I don't have contacts with the Texans I'm only piecing information together. I knew someone who worked for the Texans during the Kubiak era. However, I don't believe Lovie being black is why he's the head coach. The McNair family has always liked Lovie Smith. I think he's the head coach because he's someone they like, he's in the building, he'll keep Pep in the building, he won't need a huge contract, he won't be a long term commitment and he won't be embarrassing like Cully was. Him being black is a bonus. I do think the Flores lawsuit blew up their plan to make McCown the head coach.
Look at this bull****! OBrien was a trainwreck. He was bailed out by Watson's talent. I think Obrien is someone who can be better in a 2nd stop with less power.
I don’t want to glorify Bob McNair, Rick Smith, and Gary Kubiak, because I don’t think either of them were great, but you cannot deny that there was a clear and stable command structure in the organization. Also Kubiak and Smith were genuinely respected at their positions, and Bob certainly had control over the franchise, unlike his failson. I would kill to have those days again.
Why do you and everyone else seem to think that Pep Hamilton is a great offensive coordinator. He has been a QB coach for the vast majority of his career. He was the OC with Luck and the Colts and his offense had one good year and two bad years. Yes he has been a QB coach for guys like Luck, Cutler, Herbert... but that doesn't mean he is a good play caller.
This is very true, but most people are more worried about development for the QB than actual play calling and on field results. We're less worried about actual play calling because we are all sure they'll lose no matter what lmao.
Dont you think the real damage has been done over the years by ownership? And folks around league getting wind over and over? I used to think it was casserly rick smith conserviak godsey obrien and now easterby but reality is they are scapegoats. The common denominator is mcnair. The league needs to Donald sterling these fools and make them sell. I know it will never happen and this is winter solstice of nuclear winter
They have been talking up pep hard on am radio here. I don't know much about him but I suspect some of that is why you are seeing it
No, I don't. The bad ownership thing is a recent development. Bob didn't get bad ownership labels until people wrongly accused him of being racist for making a non-racist statement. Prior to that the Texans were a franchise that was solid but not great. Bob was well respected around the league. The Texans spent money (and still do!). They attracted free agents. Kubiak's conservatism cost them during an era where they were otherwise really well coached! He had a great coaching staff. The problems with coaching began immediately with Obrien. He hired a bunch of bad coaches as has been proven out over the years.
I'm not putting him on a pedestal. I'm understanding the limitations the Texans have in bringing in top talent with players and coaches. After watching the progression of Mills I want to see more of the Pep-Mills relationship. Do you guys not remember the preseason reports? Mills could barely complete a pass. By the 2nd half of the last game of the year he almost torches the number 1 seed Titans with an epic comeback. Mills made gigantic leaps. Doesn't mean he's going to be the guy, but he sure improved a lot.
Culley was hired to fail and Lovie is an above average coach. I think the "brain trust" decided that they were ahead of schedule and could get their future coach (McCown/McDaniel) now, only to have it blow up on them.
This is a fair and reasonable take. Lovie is the type of person that the Texans ownership likes as well. He is southern, conservative, Christian and personable. Those are all traits that historically have been important to the McNair's. Lovie can also be very charming and charismatic when he has to be. Also I am sure part of his appeal is that he is a known quantity and won't embarrass the organization off the field or on it. He has been linked to very little dirt and he does get his players to practice hard. He is a lot like John Fox in that he is a leader, but not a genius.
I was fine with the excuses last year given whenever Casserio finally took control. There really weren't any excuses this year. They had a plan... it fell through... and some can easily question whether the original plan was that well thought out in the first place. Every other head coaching hire this off-season represents a perceived upside/upgrade from the team's predecessor. Doesn't mean they'll all succeed... but when you have a team in the Texans that has absolutely nothing else going for them, finding a potential "next elite head coach of the future", especially after they already had to settle last year, was a potential carrot.
I think you can evaluate him on results, though, right? So far, in 2 years, he's hired two head coaches that no one else wanted after long interview processes where they got none of the people they wanted. One was fired for incompetence. On the personnel side, so far, he's saddled with a top-tier soon-to-be-very-expensive QB that he hasn't been able to trade yet, due to a combination of a ridiculous asking price and open lawsuits. I mean, he could of course still turn it around and trade Watson for his gazillion assets and hire a new coach in 2 years, but I think we can fairly say he's had a very bad start to his tenure where nothing has gone well.
I don't mind the Texans going with Hamilton. I have just seen a lot of Texans fan talk him up, and his reputation around the NFL is very good QB coach but not a good OC. I know he has wanted to be an OC and eventually a HC.... but so far it has been his relationship with players like Cutler, Luck and Herbert that has made him a hot commodity in the NFL.
There are a few things that I feel add value to the latest - 1. by hiring Lovie - you keep a proven actual HC that went to the NFC game twice I believe,…game management won’t be an issue - yes he is 63 yo so it won’t be forever but I do expect 5 plus years if things go well - is he a homerun? No but he is proven as a actual HC 2. we keep the Tampa 2 hybrid defense that improved from last year with not much talent - we keep pieces that showed up and kinda stood out plus the formula that improved from 2020 to 2021 no doubt …if we get a HC that rather do a 3-4 defense , we turn the roster core that is already fragile and that does no good - experience and familiarity makes a difference. 3. Pep Hamilton did wonders with Herbert and Luck and you might even add Mills - Mills teamed with Hamilton to me is the best scenario for the young QB - Pep is still relatively young - mid 40s and could be looked at as Louie’s eventual replacement - I would love personally to see what Hamilton can do being OC if you look at my 3 points - this is why I am feeling completely fine with the choice
But, you don't take away the Tampa years, nor do you ignore the absolute train wreck at Illinois during his most recent head coaching tenure. The defense allowed only two touchdowns less than the historically bad 2020 squad. Lovie is not getting the head coaching job for any other reason that that the Texans' preferred choice was seen as a PR disaster.
This is exactly what the "this is fine" meme was made for... I fully expect these narratives to be "leaked" out ad-nauseum, along with it being hammered home again/again at the press conference. Also, keep in mind that neither Lovie nor Pep Hamilton has a chance of these positions with any other team in the league... much like nobody else was going to make David Cully their head coach.
Fair enough.thanks for responding nice to see you on here more now. Respectfully agree to disagree and I think they have always been trash formulaic and void right from the jump.. down to getting a guy like boselli and casserly to then have him draft even though he was gone. You remember that? Lol Mario Williams due to 'signability'...it's always been the same spreadsheet war. There are so many examples along with the expansion team excuse they rode that good will all the way to as you say obrien. Obrien to me has just finally exposed the bolts and you can see that the whole thing really is a raging scam. So I kinda agree that they hid it ok and easterby is still largely being treated as scapegoat. I think it's funny he take that role when people said the EXACT same about rick smith, conserviak, casserly and so on. They love having scapegoats that aren't mcnair and it's funny how people here eat it up about easterby
Two hirings in a row that were out of nowhere and no other team was interested in? Texans gonna Texan.
You are missing the entire point. The reason to keep Culley has nothing to do with his coaching ability. Bill Belichick couldn't win 6 games with this team. The point is management seemed to have a plan, abandoned it, and embarrassed themselves. You don't fire a **** coach who won 4 games, only to hire a decent coach who may win 5 games. It show how ridiculously little thought goes into anything they do.
