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Titans restructure front office, vice president resigns

Jim Brown / USA TODAY Sports

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -  The Tennessee Titans executive vice president in charge of administration and facilities has resigned and will be replaced by two other officials as part of an overhaul of the team's front office.

The Titans announced Tuesday that Don MacLachlan resigned effective immediately after 24 seasons with the franchise.

President and CEO Tommy Smith, who took over in October 2013 after team founder Bud Adams died, said in a statement that he has been monitoring the team's operations over the past year.

''We know there also is a great deal of work ahead of us to improve our organization,'' Smith said. ''Over the last year, one of my primary objectives was to monitor how things have been operating within the team. This offseason, we have decided to make changes in a number of areas from both a personnel standpoint and a structural standpoint.''

Smith made a coaching change in January 2014, bringing in Ken Whisenhunt. The Titans went 2-14 in Whisenhunt's first season and have had only one winning season since last making the playoffs in 2008. The Titans have sold out every game since moving into LP Field for the 1999 season, but getting fans to use those tickets have been a struggle in recent years with the team losing on the field.

Stuart Spears, who has been with the franchise for 28 years, has been promoted from vice president of business operations and sales to chief revenue officer. Bob Flynn, who worked for the NHL's Nashville Predators since 2008, is in charge of facilities and game day operations. Flynn also spent four years as general manager of the Nashville Kats in the Arena Football League.

Smith said they are interviewing to add more people.

''This is not an easy process, but these changes will reflect a shift in our approach and hopefully will result in making our fans proud,'' Smith said.

He thanked MacLachlan for his years of work for the franchise, especially the team's relocation from Houston in 1997 and transition to the Titans in 1999. MacLachlan had been in charge of almost all the Titans' non-football operations including marketing, ticketing, community relations and broadcasting.

The Titans also confirmed Marty Collins, senior director of ticketing, was fired two weeks ago as part of the changes.

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