Nfl Head Coach

Jeff Fisher reflects on time as Titans' head coach

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Former Tennessee Titans' head coach Jeff Fisher spoke with Nashville's News 2 Tuesday about his time spent with the organization and said he has no regrets.

The team announced in late January they would be parting ways with Fisher.

At the time he was NFL's longest-tenured head coach, having led the Titans for 16 years.

Tuesday, Fisher said he is at peace with the decision.

"[I] made a commitment to myself that if there was every a morning I didn't look forward to going to work and coaching I'd get out, and I had a morning like that and that was enough," Fisher said, adding, "The hardest part right now is you start to miss the players and the relationships."

Fisher, who continues to call Nashville home, said he is in great standing with the organization and has no regrets regarding choices that were made over the years.

"You move on, I have no regrets," he said.  "I had a great sense of peace when I made the decision. The hardest part was reminiscing as I was clearing out my office and then that last drive out of the facility was obviously an emotional one for me, but I had peace with everything."

As for the team's new coach, Mike Munchak , Fisher said it was an obvious choice.

"I knew Mike was qualified.  I felt like he was the best candidate for the job and I'm very, very glad they went that direction," he said.

"[Munchak] gets the up most respect from any player he has ever coached," Fisher continued.  "I think he's going to do a great job."

As for his future plans, Fisher said he has no plans of coaching at any level next year, but would eventually like to get back on the field. 

"I think the situation has to be right.  I was fortunate over the years to be in the position to be surrounded by good people," he said, adding, "I have one thing left to accomplish as head coach, but again it has to be the right place the timing has to be right."

On Saturday, Fisher will host his annual celebrity softball tournament at Greer Stadium.

Former Longtime NFL Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer Loves The 1993 ...

As head coach of the Browns from mid-1984 through ’88, Marty Schottenheimer guided the team during arguably its most successful, exciting and gut-wrenching stretch since the Paul Brown/Blanton Collier era.

Schottenheimer, who lived on Misty Lake Drive in Strongsville at the time and still maintains a local membership at Sharon Golf Club, is back in football as head coach of the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League. He’s also returning to Northeast Ohio for his team’s open tryout at Baldwin-Wallace College on Saturday. Schottenheimer discussed the UFL and his long NFL career, including his time in Cleveland, during a recent phone interview:

Why are you coaching in the UFL?

Michael Huyghue, who is the commissioner, approached me six or seven weeks ago, something like that, and asked me if I had any interest in coaching again and I said I don’t really see that in the future. And he said, ‘I’d like to visit with you about it,’ and so he met me. . . . Of course, the proximity to Charlotte was such that that it appealed to me. Long story short, he made me an offer, it made sense, so we decided to go back to work.

Do you approach it the same way you did in the NFL, or is it a different challenge?

To me, it’s still about teaching, coaching, trying to get the very best out of the kids that you have on your roster. The thing that’s been most interesting to me is that the competitive balance in the league is quite keen. Now there’s only the five teams, but . . . there’s a competitive balance that I think is critical if you’re going to draw a fan base.

What was your best team ever?

I think the ’93 team of (Joe) Montana and Kansas City. We had arguably one of the finest quarterbacks of all time under center. We had a really good defensive team. . . . We went to Buffalo in the AFC championship game and Joe was injured in the first half, at some point in time, and we couldn’t overcome that. I’m not suggesting we would have won even if he had played the game throughout. To me that was the team.

Even better than the 14-2 San Diego team?

Yeah, the Kansas City team, to me, has always been the best that we ever had.

Who’s the best player you ever coached?

You know, that’s hard to say. Montana was terrific. Philip Rivers is a terrific, terrific quarterback. LaDanian Tomlinson, Derrick Thomas, I mean, you know, I could build a team of them, if you would, by position. … There’s been a lot of terrific, terrific players that I’ve been fortunate enough to be associated with, and I’ve always maintained I was always a much better coach when I had good players.

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