Mike Heimerdinger has given indication to people he worked with in Denver that he will be leaving the team and heading back to Tennessee.
A formal announcement is expected as early as Thursday.
The Broncos have granted the Titans permission to talk to the assistant head coach earlier Monday. The Titans didn’t waste time in their pursuit to reunite with Heimerdinger.
The team asked the Broncos for permission to interview Heimerdinger to run their offense and the Broncos granted them access, Denver coach Mike Shanahan said.
“The Tennessee Titans have requested consent to talk to Mike Heimerdinger about their offensive coordinator position, and we have granted them permission,” Shanahan said.
“The opportunity in Tennessee would give Mike the chance to go back to an organization and work with a head coach with whom he is very familiar, handling the entire offense and having full control over game-planning and play-calling responsibilities.”
The Titans fired offensive coordinator Norm Chow on Tuesday, and Heimerdinger appears to be the top choice of Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher to run the team’s offense. Heimerdinger was a successful offensive coordinator with Tennessee earlier this decade.
Heimerdinger has been the Broncos’ assistant head coach in charge of offense the past two seasons. The Titans’ job might entice Heimerdinger because he’d be in total charge of the unit, while Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has final say of the Denver offense.
If Heimerdinger were to leave, former Broncos assistants could be candidates to replace him. One possibility would be Karl Dorrell, who recently was fired as the head coach at UCLA. Dorrell is a former wide receivers coach with Denver.
Former Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey, who might have drawn interest from the Broncos, was hired by the Kansas City Chiefs today as their offensive coordinator.
