Report: Dick LeBeau Won't Return as Titans Defensive Coordinator, Could Retire

Assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau will not return to the Tennessee Titans.

Jason Wolf of the Tennesseean reported Monday that LeBeau was informed he is not in new head coach Mike Vrabel's plans. The 80-year-old has spent the last 59 years in the NFL as a player or coach, and Wolf reported a source said LeBeau would "be comfortable retiring if it doesn't work out in Tennessee."

Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler, who took LeBeau's place in Pittsburgh, said in November he thought LeBeau would continue coaching as long as he could.

"I think he'll probably do it as long as he can, and I don't blame him," Butler said, per Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "He should. Think about how long he played—he's in the Hall of Fame for his playing ability—and then coached. He's been a great asset to this league and a great ambassador of this league."

LeBeau spent most of his career with the Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals. His first stint with the Bengals lasted from 1980 to 1991, and he worked as the team's defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator. The Steelers hired him as their defensive backs coach in 1992 and promoted him to defensive coordinator in 1995—a position he held until he left for the Bengals in 1997.

LeBeau served as the Bengals' defensive coordinator from 1997 to September 2000 before he got his one and only head coaching job in Cincinnati. The team went 12-33 in his stewardship, and after a one-year stint in Buffalo, he returned to the Steelers and worked 11 seasons as their defensive coordinator from 2004 to 2014.

The Titans position was the first one LeBeau held for more than a year outside of Cincinnati or Pittsburgh since 1979. He started his coaching career as the special teams coach with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1973 and was the Green Bay Packers' defensive backs coach from 1976 to 1979.