The hottest commodity on the NFL coaching market has apparently chosen his destination.
San Diego Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt has accepted an offer from the Tennessee Titans to become the organization's new head coach, Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported Monday night. This comes after the Detroit Lions had planed to send their owner's private jet to San Diego to retrieve Whisenhunt, and Titans CEO Tommy Smith conducted an interview with Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer for a second interview earlier in the day Monday.
Whisenhunt, 51, spent the this season as the San Diego Chargers' offensive coordinator, helping the Chargers rank fifth in total offense and 12th in scoring this season. San Diego ranked 31st in total offense and 20th in scoring in 2012.
Whisenhunt served as the Arizona Cardinals' head coach from 2007-12, helping the franchise win two NFC West championships and appear in its first Super Bowl. Let go after three consecutive non-winning seasons, Whisenhunt went 45-51 in his six seasons in Arizona. Prior to that, Whisenhunt spent six seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, making his name in NFL circles as the club's offensive coordinator from 2004-06 - including a win in Super Bowl XL.
An Augusta, Ga., native, Whisenhunt played at Georgia Tech and then spent eight seasons in the NFL. He jumped into coaching as a tight ends/H-backs coach and special teams coordinator at Vanderbilt from 1995-96, and then coached as an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and New York Jets.
Elsewhere in the NFL, Schefter and Mortensen report the Detroit Lions are focusing on Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell, and that Zimmer is the leading candidate for the Minnesota Vikings' job.
Whisenhunt's hiring means four of the seven NFL head coaching vacancies have now been filled, only Cleveland, Detroit and Minnesota remain open.