NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk has very high standards for her Titans.
Combined with the millions she’s investing, she also isn’t afraid of making big moves chasing the Lombardi Trophy that eluded her late father.
Strunk fired general manager Jon Robinson on Tuesday in the midst of his seventh season with the Titans off to a 7-5 start and Tennessee second only to the Kansas City Chiefs for the NFL’s longest active streak of consecutive winning seasons in his tenure.
The Titans announced Strunk’s decision in a statement. Ryan Cowden, the vice president of player personnel, will handle player personnel for the rest of this season. The Titans plan to start searching for a new general manager soon with a full search at the end of the season.
Strunk said her goal since replacing her brother-in-law as controlling owner in March 2015 has been to raise the standard for every part of the NFL franchise founded by her late father, Bud.
Strunk said she believes the Titans have made “significant progress” on and off the field.
“This progress includes the core of our business, the football team itself, which is regularly evaluated both by results (wins and losses) and team construction/roster building,” Strunk said. “I am proud of what we have accomplished in my eight seasons of ownership, but I believe there is more to be done and higher aspirations to be met.”
Strunk paid to renovate the Titans’ headquarters, essentially doubling the size of the facility to both update the building and hold all the new employees hired.
The Titans also are finalizing the last piece of financing for a new enclosed stadium they want to open for the 2026 season. Strunk and the rest of ownership, with some help from the NFL and the sale of personal seat licenses, are expected to contribute $840 million toward the stadium estimated to cost $2.1 billion.
Strunk fired coach Ken Whisenhunt after a 1-6 start to his second season in November 2015 and a 3-20 record overall. She fired general manager Ruston Webster at the end of that season.
She hired Robinson, a native of Union City in West Tennessee who grew up cheering for the Titans, in January 2016 after the franchise went a combined 5-27 in 2014 and 2015.
When coach Mike Mularkey balked at making changes, Strunk fired him in January 2018 after a loss in the divisional round of the playoffs and quickly hired Mike Vrabel as his replacement.
The Titans never went worse than 9-7 in Robinson’s tenure. That includes earning the AFC’s No. 1 seed in 2021 with a 12-5 record despite setting an NFL record by using 91 players in a non-strike season. That earned coach Vrabel, whom Robinson helped hire in January 2018, the AP NFL Coach of the Year award.
Both Robinson and Vrabel had their contracts extended in February.
The Titans currently sit atop the AFC South with a chance to win the division for a third straight year, something that this franchise hasn’t done since its beginning in the original AFL.
Of their final five games, only one is against a team with a winning record. The Titans host the Jaguars (4-8) on Sunday.
