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Speaker 1: Back at the twenty eighteen NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis

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Speaker 1: with Mike Rabel, new head coach of the Tennessee Titans.

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Speaker 1: That still sounds kind of strange. I like the sound

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Speaker 1: of it, though, I bet you do. Mike. People have

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Speaker 1: been talking about you and you're coaching potential for a

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Speaker 1: long time, even as a player. I guess when was

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Speaker 1: the first time you really thought it was realistic to

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Speaker 1: get to a head coaching position in National Football League.

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Speaker 1: I don't think I ever looked at it like that.

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Speaker 1: I just know that I wanted to to coach. I

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Speaker 1: think that I knew, you know, early on in my

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Speaker 1: playing career. Like man, this is something that I would

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Speaker 1: love to do. Like I love the game, I love

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Speaker 1: being around players. There's been a lot of coaches that

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Speaker 1: have helped me grow as a player and as a person,

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Speaker 1: and I would love to be able to do that

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Speaker 1: and then kind of set off starting at Ohio State

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Speaker 1: and then moving on through the you know, the Houston Texans.

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Speaker 1: I always try to do, whether I was a player

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Speaker 1: or now in this profession as a coach, try to

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Speaker 1: do the best job and the job that you're in.

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Speaker 1: And then when communities come up. You know, then you

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Speaker 1: can make a decision. Tough question, but is it happened,

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Speaker 1: has it happened faster than you anticipated, or did you

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Speaker 1: have no real idea? I didn't have any real idea.

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Speaker 1: I didn't have an agenda and say that in ten years,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to be a head coach. In five years,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to be this. Try to do the best

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Speaker 1: job and the job that I was in at that moment.

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Speaker 1: I didn't have an agenda. I didn't try to go

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Speaker 1: and seek out other jobs and then when those opportunities

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Speaker 1: presented themselves, trying to be ready for him. Taking over

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Speaker 1: a playoff team for a first time head coach doesn't

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Speaker 1: happen off, I think so, especially a playoff team, a

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Speaker 1: playoff team that won a game, so you got to

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Speaker 1: the final eight. I guess, how close is this Titans

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Speaker 1: team from your estimation as far as you've been able

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Speaker 1: to know it so far early on, or as close

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Speaker 1: as everybody else is. And that's starting in April and

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Speaker 1: going back and building that foundation every year. And we

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Speaker 1: certainly would like to have the consistent success and this

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Speaker 1: success excuse me, as a team like the New England

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Speaker 1: pay treats that's something that everybody should should want. A

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Speaker 1: lot has been written and said about NFL coaching trends

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Speaker 1: going towards the younger coach. They're looking for leadership skills,

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Speaker 1: they're looking for people who can relate to today's player,

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Speaker 1: maybe somebody who's been on the field recently. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if that helped you or hurt you, But what

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Speaker 1: does that mean to you that that seems to be

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Speaker 1: a trend that perhaps benefited you. Again, I didn't really

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Speaker 1: look at it like that. I got to call it

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Speaker 1: to come an interview. I got to call it an

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Speaker 1: interview for the Lions and the Indianapolis Colts and the Titans.

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Speaker 1: And I think that the one thing I learned through

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Speaker 1: that process is that I think you can still do

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Speaker 1: a good job and not get the job. You know,

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Speaker 1: you can do well in an interview and still not

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Speaker 1: get it. And whether that be here at the combine

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Speaker 1: as a player, you can still do okay at the

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Speaker 1: Combine and not end up a first round pick. I

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Speaker 1: think that people have to understand that, and so maybe

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Speaker 1: we can relate that to our team and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: as long as we're proving and getting better, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think that's important. You just talked on the podium

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Speaker 1: about all your coaching influences, but whatever the Patriot Way

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Speaker 1: means to you, how much do you believe that influenced

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Speaker 1: kind of you your coaching philosophy. Well, I think I

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Speaker 1: was pretty team warranted. I think I was a hard worker.

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Speaker 1: I think I try to prepare. I thought I was

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Speaker 1: pretty durable. I tried to try to be a durable player,

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Speaker 1: try to be a great teammate well before I got

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Speaker 1: to New England. And I think that that just solidified

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Speaker 1: kind of what I thought of myself as a person

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Speaker 1: and as a player, trying to put it together in

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Speaker 1: a team setting and trying to get a bunch of

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Speaker 1: guys that share that belief and share that those personalities.

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Speaker 1: The AFC South, it is really an interesting division now.

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Speaker 1: I mean it was this poor sister for a while,

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Speaker 1: and now it feels like it's time is kind of shifted,

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Speaker 1: and between you and Frank Wright and Morone and O'Brien,

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Speaker 1: it could be a lot of fun and guys that

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Speaker 1: could be competing against each other for a while. You

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Speaker 1: look at this success that the Jaguars had and you know, Houston,

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Speaker 1: you know, win in the division two years ago, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: two years in a row, and so it's lucky to

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Speaker 1: be a part of that that those teams, and you know,

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Speaker 1: every year is a challenge. Every year there's change, and

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Speaker 1: every year teams are going to change, and we understand that,

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Speaker 1: you know, we're going to have to improve to to

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Speaker 1: do everything we can to win the division for the

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Speaker 1: first time since two thousand and eight. Was it a

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Speaker 1: bonus to stay in this division and obviously stay in

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Speaker 1: the conference that you know best. I think I know

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Speaker 1: a lot of the players and a lot of teams,

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Speaker 1: and we'll see if those change, and certainly and most

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Speaker 1: of those players will remain the same, but pretty good

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Speaker 1: evaluation on most of those teams. Last question, linebackers a

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Speaker 1: leadership type position. And I was racking my brain and

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Speaker 1: it was coming up with linebackers who went on to

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Speaker 1: become head coaches. Mike Singletary, Jack Pardie, I didn't get

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Speaker 1: too many. Or is there anything Jack del Rio, Jack

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Speaker 1: del Rio? There you go. That's a long time and

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Speaker 1: a linebacker is it a position you think convey as

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Speaker 1: well from being able to reach every pot get of

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Speaker 1: a locker room? Yeah, when I stand in front of

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Speaker 1: our team on April ninth, and I look out and

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Speaker 1: they look back at me. You know, I'll have been

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Speaker 1: every one of those guys through fourteen years. I've been

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Speaker 1: the rookie that got drafted. I was doing everything he

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Speaker 1: could to make the roster as a special teams player,

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Speaker 1: two way to a starting linebacker that