Opposite. The team is gonna be terrible next year and Rick will be welcomed back. O'Brien has gotten who he has wanted the past 4 years. Expect more of the same. We are basically the worse team in the league without Watson, with him it's TBD.
Wonder where Rick Smith ends up on the totem pole when he returns. I'm not exactly thrilled about the hire but I'm not going to assume he'll just be another Rick. Time will tell what kind of GM Gaine is.
I knew the Texans wouldn’t wait and get the right guy, which is a guy that has no ties to the organization whatsoever
One good thing, he already knows who needs to be fired. Who hasn't thought, when I get a promotion that person is fired.
Let's see if Watson and Clowney can save his sorry ass again. 2 years ago, offense terrible but defense great. Last year, everything terrible except Watson for 6 games.
Seriously. This is current Browns and former Bungles level absurdity. Big changes. Long quality search. New guy in full control. New direction. Let's interview guy on staff and guy fired from staff. We should hire the guy who "oversaw" pro scouting and free agent signings. But who wasn't here during our Joseph, Manning, Wade Smith hot streak. No, we want the guy who got us Allen and Beno and Osweiler and Miller!
I'm not saying Brian Gaine won't be a good GM. I really don't know. I'm simply frustrated that the organization ran a sham of GM search. They didn't seek out the "best" candidate, they decided to hire someone that would keep the same personnel staff in place and be in agreement with OBrien on everything from the get go. I HATE that philosophy.
Yep, McNairs took the easy way out... or the only way out. From another forum: Will McClay on Texans GM job(paraphrased on 610AM AMA):There are some very appealing parts of the job, there's some very unappealing parts of that job. John McClain:"The unappealing parts of the job are that they don't know what Rick Smith's situation is, everybody is wondering. That and they don't have their first two picks." Was also discussed that the OL is awful and there are no quick fixes for it. Anybody surprised? Nobody interviewed for the job because of Rick Smith's return. (And his handiwork with the roster.) The legend of Teflon Rick grows. I'm sure the girls at 790 are melting down. Again, LOL. Jeromey Solomon has probably soiled himself. Again. They'll get Rick "back in his rightful place" or die trying.
Most of what you've said throughout this thread rings true - hollow search, safe hire etc., and I understand the frustration overall. But....... can we give the guy a chance to, you know, draft or sign a single player before we run him out of town for 5-10 years of mediocrity that hasn't yet happened?..... Here's something to think about... the Texans FIRED him, and yet both parties have agreed to a virtually unprecedented reunion. If nothing else, that speaks directly to how (un)involved Rick Smith will be moving forward. And given your opinion of the McNairs and/or BOB (understandably not high at the moment), it may also indicate they regret their decision because he had a wealth of talent/potential. We'll see - but that kind of intrigues me. You almost never see a reversal like this.......
Not sure how this is somehow a Rick Smith bash fest. Rick Smith fired Brian Gaine. OBrien loves Brian Gaine. Bob McNair is going to give OB an extension along with signing Brian Gaine. Unappealing parts of the job: -McNair flat out said they would not let the new GM revamp the personnel department. No GM worth his salt agrees to that as a precondition. An example: Glen Dorsey hired in Cleveland has brought in some big time guys with him. Basically the Eagles guy, the Pats guy and the Cowboys guy would have to agree to come in here and manage the current personnel infrastructure. -Have to be on the same page with OBrien. Not that the new GM wouldn't WANT to be on the same page, but you are being told up front you have to be in order to get the job. Basically the head coach won't sign an extension unless he knows he has a mirror in the GM seat. The thing about the no picks, bad oline, none of that matters. Guys take jobs with worse situations because the GM job isn't about a 1 year turnaround. The structure is the problem. Imagine someone trying to hire a new CEO of Exxon and the candidates being told "You can't replace any of the executives. We'll let you bring in your own secretary of course. You have to agree up front to agree with the CFO. You'll have full control of course as long as you don't try to replace any one or disagree with the CFO. Oh, and we need you to turn the company around."
The reversal here is that OBrien has won his power struggle. Gaine was his guy, Smith fired him. Gaine now has Smith's job and OB is getting a contract extension. I don't have an issue with Brian Gaine. He may end up being a very good GM and I have no power to give or not give him a chance. I'm not bashing him though. I have no way to truly evaluate potential GM candidates and neither does anyone else here. What I am critical of is the process with the Texans. They still haven't taken a hard look at their own organization and tried to figure out if it needs an overhaul. They have never done a thorough GM search. Kubiak picked a GM and now OBrien has picked a GM. It just doesn't seem to me like a mediocre franchise should be in the business of sitting high and mighty and letting coaches hand pick GMs and putting shields around the personnel department.
Recall they did the exact same thing with OBrien. They interviewed Lovie Smith (to satisfy the Rooney rule) then hired OBrien. McNair has really been fooled into think O'Brien is a genius
Oh, I 1,000,000% agree. I would have fired Smith and O'Brien and started from scratch with a GM first, head coach second. But as legitimate as most of these posts are about the Texans' way of doing business......... you know, the old broken clock thing: maybe Gaine will be a miraculously good hire. I'm just not ready to make a judgement *on him* until he actually gives me something to judge.
Well my issue is Gaine was here for 3 years working on free agency and scouting the draft. I see this as a vote of confidence on the past 4 years by McNair. He's happy with the direction. And he's giving OBrien a further mandate to continue on the same path and got rid of the guy who wasn't aligned (Rick)