Mike Vrabel was fired by the Tennessee Titans after the regular season despite being the 2021 NFL Coach of the Year. Though he is much younger than the more accomplished Bill Belichick or Pete Carroll, he still did not land another head coach job. And perhaps the worst reason ever was given for why Vrabel was not hired.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini said on Monday’s episode of “The Athletic Football Show” that there was not a fit for Vrabel around the league (around 24:20 mark). But then she offered something she was told — something that may be the worst reason ever given for not hiring a good coach.
“I don’t think there was a fit for him. I don’t think he sat in front of any owner who thought that his style was going to work for what they were looking for,” Russini began, before sharing the crazy detail. “Do you know I had a GM at the Senior Bowl who mentioned to me Vrabel’s physical build. That he’s a very large human being and can be very intimidating to people in an organization that are going to be part of these decisions. And that is a factor.”
Russini said she laughed at that reason, but admitted it made some sense.
Can you imagine that? Vrabel may have scared off some people because of his physical stature?
Vrabel was listed as 6-foot-4 and 261 pounds as a player. Dan Campbell was listed at 6-foot-5 and 265 pounds as a player. Quite obviously neither of those guys have worked out as big, tough head coaches. Nope, it’s not like they didn’t take their teams to conference championship games.
As if that reason weren’t bad enough, Russini and Ben Standig shared another theory in a separate article. In that article, the two shared that someone theorized Vrabel may not have been hired by the Commanders because newly hired Washington GM Adam Peters is friends with Titans GM Ran Carthon, who had just fired Vrabel.
It’s hard to imagine which theory is worse, but the physically intimidating reason is pretty bad. Vrabel is a good, accomplished head coach who will be available to help a team next offseason.
