The latter. And it's not even close. If Bob has a master plan to go with Kubiak one more year and then brings in Cower in 2012 after all the CBA is figured out, all is forgiven. It just blows me away that he would not even consider the effect that bringing in Cower could have had on this team, franchise, and city. Especially when Cower (allegedly) comes out and says he'd like to coach here. Blows me away.
9 Years of being a season ticket holder/attendee and one single 9-win season as the high water mark. The 3 yr/$24M David Carr facepalm extension after the 2-14 season. Defending this team in the aftermath of Mario/Bush draft, putting up with being a (unjustified) national punchline. Putting up with the VY fanboys. Watching the Saints win it all. The Kubiak 3-year extension reward after his team underachieved its way out of 10 wins and a playoff berth in the creamiesst of creampuff schedules. The Schobel disaster (August) UNCAPPED YEAR....but it's important for McNair to set a good example for the other owners going into the CBA talks. The Kareem Jackson Experience We're Stickin With Our Guys I Believe in Frank Bush 70 yards with 55 seconds left to play and no TO Going away from the leagues top rusher against the run-fearing Colts while Schaub is nursing a QB rating of 12. We're on the Right Track Kubiak and Smith stay....because McNair won't double pay in a revenue reduced lockout year. The coach of our dreams is dropping hints that'd he'd love to run the team.....but McNair balks at the price tag. The exhaustive search for the best candidates is over before the search even begins. All it took was lunch with Bum Phillips. Wade Phillips will be our next head coach. McNair already letting it be known that he's got no interest in paying for top FAs. F.U.C.K.T.H.I.S.T.E.A.M.
I don't. He was making statements before the season ended that nixed any chance Kubiak was out. It's obvious that the plan was to keep Kubiak and bring in Wade right after the Baltimore game.
If 5 years of 1 winning season and no playoffs doesn't get your head coach fired, by question is this: What standard of excellence does this owner consider to be appropriate for the Texans? If we make the playoffs, say twice in 10 years (meaning Kubiak stays 5 more seasons and gets to the playoffs twice) is that enough success for McNair? Because I believe it will be.
Maybe, I just think it's a little short sighted to think a man of Uncle Bob's intellect wouldn't explore more than one option. What do I know? We are where we are.
Didn't the Wade hiring just prove this to be false to you? They didn't interview anyone, despite it being a "stipulation" of Gary keeping control of the hiring process according the John McClain and Kubiak repeatedly stating there would be several interviews. Bob McNair said he was proud of his team after the loss to Baltimore. There was no shot Kubiak was out. He used the Jax win to defend keeping Kubiak. He called changing coaches "traumatic." How much more obvious can it be he was not going to make a move here?
Not to mention the rumors, which were dead-on, started the week before the Jags game, right? I'm starting to realize why the move sits funny with me: Bum Phillips. I love Bum Phillips, of course. We ALL love Bum Phillips. Who doesn't love Bum Phillips? But even if Wade was the absolute, no-doubt best candidate - the decision just feels... calculated; a PR move designed to cash in on our nostalgia for Bum's era as a means to make us forget - Oh yeah, they're retaining Smith and Kubiak. It rings false and hollow. Probably unfair to Wade - but I feel like I'm being worked here.
Feel like it? The fix was in when Bum visited the team earlier in the season and said, with Frank Bush AT THE FACILITY, that his son would love to coach here. I mean damn guys, this is like a frying pan whacking us on the head and saying you don't feel anything.
Bingo. The whole thing seems choreographed to spin what they know isn't a popular move. I seriously doubt anyone else was seriously considered as DC. I would bet money that they didn't actually ever talk to another candidate or really do any kind of due diligence. They saw a quick and simple out, and rather than putting a plan together to evaluate their best options, they just jumped on it.
Hopefully that's the case, leroy. Because I just can't see the kids battling with Okoye manning the nose tackle if the switch to the 3-4 happens.
To be fair... We don't know if the first one is true; and let's at least give them, you know, the offseason before we make any declarations about their personnel decisions. I've never gotten the "cheap" vibe from McNair; I think that's an easy crutch when it's sometimes hard to encapsulate your disappoinment in someone who does most of their business behind closed doors. I think a more accurate assessment is that Smith/Kubiak simply don't believe in throwing large sums of money at a gaggle of free agents. McNair, though, has opened the wallet when asked. He's given ill-fated extensions, as well as smart extensions (let's not forget he redid AJ's deal). He has a large coaching staff, large personnel department....
The decision may have been made on the stipulation that if they reached out to the Cowher camp and didn't like what they heard then Kubes keeps his job. Bob would have to be inept not to have made some sort of contact with Cowher after hearing the reports. I can't think that our owner could be that obnoxious, if I did, I couldn't see the team going anywhere with him at the helm. And that would be depressing.
And how could they be so out of touch as to not realize Phillips didn't exactly have the most sterling reputation and might not be the cover-up they thought he'd be, last name be damned? He still smelled from the 1-7 disaster just 240 miles away that a lot of us were actually openly enjoying (save for, you know, week 3).
I hope he did. That would make me feel even better about his choices. But I have a hard time believing it.
THIS. Listen closely, little birdies (who like to utter "cheap! cheap! cheap!" every time any franchise doesn't do what you want). Well freaking stated. Well freaking stated indeed.
