NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The process starts Thursday for the Titans, with Mike Vrabel expected to be the first candidate to interview for the open head coach job.

Matt LaFleur, Steve Wilks and others will follow.

Whoever the next guy is, the Titans obviously need him to be a home run.

They want to be an organization with stability and continuity. Yet they changed coach in 2011, 2014 and 2016.

Better to change when you know you don’t have the right guy, but it’s time for them to get the right guy.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Being young doesn’t by any means make a guy a good football coach.

But it does increase the odds a coach thinks differently, outside of old-school lanes and long-time practices.

Mike Mularkey was only 56, but he was not afraid of older assistants. Dick LeBeau is 80; Terry Robiskie 63.

Sean McVay, 31, stormed the NFL this season, leading a dramatic turnaround for the Rams and quarterback Jared Goff. In San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan, 38, has a major upward arrow connected to him as well.

Finding the next Sean McVay is a tough assignment, as his story is a unique one.

But the Titans already have some young candidates to replace Mularkey, who is definitely a coach set in his long-standing ways, not a flexible guy looking for new and innovative ways to do things.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- We've been podcasting the public Periscope and Facebook Live sessions for while.

You can find those through iTunes, here, or directly through the Vokal website, here.

My first all-out podcast is now available. Part 1 can be found in both those places.

But if you are a member of the site, all you have to do is go below to get Part 1 and Part 2 (which is member exclusive) all together.

Big thanks to Madison Blevins for hosting with me. Let us know what you think.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The biggest moment in Marcus Mariota’s career is coming in the next few weeks.

Jon Robinson’s selection of a new coach will be a career-defining development for Mariota.

Conversational assertiveness is not one of Mariota’s big personality traits. I’m sure he trusts Robinson as the GM seeks to find a coach who will make the most of Mariota’s skill set.

But the quarterback would be wise to take advantage of an opportunity to share what he thinks he needs.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In pushing for Mike Mularkey’s exit, Jon Robinson exhibited something people will want to see more of from Marcus Mariota in the future: Anticipation.

Robinson admitted there is risk in parting with a coach who won 19 games over the last two seasons, compared to the five the Titans won over the two seasons before that.

Still, he looked forward and didn’t see a path to improvement with the Sunday leadership of Mike Mularkey, and that prompted the change.

This is the perfect tone you should expect from a top level GM. You don’t wait till things go bad to make a change. The good ones see the writing on the wall and fix it.

— Joe (@RogueKnox) January 15, 2018

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Inconsistency was the biggest issue with the Titans in 2017.

As Jon Robinson talked to the media for roughly 22 minutes Monday afternoon, he circled back to the desire for consistent play and for maximizing players’ chances to be successful based on their skill sets.

Failures in those departments were the major things that led to Mike Mularkey’s demise, and Robinson admitted the coach’s comments at his Sunday press conference were a factor too. Mularkey was unwavering in his commitment to his scheme and beliefs, and to his staff.

Now Robinson will bring Amy Adams Strunk a man he wants to work with. She’s likely to bless it and will then pay three head coaches for the 2018 season The new guy, Ken Whisenhunt on the final year of his contract and Mike Mularkey on the final year of his.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - What Mike Mularkey needs more than anything is a flexibility program.

While he talks as if he was an adaptable guy during the Titans 2017 season, which ended Saturday night at Gillette Stadium in a blowout divisional round loss to the Patriots, that’s hardly the case.

The Titans were stubbornly reluctant to go to more no-huddle until late in the season, despite the fact the offense often found the rhythm it’s always searching for in the set. Mularkey cited that late change as evidence of the team’s willingness to change and adapt.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans are Jon Robinson's team now, make no mistake.

Mike Mularkey was probably in the midst of extension talks when he held his season-wrap press conference. His defiant tone and insistence that Terry Robiskie had done gone work and Marcus Mariota was making progress were odd. If Amy Adams Strunk and Robinson were asking him to make changes, he stepped in front of cameras and tape recorders to make the case for not doing so.

It might have finished him. Maybe he ended it there, maybe it was already over and the Titans let him go out and finish it knowing what was about to come.

At any rate, Robinson gets to hire the next coach. The easy presumption is Josh McDaniels.

Given a choice between Mularkey and what he said Sunday or New guy chosen by Robinson, I’ll take B.

— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) January 15, 2018

I wonder if Mike Vrabel wouldn't be the alternative if McDaniels isn't locked up and lands in Indianapolis.

If it's McDaniels, the Titans will be waiting until the Patriots are finished. Which puts Titans fans in the odd position of rooting for the Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game.