Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh’s path to the NFL didn’t start on a football field. It started at a desk job he wasn’t exactly thrilled about. That all changed when his brother narrowly survived the attack on the South Tower on 9/11. In the aftermath of that terrifying morning, Saleh has now opened up about how it pushed him to walk away from a steady paycheck and finally chase the coaching career he’d quietly put on hold.

“My brother was in the second tower,” Saleh told reporters on the 25th anniversary of the attacks. “He was on the 64th floor, or somewhere around there. When the first building got hit, he booked it down the stairs and started running. I think he was on the 20th floor when his building got hit.

“And I think he was about a half mile or a mile away when the buildings collapsed. His experience was obviously extremely traumatic. And I always told people that if I ever wanted to see what my mom looked like when she lost one of us, that was the day. For a while, we were convinced he was gone.”

That single moment on September 11, 2001 became the turning point Saleh didn’t know he needed. He was just a guy sitting behind a desk at Comerica Bank, doing well enough by every normal measure, but feeling like something was missing.

When his brother made it out safely from Morgan Stanley’s offices that morning, the relief gave way to something deeper.

“We’re very fortunate my brother got out safe; we had the opportunity to reflect, and through this country’s tragedy we were able to speak for me find an avenue where I found my path through tragedy,” Saleh said. “I was working at the bank, and through self-reflection it allowed me the opportunity to change my path and pursue something that I love, and I have been very fortunate along the way.”

There’s something honest about how Saleh describes it.

“It was at that moment I realized I cannot sit another year working a 9-to-5 without having a purpose other than money,” Saleh said, per ESPN.

So he leaped and walked away from a finance career that looked good on paper and went looking for something that actually meant something to him.

Now, years later, that leap of faith has brought him here. Saleh will head into his first game as Titans head coach against his former team, the New York Jets, on September 13 (noon CT, CBS) at Nissan Stadium.

Robert Saleh’s road to the Titans

Robert Saleh’s climb up the coaching ladder started small. He took assistant jobs at Michigan State, Central Michigan, and Georgia between 2002 and 2005, then broke into the NFL with the Houston Texans, spending six seasons working his way from intern to assistant linebackers coach. From there it was Seattle, then Jacksonville, before his big break came as the San Francisco 49ers‘ defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2020. He even became the head coach of the New York Jets from 2021 to 2024 (the Jets fired him five games into the 2024 season).

After that, he took a short consulting role with the Green Bay Packers, returned to San Francisco as defensive coordinator in 2025, and now leads the Titans as head coach in 2026.

Two decades after quitting his desk job at Comerica, Saleh has come full circle, now leading an NFL franchise.

He is now entering a situation that requires stability. Saleh will be Tennessee’s 22nd head coach in the history of the franchise, taking over a team that hasn’t found its footing since losing to the Bengals in the 2021 playoffs. Four straight losing seasons later, and back-to-back 14-loss years, the outside expectations aren’t exactly glowing.

CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell even predicted the Titans will finish last in the AFC South this season, though he thinks the roster is closer to turning a corner than people realize.

Saleh doesn’t seem too concerned with outside noise, though. His focus right now is simple.

“Starting fast is always good because you never know; you win a couple early, and you start getting momentum, you start getting confidence with a young group, and then who knows where it goes,” Saleh said.

Whether that momentum actually builds is something only time will tell.