Bill Callahan

William E. Callahan (born July 31, 1956) is an American football coach who is the offensive line coach for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL).

The Chicago native began his coaching career in 1978 with back-to-back year-long stints as an assistant coach at Oak Lawn Community High School and De La Salle Institute.

Callahan started his college coaching career shortly after in 1980 as a graduate assistant at the University of Illinois before being promoted to full-time assistant in 1981, coaching tight ends, offensive line, quarterbacks and special teams through 1986.

Callahan served a two-year stint from 1987 to 1988, as offensive line coach at Northern Arizona University and one year as offensive coordinator of Southern Illinois in 1989.

At Southern Illinois in 1989, Callahan led an offense that ran for 1,245 yards and threw for 2,569 yards with 19 touchdowns.

From 1990 to 1994, Callahan was offensive line coach at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

He has been praised by former Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez as being one of the primary reasons why the Badgers were able to turn their program around and eventually win three Rose Bowls in the 1990s.

Alvarez cited Callahan specifically for his strong recruiting abilities.

At Wisconsin after a 1–10 season in 1990, Callahan helped pave the way for Terrell Fletcher to run for 446 yards in 1991.

Only Art Shell (1990) and John Madden (1969) had accomplished this feat.

Under Callahan's guidance, the Raiders led the NFL in passing for the first time in team history and led the league in total offense for just the second time in team history.

In 1992, that number jumped to 492 and Brent Moss ran for 739 yards and 9 touchdowns.

By 1993, Wisconsin's offensive line paved the way for Moss' 1,637 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Fletcher also ran for 996 yards and 9 touchdowns.

Quarterback Darrell Bevell was able to throw for 19 touchdowns.

In 1994, Bevell would throw 17 touchdowns and Fletcher would run for 1,476 yards and 12 touchdowns while Moss ran for 833 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Some of the offensive linemen that Callahan coached during this period included: Joe Panos, Joe Rudolph, Steve Stark, Mike Verstagen, and Cory Raymer.

Callahan started his NFL career as the offensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1995 to 1997.

During his tenure as not only head coach but also offensive coordinator for the Raiders, the Raiders offense led the league in rushing in 2000 and led the league in passing in 2002.

The Raiders offense also set many franchise records during this period, including fewest sacks allowed (28) in 2000, a mark that was broken the following year (27).

He was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders for the 2002 and 2003 seasons and led them to Super Bowl XXXVII.

He then spent four seasons as the Oakland Raiders offensive coordinator before being named the franchise's 13th head coach prior to the 2002 season.

Callahan was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders of the NFL during the 2002 and 2003 seasons.

In his first season as a head coach, Callahan led the Raiders to a third consecutive AFC West title and the franchise's first Super Bowl since returning to Oakland, making him just the fourth rookie head coach in NFL history to do so.

The Raiders suffered a lopsided defeat in Super Bowl XXXVII losing 48–21 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coached by his former boss Jon Gruden.

It did not help that the Raiders were without starting center Barret Robbins, the leader of their offensive line.

Robbins went into a manic episode after not taking his medication, and spent most of the day before the game in Tijuana believing the Raiders had already won.

When he finally resurfaced, he was so incoherent that Callahan had no choice but to leave him off the roster.

Callahan is the third Raiders head coach to win an AFC West title and lead his team into the conference championship game in his first full season.

In 2002, the Raiders became the first team to win games in the same season while rushing at least 60 times (against the Kansas City Chiefs in a 24–0 win) and passing at least 60 times (against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 30–17 win).

Despite the success of the 2002 team, the Raiders had a losing record in 2003.

After the Raiders got off to a 2–5 start, many of the players, in particular Charles Woodson, publicly criticized Callahan, even suggesting that Callahan was deliberately trying to "sabotage the season".

According to Woodson, the Raiders locker room was almost in a state of mutiny against Callahan, a claim corroborated by veteran receiver Tim Brown and others.

Callahan, his supporters claim, had recognized that the team was aging and needed younger talent.

To get it, he would have to cut existing salaries, an assertion that did not sit well with many of the team's veterans.

It did not help that quarterback Rich Gannon was sidelined with injuries for much of the season.

He was also the head coach for the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 2004 to 2007 and the offensive line coach and interim head coach for the Washington Redskins from 2015 to 2019.

Callahan is considered to be one of the best offensive line coaches in the NFL.

Callahan was a four-year starter at quarterback at Illinois Benedictine College in Lisle, Illinois, where he was an NAIA honorable mention All-American in his final two seasons.

As of 2011, the 238 completions and 432 pass attempts were second most in school history in both categories.