Caldwell I think as the HC doesn't condemn the team. He would be fine BUT he would have to find a much stronger/forward offensive mind to be OC. I can only name one of his OCs during his Lions tenure, and that's just because his name was so ridiculous: Jim Bob Cooter. I don't think going with a boring HC is terrible as long as he becomes sort of like the even-keeled captain type coach, while delegating offense and defense to his coordinators. But that's probably not what would happen, since Cal wants a "flatter" command structure.
I don’t want Caldwell but damn, give him a little credit Bills OC Brian Daboll Colts DC Matt Eberflus Titans OC Arthur Smith Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy Chiefs QBs Mike Kafka 49ers DC Robert Saleh Miiigghhhtt take a look at Doug Pederson, if fired. Sean Payton (in the long shot event he wants to leave with Brees retiring)
https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/12/21/monday-afternoon-quarterback-marty-hurney-sam-darnold Interesting note: Word is that Patrick Mahomes recommended his OC, Eric Bieniemy, to Deshaun Watson as a good candidate to be the Texans’ next head coach. Houston owner Cal McNair has already consulted with Watson on the situation, and plans to continue to.
Watched Caldwell a lot. He’s a run of the mill ho hum, good guy type of coach. Not innovative, don’t need another retread.
Caldwell a Rooney Rule guy maybe? While he has had enjoyed some success and has worked with some great QBs I just wonder if these old school coaches are really what's best for the modern game at 65 years of age. Did Jim Caldwell make Peyton Manning or vice versa? How much was Caldwell responsible for the last Ravens SB run? He seemed to have a rather Bill OBrien-esque coaching career in Detroit. Im not blown away by the guy. I can see why a guy like McNair MIGHT be, but again his age and the Rooney protocol makes me wonder how serious this could be.
Neither Kubiak nor BOB were “retreads”. Technically at this point, if the Texans hired a former coordinator to be a first time HC... THAT would be the retread for this organization. That being said, as I mentioned above, Caldwell shouldn’t be gifted another HC spot, after being fired from his two previous stints, without renewing interest as a coordinator.
Not sure Bienemy is even on the Texans radar (undoubtedly should be). The Riddick interview makes sense too - get all these 'mandatory' interviews out of the way first.
Yes I’m very aware Kubiak and Ob weren’t retreads, Capers was. And there’s a tendency in the NFL to hire the same guys. Not something I would want, but definitely sounds right up Texans alley.
Well Capers was hired in part due to his experience at coaching an expansion team. I actually thought there was some validity to that mindset... albeit they changed the expansion rules so much to stack the deck against the Texans (after the early success’ of Carolina/Jacksonville) that it was basically a non-comparable scenario. I don’t see a tendency to “hire the same guys” in the NFL that you may. There are a lot of NFL head coaches out there still on their fist job: In this division, with BOB, 3 out of the 4 were new head coaches. The AFC East features 2 out of 4 new head coaches. The AFC west features the “awful” retread of Any Reid and the retread of Gruden, somebody Texans fans salivated over for years... along with new fledgling head coaches Anthony Lynn and Vic Fangio. The AFC North has all 4 head coaches who are on their first head coaching job, the best of them being Tomlin/Harbaugh. Thus in the AFC alone, you have 11/16 head coaches as first timers. And out of the 5 that aren’t aren’t, they’re not too shabby (Reid, Belichick, Gruden... and the great Adam Gase and Doug Marrone!!). I’ll let somebody do the NFC... but just off the top of my head, Payton, Nagy, Patricia (fired), Quinn (fired), LaFleur, Kingsbury... and some of the retreads off the top of my head Arians, Carroll, McCarthy, Rivera.
I really don’t understand your point here honestly. The same guys get jobs quite often, just because there’s a cycle of new coaches, that will be fired-then rehired doesn’t mean the league doesn’t have a strong record of hiring the same people. Caldwell and Lovie Smith in fact were retreads. All I’m saying is it is very Texans-esque to have them in a conversation.
The point is its not the “same guys getting fired/re-hired”.... and some of the ones that are still active are some of the best coaches of all time (Belichick, Carroll, Reid). The majority of the coaches in the NFL right now are first-time head coaches. Thus there are now far more examples of failed first time head coaches vs. failed retreads... which is why I don’t understand taking a stance either way. This year alone, all fired coaches represent coaches who were on their first job.
Marvin Lewis, Caldwell, Smith, Ron Rivera, McCarthy, Romeo and numerous others that make the rounds from head coach to coordinator to head coach to assistant. We know what they are, I’m not interested in the known. Give someone a chance that can be innovative, and yes they might flame out (that is the nature of the sport) but we might luck into a Tomlin, Sean Payton type.
