A top candidate has emerged to become the new offensive coordinator under first-time head coach Brian Callahan in Tennessee. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Titans will be interviewing Jaguars passing game coordinator Nick Holz on Monday for their officially open offensive coordinator position. Tim Kelly was the incumbent for the position, but following the firing of Mike Vrabel, plenty of the Titans’ offensive staffers have explored interview opportunities elsewhere, seeing the writing on the wall that often comes with a change at head coach.
With Callahan in place as the team’s next head coach, the Titans’ focus will now shift to filling out the rest of the staff. They recently made their first request to the Ravens to interview defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson for their defensive coordinator position. Now, we get an idea of who the new head coach likes as a potential coordinator on the offensive side of the ball. This is Holz’s first request to interview for a coordinator job this offseason and, according to our records, the first NFL coordinator interview of his career.
Holz has a strong connection to Callahan that makes him an obvious candidate to assist the new head coach in Tennessee. Holz’s extensive experience in the NFL all comes from the Raiders organization. After assistant coaching jobs at the college level, Holz spent 10 years in Oakland and Vegas. After three years as an offensive assistant, Holz alternated between roles as an offensive quality control coach and an assistant wide receivers coach. When Callahan spent a year in 2018 as the Raiders quarterbacks coach before joining Zac Taylor in Cincinnati as offensive coordinator, Holz was an offensive quality control coach in Oakland.
With Holz as passing game coordinator, the Jaguars finished in the top-10 for passing yards, though quarterback Trevor Lawrence to a slight step back in 2023. While averaging more passing yards per game, Lawrence fell four touchdowns short of last year’s total and threw an unappealing 14 interceptions after limiting himself to eight in 2022. Callahan reportedly plans on calling plays for the Titans after not calling plays during his time as offensive coordinator in Cincinnati, so it will be interesting to see what plans the team has at offensive coordinator. Regardless, Holz’s history working with Callahan makes him a top candidate for the position as Tennessee moves forward with the hiring process.