At 52 Years Old, Assistant Coach Meets Birthmother

Pat O’Hara’s family circle got a little larger this weekend. At the same time, a hole in his life presumably was closed.

The Tennessee Titans quarterbacks coach revealed on Twitter early Sunday that he met his birthmother, a woman he said, “is beautiful inside and out.” O’Hara is 52 years old.

Raised in Santa Monica, Calif., he was a two-sport star (football and baseball) at Santa Monica High School. In football, he was the Bay League Player of the Year as a senior.

O’Hara attended USC, where he was a backup quarterback behind Rodney Peete (1988) and Todd Marinovich (1990). In between, a knee injury sustained fewer than two weeks before the start of the 1989 season cost him an opportunity to be the starter. He graduated with nine career pass attempts (seven completions) and a degree in public administration.

O’Hara’s professional playing career included time with – but no games played for – three NFL franchises, one season in the World League of American Football and a lengthy stay in the Arena Football League, where he starred for two championship teams and became one of a limited number of players to appear in more than 100 games.

His time in California helped him develop connections that led to roles as a consultant for films based on football (he coordinated and choreographed game action) such as The Longest Yard, Invincible and We Are Marshall. He also got a bit of screen time in The Waterboy, Any Given Sunday and The Game Plan.

From 2014-18 he worked in television as an analyst for Arena Football League, University of Central Florida and Florida high school football games.

O’Hara joined the Titans in 2018 as part of coach Mike Vrabel’s initial staff and has helped in Ryan Tannehill’s career resurgence. Before that, he spent two seasons as an offensive assistant with the Houston Texans after roughly a decade each in arena football and the high school ranks. From 2009-14, he was a head coach for four different arena football teams.

He is a father of two boys along with his wife, Billie.