Tommy Smith said that he expects the Titans to be “in the playoff race and to get there” in 2015, but he won’t be the team president and CEO if that happens.
Smith announced Friday that he is stepping down as the team’s president and CEO. Smith took over in those roles when Bud Adams, the Titans’ founder and Smith’s father-in-law, died in 2013. Smith said that he will be spending more time on the family’s other business interests.
“It’s a personal decision for me. I will be 64 in a few weeks and I want to spend my energy where it’s needed most,” Smith said, via Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. “We are in good shape. We have good people. I think the future is bright for the team.”
Longtime Titans general counsel and executive Steve Underwood will oversee operations while the team searches for a new president. The team is still owned by Smith’s wife and other blood relatives of Adams.
Earlier this year, Smith shot down rumblings that the team was for sale and said that he and the rest of Adams’s family were “looking forward to resurrecting the situation as far as on-field performance.” Smith reiterated that denial on Friday, but it wouldn’t be surprising to hear more chatter in that direction now that he is stepping away from an active role in that “situation.”