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Of the questions Arthur Smith received from reporters Thursday, he still was thinking about one of them after the press conference ended.

It was about opposing quarterbacks. Being that he’s the Titans’ offensive coordinator, Smith replied curtly that you’d have to ask the defense.

Moments later, with cameras off and the media’s attention diverted, Smith climbed a few steps to greet and follow up with the reporter. Smith didn’t want to miss something that might have been asked.

And really, “I didn’t want to come across as rude,” Smith told him.

That is Smith. He's an affable, friendly 37-year-old who also happens to be a rising star in the NFL’s coaching landscape, given the job he has done this season – his first as a coordinator – in turning a struggling Titans offense into the efficient machine that’s rolling into Sunday’s AFC championship game.

You’d never know it to meet him. Smith could be your buddy down the street, mowing his lawn, available for parenting advice.

But he’s probably not.

He’s the son of FedEx founder and CEO Fred Smith. That’s not just rich. It’s crazy wealthy. So Arthur never truly needed to do any of this. He doesn’t really need to work, especially in a job so demanding and scrutinized. He didn’t need to work for years – both as a defensive and offensive assistant – to climb the coaching ladder and get there.

He didn’t need to camp outside coach Mike Vrabel’s office at 5 a.m., which he did when his predecessor, Matt LaFleur, left to become the Green Bay Packers’ head coach and recommended Smith to Vrabel as his replacement.

“He wanted me to know that he wanted the job,” Vrabel said of Smith. “I think that’s also important. Sometimes people don’t really know what you want until you tell them. He was always about the team. He was always about loyalty. He was loyal to the head coaches that he worked for and the teams that he worked for.

'Not to mention he was very well-qualified and has done a great job.”

Smith is a friendly soul, but he can be a guarded one. He might not want you to know about Thursday’s polite post-press conference exchange.

And he definitely didn’t want you to know he speaks regularly with Jim Mattis to talk leadership and strategy. Yes, that Jim Mattis, the former Secretary of Defense.

That was a connection set up by his father, who passed along word of it to The Washington Post, much to the chagrin of his coaching son.

“Didn’t really want that to get out,” Arthur said Thursday. “I talk to many people, just about leadership lessons. I’m very grateful that (Mattis) took the time. … I keep a lot of that stuff private, but he’s been helpful.”

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Perhaps that is Smith not wanting to flout his familial background as a coaching advantage. And if so, that's understandable because it might unfairly take away from how hard he worked to earn this opportunity with the Titans, how deserving a choice he really was when Vrabel selected him.

In hiring assistants, loyalty is a big thing to Vrabel. He wants it to be one voice outside of the staff's discussions. Basically, he doesn’t want one of his assistants to disagree with his decision and voice it to where ”players see that, and they respond negatively to that,” Vrabel said.

Smith had proved to be loyal. But promoting him was far from an obvious decision for Vrabel. Smith never had been a coordinator or a play-caller, and these Titans weren’t rebuilding. Expectations were they would take steps to be contenders in 2019.

Wasn’t an easy spot for Smith, and it was an even tougher one in October. With the Titans at 2-4 and switching quarterbacks on a stagnant offense, Smith’s job security was beginning to be called into question. And Vrabel’s, too.

Those two, they meet “constantly” on game weeks, Smith said. No surprises between them on game days.

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Vrabel’s decision to promote Smith rolled the dice and ensured that the two coaches’ reputations would be attached in 2019, either through success or failure.

Turns out, it has been success. With the entire NFL watching, Vrabel has outmaneuvered the likes of Bill Belichick and John Harbaugh the past two weeks, and Smith has been a huge part of it, despite how much the Titans have continued to lean on Derrick Henry and the run game.

“They pack the box, Art does a jump pass,” Titans cornerback Logan Ryan said. “I mean, that’s genius.”

“He’s done a heck of a job,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of Smith. “He’s got great variety. I mean, people go, ‘Oh, he runs the ball.’ Well, that’s not all he does. He’s got a lot of good stuff in there.”

Opposing coaches always will flatter the week of a game, but in the case of a veteran play-caller like Reid, you got the sense he really meant that about Smith.

As for Smith, he said he was never discouraged in the worst of times for these Titans, and by the same attitude, he’s not too far gone in these heady days.

“I think if you think you’ve got the answers,” Smith said, “you’ll get humbled really, really quick.”

He’s had plenty of answers lately, though.

Even when he followed up about the question.

Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith staying the same with Titans as coaching stock soars | Estes