots some of the depth spots some of the special team spots um that that are are truly up for grabs that that somebody could take um and so you got a pretty good idea of what you’re going to look like around most of your starting positions um but then it’s just a matter of what is the those those last couple pieces of the roster that people are fighting for um but you you certainly want to have a you know when you’re having competition up front for example offensive line you you like to get that solidified sooner than later because you want those guys to to bank reps and play together right um so that’s if you’re when you talk about that certainly you’d love to have a your five starters pretty solidified sooner than later um but I think a lot of our battles are going to go probably well to the wire and training camp I mean there’s going to be a lot of opportunity for guys to compete and have a chance to to earn themselves a job you mentioned the five starters on the offensive line do you feel the same way about the 22 starters overall getting them established as quickly as possible yeah you hope so there’s also the other part of it is that you hope that you know there’s there’s guys that are still even though their starters are still preparing and fighting like they have a job that’s up for grabs um because that competition makes your team better and so you hope that there’s enough competition across the board for spots that um it really pushes those guys to to not be complacent either to know that you know the minute you show up here and you think you got it all you know usually you you get beat out by somebody and uh but the competition is good and so I hope that you want guy you want to play guys together but you also want the same mentality of of guys that are trying to earn themselves spots even if their spot is solidified um you know by contractual status or or how much they’ve played but I hope that we get a bunch of really good competition and 53 guys on the active roster when you go to Chicago you’ll certainly have the ability to call up people from the practice squad but I I wonder this being a first-time head coach do you already have in your mind how the game day 48 will fit together or do you have to wait and see how the roster is set before you can make your mind up about that um I have a I have an outline of what I think it’ll look like and then there’s going to be those weekly decisions that come up a lot of it’s going to be in in the Special Teams realm where who’s going to contribute there and what’s their value on the roster as the third running back or the fourth and fifth receivers or you know where where are those guys playing roles and um that to me is usually where that gymnastics comes into play um before you get to the injury part which hopefully there’s not too many of those uh we knock however play whever you can knock um yeah you should have been around here the last three years we’ll knock on anything and so that hopefully is um you know when you get to that point where you’re you’re juggling injuries and rosters that that part will U kind of solve itself but um the Special Teams part is really where the unknowns are at this point and and where those guys are going to fit in what roles uh and then do you got to take some guys that maybe are really good special teams players but maybe not going to help you on either in any position um but their their role as a four-phase best teams player is going to be critical and so you may have to take that guy over a guy you think is you know on game day you might have to sit one guy down that’s not going to help you as much because they’re only going to play seven to 10 snaps when this other guy’s going to play you know 20 special team snaps for you too so it kind of goes there’s a lot of juggling when it gets to that well you mentioned the Special Teams component and there have been some changes to what special teams is going to look like in 2024 um in a variety of different ways how does that impact the calculus of what you are trying to put together and maybe who you choose to put where yeah I think you know the kickoff obviously is going to be a huge change I don’t know what that’s going to look like yet you know I think we have to get pads on and play and experiment I think the preseason will be fun to to watch and see what people do they won’t show you everything but um I do think as we get more comfortable with what that kickoff rule looks like um you can start making maybe some Personnel changes I know Colt has messed with some lineups but um you know the types of guys you might use in that spot might be different now than they used to so hard to know for sure but I think we’re kind of open to the possibility that may change how you configure some of your roster cuz those spots are different now than maybe they used to be on the kickoff and kickoff return so uh that part will be exciting I I’m not a you know I’m an offensive guy and the quarterback guy so I spend most my time there and special teams has never really intrigued me much um but the new kickoff to me is intriguing um that part is really fun to kind of see what that’s going to look like well who are your returners do you go with a small quick guy or a bigger guy who can break a tackle and go who needs to be on the kick cover team who needs to be on the return team because you actually have a real chance to block somebody now which has before it was very hard to get a real block on somebody and then the discussion of who the kicker needs to be