Jeff Fisher reportedly is ready to give college football a try.
The winningest coach in Tennessee Titans history is a candidate to become head coach at East Tennessee State University, the Johnson City Press reported Sunday. The paper cited “multiple sources” as confirmation of the development.
Fisher has not coached since 2016, when the Los Angeles Rams fired him with three games to go in that season.
“Deep down inside I don’t feel like I’m done,” Fisher said in Feb. 2020, when he was named one of that year’s inductees to the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. “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.”
Several times in recent years, Fisher’s name has come up in connection with college coaching searches, including those at Southern Cal, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. The most serious appeared to be earlier this year when he reportedly was a finalist for the opening at Montana State, an FCS program.
East Tennessee State is an FCS program that was resurrected in 2018 and went 11-2 with one win in the national playoffs this year.
Fisher, 63, spent the 2021 season as an advisor to former Titans running back Eddie George, a first-year coach at Tennessee State University, an FCS program in Nashville.
Otherwise, Fisher’s entire coaching career has been in professional football. He started as defensive backs coach with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1986 (his last year as an NFL player was 1985). He became Philadelphia’s defensive coordinator in 1989 followed by short stints as a defensive coordinator with the Rams (1991) and a position coach (1992-93).
He joined the then-Houston Oilers in 1994 as defensive coordinator 10 games into that season was named interim head coach. He was a head coach ever since and amassed a 173-165-1 record overall, including 142-120 with the Oilers/Titans.
The Titans added him to their Ring of Honor earlier this season.
“I have no regrets,” Fisher said. “I owe everything to the Adams family because they gave me that opportunity. We’ve made Nashville – it’s always been our home. The whole Titans family has remained very, very close to us.”
East Tennessee State is in Johnson City, Tenn., which is nearly 400 miles east of Nashville.
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