He shouldn't "side" with either of them, he should fire both. Rick Smith has had his run and BOB's gross incompetence should be enough to end his time as an NFL coach.
Would someone contact the creepy guy who was heckling Matt schaubs house and give him Rick smith's address?
I have a hard time seeing Rick Smith being fired. At best I see him being given a promotion and another GM being brought in. The problem with that arrangement is that Smith isn't likely to magically stop having influence within the organization. Rick wants and has influence. Smith is very close with Bob McNair and Cal McNair. Smith is the Godfather to Cal's child. Smith regularly attends church with the McNair's and vacations with Cal. Ultimately it is best for the Texans to completely cut ties with Smith. Perhaps Bob/Cal does that, but I am skeptical.
All of that is well known... and none of that should prevent them from getting rid of him. If it did, it would seriously make me question as to how McNair was successful in the business field. You don't alienate the most important job on an NFL team (head coach) because you happen to go to church with the guy whos the GM (and who happens to have failed in any/all aspects of the job... Regardless of what we consider him in charge of and what we acknowledge he doesn't really do). If you honestly believe they will never get rid of him because of being chummy off the field, you must be completely jaded... Maybe it was all that time working within Draytons good ol boy system that made it so.
Nick, I agree with what you've said, but it amazes me that the owner (or his son who's involved in running a professional franchise) would make the GM the godfather to their child. Even though this situation has been known for quite awhile, I've never heard of anything like this (with any other professional franchise), and it's obvious as to why it's not done. Doesn't mean they can't be chummy with one another, and go to church with each other etc. If I were to guess, I would say no way they fire Smith, and that they would just give him some other job title (assistant to the owner, etc) if they decide to bring in a new GM. This entire franchise is just one big cluster F$&K in my opinion.
As long as they make him stop doing whatever it is he's currently doing. If he oversees the scouting department? Fire him... they have failed in the 2nd-4th rounds more than any other team in the NFL. If he manages the cap? Fire him... they've handed out far too many extensions to players on the downside of their careers, and they've been close to capped out (without actually being a "good" team) for some time now. If he handles the business/media side of things? Fire him... you can't be having things leaked to the media like the GM and coach are at odds or that the real reason for failure of the team is that the coach has/had too much power. If he really does nothing of note... and the existing coach or new coach will not have to "answer" to him in any way.... make that as transparent as possible.
I definitely think they should have fired him when they let Kubiak go. I just get the sense that McNair isn't going to get rid of him completely. They'll put him in some other role, and spin it like he'll be more helpful to the franchise in this new position.
His current title is Executive Vice President/General Manger. He'll just have the last part cut of and retain the VP title.
Not sure how true: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Everybody else wants Brian Hoyer gone, too. Texans now accepting QB resumes. Never seen a more convoluted mess. And I've seen a lot.</p>— Dale Robertson (@sportywineguy) <a href="https://twitter.com/sportywineguy/status/658847430155313152">October 27, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
LOL! who is going to play quarterback then? What a comedyfest. No need to get upset. Just sit back and enjoy the show!
no he writes for the chronicle. not for the texans though dale is cool. spoke to my sports reporting class at UH last year.