Layman: Adams Strunk Leads Titans' Ascension

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Tennessee Titans will kickoff the season this week with high expectations, led by stars like Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, A.J. Brown and Kevin Byard. The addition of Jadeveon Clowney over the weekend only furthers the belief that this team can be a contender.

Gone are the days when the Titans were an overlooked group of no-names. This is one of the elite teams in the NFL assembled by Jon Robinson and coached by Mike Vrabel.

But one very important piece to the puzzle that perhaps has been too often overlooked is Amy Adams Strunk. The team’s controlling owner has been the driving force behind the franchise’s recent ascension, and has kept the Titans on course even during the Coronavirus pandemic.

While companies, including sports franchises, are laying off and furloughing employees due to the economic downturn, business is as usual at Titans’ headquarters.

“In fact, she’s invested in our employees,” Titans president Burke Nihill said. “You’ve seen the (St. Thomas Sports Park) expansion has stayed on track. We’ve invested in the technology that was necessary to set up and work remotely. The health and safety protocols have required heavy investment for the players, and we’ve expanded to the staff as well. And not only have we not had furloughs or layoffs, she’s invested in new head count.”

The investments of 2020 continue Adams Strunk’s push to make the Titans a premier NFL franchise and an attractive place to work.

Clowney was one of the most highly-coveted free agents in the NFL this year, and the Titans were able to win the recruitment battle for his services in no small part because of the commitment of Adams Strunk, who flew personally to pick up Clowney and his family and bring them to Nashville on Sunday.

Since Adams Strunk took over in 2015 she’s overhauled the leadership, hiring Nihill, Robinson and Vrabel. She’s poured in well over $100 million dollars in renovations to St. Thomas Sports Park, renovating the locker room, weight room, cafeteria and rebuilding the team’s practice bubble. Last fall, the team broke ground on a brand new addition to the facility, including a state of the art media center.

The Titans have become a destination not just for elite players like Clowney, but for top notch executives as well. Nihill was promoted to the role of president this spring at the same time the team made a splash by hiring Adolpho Birch as Chief Legal Officer, Dan Worley as General Counsel and Surf Melendez as the team’s new creative director.

Adams Strunk has also raised the team’s profile in the community and around the globe. She created a street party for fans to unveil the team’s new uniforms in April of 2018 and was the key person behind Nashville’s winning bid to lure the highly-successful (and lucrative) NFL Draft to lower Broadway one year later. In between, the Titans played their first ever game abroad against the Chargers in London, exposing a European audience to another side of Music City.

And she’s made sure the team gives back. She was out with players and coaches in north Nashville distributing supplies in the wake of the March tornado. She has donated significant amounts of money to COVID relief and other charitable causes.

“I think Nashville as a whole appreciates Amy Adams Strunk,” Nihilll said. “But those of us in the organization that get to work with her first hand and see her generosity have a special appreciation for her.”

It’s time every Titans fan has the same appreciation for the woman who rescued the team from the inner-turmoil following her father, the late Bud Adams’ passing. Any criticism that ownership doesn’t care or isn’t invested in the community no longer applies.

In fact, its strong ownership may be the single most important factor in the franchise’s rise from back-to-back seasons with the worst record in the league just five years ago to a pair of playoff appearances.

The only thing missing now is the Titans’ first Super Bowl since 2000 and the chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy for the first time in franchise history. A dream that no longer seems all that far-fetched thanks to Adams Strunk.