Jeff Fisher Gives a Hint Of What's Next
Former Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher appears poised to step farther away from his career as an NFL head coach.
The winningest coach in franchise history took to Twitter on Tuesday and teased a podcast called In the Box With Jeff Fisher, which he suggests is “coming soon.”
Without question, he has a unique perspective from 20 full seasons and parts of two others as an NFL head coach. Fisher is tied with Dan Reeves for the most regular season losses by an NFL head coach with 165. He also is 12th in career wins with 173.
“If you coach 20 years in the league and you go 10-6 every year, you’re the losingest coach in the National Football League,” Fisher said. “That’s a half-full, half-empty type of thing.”
Of course, Fisher did not go 10-6 often. Between the Titans and Rams, he had nine teams finish 8-8 or 7-9 and one that went 7-8-1. Six times, he led Tennessee to 10 wins or more, including three 13-3 marks (1999, 2000 and 2008).
Fisher was 142-120 as coach of the Titans/Oilers and led the franchise to its only Super Bowl appearance, during the 1999 season. He was named interim coach with six games to go in 1995 (when the franchise was still known as the Houston Oilers) and stayed in charge through 2010, when he and the Titans reached a mutual agreement to part.
After one year away, he took over the St. Louis Rams and went 31-45-1 in four-plus seasons. He was fired with three games remaining in the 2016 season. He has not coached since.
The 62-year-old will be inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame later this year.
The fact that he is willing to share stories from those days and – presumably – opinions on the current state of affairs in the league suggests that he no longer expects to return to the sidelines. If he did think he would get one more chance, he likely would pursue a network television job or simply stay quiet.
“Deep down inside I don’t feel like I’m done,” he said in April. “But if I am, that’s OK. It’s really been a neat experience for me personally the last couple years just to unwind, take care of myself and I look forward to what’s ahead.”
That next thing seems to be at hand.