based on the fact that as they played this out in the UFL and and overall the actual kicker had to make a lot of tackles a lot more than than normal and some teams are even talking about using a safety who has had kickoff experience maybe in high school yeah as the kicker yeah I don’t know I I’m not sure we have one of those um I’m not sure if we have a guy that can kick and cover I know but there is some guys out there that have sure uh was it Justin Reed Justin Reed I think their speci coordinator might have came out and and even said they’ve practiced with him in that role because you you gain an advantage you know you gain an extra tackler um and the kicking is a little bit less about the distance now and so you don’t have to have someone’s got a big leg you can just as long as they can get the ball in the air and put it in the landing Zone you’ve now gained an extra cover player so I would venture to guess there’s a handful of teams that will do that um and and maybe that’s you know now all the scouts are on the road this fall looking at safety kickers you know you know guys guys got some Flex some roster value I guess full back Hunter yeah for for back in the old days yeah but I don’t think it’s that farfetched I think if you if you found one that um could kick it well enough um it’s certainly an advantage and I think the teams are GNA that have one a guy that could do that will that’ll work out um you know to a a small Advantage for them Brian how much of that do you think you’ll learn about in the pre-season will anybody show much no okay no I don’t think they’ll just kick it in the end Z no I think they’re gonna show I think people want to see I think the the general consistence that I’ve gathered is that most teams want to see it be played out and and in in its most basic form in the preseason there’s not going to be a bunch of scheme but I think just to see what it looks like live um because you’re not practicing that live uh at any point during practice um I think the it’ll be fun for the joint practices to see that against a opponent um but I don’t know what that’s going to I I think you’ll see a lot of returns I don’t think you’ll see the the schematics that some of the you know whatever the wrinkles people are going to have I think you’ll see a lot of just kick and cover so people can just watch it play out and see what it’s going to look like the pundits who love the geekery like I do the geekery well I mean that’s what it is great word I mean yeah I mean it is it’s a I mean it truly is because I I I think in listening to them they may be right that early in the season we’re going to see a lot of returns yeah and as people start to see the returns become the first offensive play of the game for real yeah that by midseason people just be kicking in the end zone and giving you the ball at the 30 uh I think there’s going to be uh um a risk reward and I think there’s going to be teams that maybe become really good at it and you become concerned about that and say well we’re better off the chances of them getting to the 45 or the 50 on the kickoff is is pretty good because they’re they got a dynamic returner or they have a their scheme’s really good whatever that may be um you’re going to see a lot more I would venture to guess uh teams that maybe not feel was confident in what what they have versus what the other team has and you may just say just they’re going to concede the ball at 30 and just kick it in the end zone uh that wouldn’t surprise me at all can I ask one more kicking question Amy oh please okay please we love kicking here so folk is back and he’s almost 40 MH the young man from NC State narison is here and he appears to have quite a leg is that going to be something we need to watch when preseason starts in a few weeks um I no I don’t I don’t think Nick’s at any any real risk of losing his job I think that it’s good to have two kickers in Camp and I think obviously um Nick has kicked for a long time and so you and for us organizationally you always want to have um the succession plan in in place for guys that that have have played as long as as Nick has and and Morgan Cox too as they you know these guys have they’re very established and they’ve been great players for a long time at their jobs and um you always want to have a in the back of your mind okay well what what happens next year if Nick decides this is it for him or if he you know what I mean that’s you always have to plan for that sure um and so having and kickers I’ve generally felt like young kickers need um you know with the exception of a handful they they need time they need to learn how to kick in the NFL a lot of guys you know you see these guys kicking camps for two three years and they finally get an opportunity so um you sort of always having that almost training ground for for the next guy so I think that’s going to be a a part of having two kickers in Camp too CH Brown Callahan enjoy the rest of your off seon thank you for both parts of this we have enjoyed having you with us so much always a pleasure for Amy Wells and head coach Brian Callahan Mike Keith thanks you for listening and watching the OTP show where the Legends go everybody knows it’s our house

Mike and Amie sit down with Brian Callahan to discuss his preseason philosophy, his excitement about exploring Nashville and how he unwinds during the summer break. You don’t want to miss the second installment of the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans.

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