THE FISH THAT SAVED TENNESSEE; FORMER TROJAN PROVES TO BE ANCHOR AS COACH OF TITANS.

Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer

``He's one of the rising stars in the NFL. In 10 years, you could see Jeff Fisher as an NFL head coach,'' John Robinson, Los Angeles Rams coach in their 1991 media guide. ``See how smart I am?'' Robinson, 1999.

OK, but not that smart. Robinson was only off by seven years. Fisher actually joined the NFL head coaching fraternity in 1994.

Yet even more amazing than his rocket rise, may have been his ability to remain in NFL head-coaching orbit with the Tennessee Titans - without having had a single winning season in his five years.

And now the patience of owner Bud Adams and general manager Floyd Reese is being rewarded. Fisher has the Titans at 10-3, one victory from locking up a playoff berth, and starting to look very much like a rising NFL power.

``Those are the successful owners,'' Robinson said. ``The impatient owners are the losers.''

Patience never seemed allowed in Fisher's resume, but then perhaps no coach in professional sports ever had to deal with what he did the past four years with the wanderlust Titans/Oilers.

``This situation is so unique,'' Reese said. ``We've gone through a four-year period unlike any in the history of any team in the NFL. In over four years we've played in four different stadiums, in three different cities, in two different states under three different names.''

Fisher had his training wheels removed when first named interim coach for the Houston Oilers in 1994 at the age of 36. The interim tag went the following season and he improved a team that had gone 2-14 the previous year to 7-9. Then came the first of three successive 8-8 campaigns as Adams took his team on tour.

As the Adelphia Coliseum was being constructed in Nashville, the rebuilding Oilers played their home games at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis while still practicing in Houston. Average home attendance that season: 28,095.

The next season, the neo-Titans played their home games at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Then finally, this season the waters calmed and they opened up shop at a new practice facility in Nashville and began calling the Adelphia Coliseum home.

Through it all, the boyish-looking Fisher remained at the team's helm. Fisher, the former Taft High wide receiver star and a standout defensive back for Robinson at USC, received his NFL head-coaching indoctrination under a less than ideal situation, and surprisingly, management actually understood.

``The people who know this business understand the circumstances,'' Fisher said. ``They understand how difficult it is to win when things are perfect.

``Now that all those things are behind us and we're finally at an even playing field with the rest of the National Football League, the expectation level is higher.

``This is the first year I haven't had to sit in meetings regarding stadium construction, or facility construction, or team travel, or whatever. Try moving a franchise in a month from one state to another, and then start a season five weeks after that. I didn't have to do that this year.''

What a concept, a coach who just has to coach. Safe to say, Fisher has adjusted.

Now that the Titans are shaping up, all things suddenly seem possible. Despite having spent almost half his 41 years in the NFL, he remains a very young head coach.

``He's got a chance, if he develops the right circumstance, to be one of the all-time coaches,'' said Robinson, now head coach at UNLV. ``Don Shula started at an extremely young age. Tom Landry was quite young when he got his job. Those are the guys, if they stay in a long time, wind up in that top group.''

This is high praise for someone experiencing his first winning season (current lifetime record: 42-41), but things always seemed to have come quickly to Fisher. He played defensive back at USC with Ronnie Lott, Dennis Smith and Joey Browner and was then a seventh-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 1981.

He spent five years as a defensive back and return specialist for the Bears, capturing a Super Bowl ring in 1985 despite spending the season on injured reserve with an ankle injury that ended his year. Unable to play, he started assisting the defensive coordinator. A guy named Buddy Ryan.

When Ryan became the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, he took Fisher with him as the defensive backs coach. Three years later he was promoted to defensive coordinator at the ripe old age of 30. He became the new guru of the ``46'' defense, and gained a national rep as a bright young NFL mind who specialized in an aggressive defense.

In 1991, he reunited with Robinson to become the Rams defensive coordinator. Robinson saw the right combination of factors converging with Fisher.

``He was a great competitor as a player,'' Robinson said. ``He played in the NFL far beyond his physical abilities. He began to understand the intangible things involved in success probably earlier than most.

``He got a tremendous opportunity when he left the Bears and they immediately hired him on as one of their coaches. He went right into the middle of high-level coaching at a young age.

``I feel like he just mixes a great competitiveness with a great intellect. He is very smart but not a cerebral coach, in terms that he's very passionate. The combination of being smart and passionate I think is very important for a coach, and he has those things.''

That passion has not always been so obvious to Tennessee media critics, who observe Joe Cool on the sidelines, glare hidden by dark glasses, standing confidently with arms folded.

Add that to his background and you get . . .

``The California Calm,'' Fisher said. ``It's not even a criticism. It's more an adjective. It's just the perception of someone being from California. The stereotypical laid back, calm, quiet, kind of cool approach to things.''

Reese said Fisher was able to remain calm and focused under the team's trying circumstances the past four years.

``He could turn and focus on the things he knew he could take care of, and that made a giant difference,'' Reese said. ``I mean, it would have been real easy for that team to just crumble. There were several times when things were not easy.''

Yet Fisher is hardly feeling heady by his first season of genuine success. The team has a new name, new logo, new colors, new stadium, but Fisher's old resolve.

``I think if you ever feel you've arrived, then you're going to let somebody down, whether it's your team, or your owner, or yourself,'' he said.

``It's hard to tell how good we are right now. I don't believe we've played our best game yet. We are still not a well-rounded team, but we are finding ways to win.''

Still, in this year of NFL parity, Fisher is not afraid to talk about the Super Bowl. The Titans have a premier running back in Eddie George, an all-time great guard in Bruce Matthews (a teammate of Fisher's at USC), a rising star in rookie defensive end Jevon Kearse, a team hungry to win and a head coach coming into his own.

``I think he's really maturing nicely,'' Reese said. ``Almost on a weekly basis. I can see signs the way he handles the players, the things he says to the team, the way he handles the coaches. You can really see a maturation process that I think is going to put him in position to win a lot of games.''

FISHER KING

Jeff Fisher's career record as an NFL head coach:

Year Team W-L Pct

1994 Houston Oilers 1-5 .167

1995 Houston Oilers 7-9.438

1996 Houston Oilers 8-8 .500

1997 Tennessee Oilers 8-8 .500

1998 Tennessee Oilers 8-8 .500

1999 Tennessee Titans x 10-3 .769

x Three games remaining

CAPTION(S):

Photo, box

Photo: (color) After three consecutive 8-8 seasons, Jeff Fisher has the Tennessee Titans on the verge of clinching a playoff spot at 10-3.

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Box: FISHER KING (See text)