Fired Jack Easterby

STR8Thugg · Nov 21, 2020

zeeshan2 said: ↑

Click to expand...

I don't dislike the guy, but Cody Stoots throws a lot of poop at the wall and calls it "content".

Nook · Nov 21, 2020

fchowd0311 said: ↑

How did this clown get so high up in the NFL?
Click to expand...

Extremely manipulative... able to read people in positions of authority and form bonds with them. He plays up the religious angle and positivity to McNair. Supposedly fired a popular employee for her pro Biden comments. My guess is he thinks that will strengthen his bond with McNair.

It has little to do with actual football.

zeeshan2 · Nov 22, 2020

zeeshan2 · Dec 10, 2020

Easterby’s sudden ascent to power has generated intense curiosity and, depending on whom you ask, either admiration or scrutiny. He has not conducted any on-the-record interviews since September, leaving others to make sense of perhaps the NFL’s most polarizing executive. In response to interview requests for Easterby and team owner Cal McNair, as well a list of 83 questions regarding the details of this story, a Texans spokesperson provided broad statements on behalf of McNair and Easterby (which can be read in full here). To Sports Illustrated, some called the 37-year-old a guiding force in their lives, a beloved minister and mentor who shepherded two NFL franchises through difficult times and became part of the foundation of the Patriots’ late-dynasty years, earning him a rare spot in Bill Belichick’s inner circle. Many in Houston, though, have not seen him as the congenial confidant and Belichick foil. Rather, they describe an authority figure whose leadership style sows distrust and division, at times flouting rules and straining relationships inside the building. Meanwhile, his responsibilities expanded despite questions surrounding his credentials.

Conversations with more than 40 people—current and former Texans football operations staff and players, colleagues from Easterby’s time in New England, those from his past in and out of football—provided detailed accounts of his alleged role in, among other things:

Undermining other executives and decision-makers, including the head coach who helped bring him to Houston.

The team’s holding workouts at the head strength coach’s house during the COVID-19 pandemic after the NFL had ordered franchises to shut down all facilities, shortly before a breakout of infections among players.

Advocating for a trade of star receiver DeAndre Hopkins soon after arriving in Houston—one season before Hopkins was sent to Arizona in a widely panned deal.

Fostering a culture of distrust among staff and players to the point that one Texan and two other staffers believed players were being surveilled outside the building.

When SI began making phone calls in October to make sense of Easterby’s improbable path, he quickly caught wind and reached out to a reporter, saying that he wanted to help communicate “truth and honesty.” Easterby did not return a text message, sent Tuesday, offering a chance to tell his side of the story. But colleagues who spoke to SI—many requesting anonymity, like the player, for fear of retribution—said they felt compelled to share their own truth in the hopes of opening the eyes of McNair, of whom one source said: “[He] is just blinded.” There is a perception inside the Texans’ building that Easterby won a power struggle, completing his climb. And in doing so, these sources say, the character coach brought in to improve the culture has made it worse.

Within his first few weeks with the Texans, though, Easterby began making requests of multiple football operations departments to prepare presentations or reports, seeking specific information without disclosing how it would be used. Easterby framed these asks as a learning exercise. Looking back now, many of his colleagues wonder whether he was collecting the intel he would need to run a team.

The character coach also freely shared with other members of the organization what some saw as unfair or inaccurate perceptions of players, including the notion that Watson and Hopkins didn’t get along when in actuality, others saw the two as close friends. Or that one Texans veteran had a gambling problem, a description with which other staffers disagreed. Last January, the Texans fired Chris Olsen, their longtime contract negotiator. Easterby subsequently took on a lead role in negotiating contracts—O’Brien publicly credited him for closing extensions for Watson and linebacker Zach Cunningham—some of which have been widely criticized for their player-friendly structures.

While Easterby aspires to be a transformational leader, guided by religion and morality, people who have worked alongside him in Houston have increasingly come to see him as transactional. Says a colleague: “If you combine a faith-healing televangelist with Littlefinger, you’d get Jack Easterby.”

While Easterby did forge some connections, four people who worked for the Texans around this time say that he did not have a relationship with Hopkins, one of the team’s most important players. Hopkins had earned first-team All-Pro honors in each of the three seasons since Houston drafted Watson in 2017. The emerging quarterback and star receiver led Houston to back-to-back division titles in ’18 and ’19. They also shared a close bond that extended beyond their prolific relationship on the field; the players jointly held a Thanksgiving dinner for teammates and members of the organization who didn’t have family in town for the holiday.

O’Brien, who assumed the GM title nine months before being fired, took the brunt of the backlash for Hopkins’s unpopular trade, which has proved to be lopsided. While O’Brien negotiated the terms—the consensus was that the coach wanted to trade Hopkins as well—the same sources who recounted Easterby’s perceived coldness to Hopkins say it went further: They describe Easterby as the first, and most persistent, advocate for the team’s trading the receiver out of Houston. One of these people recalls hearing Easterby saying about Hopkins in front of small groups of people on multiple occasions in 2019, “We need to move on from that person,” without using his name. Another recalls learning that the Texans discussed trading Hopkins as early as the summer of 2019.

Hopkins’s trade left a void in the Texans’ offense and in the locker room. The receiver often led a call and response when breaking down meetings, calling out “Glory!” to which his teammates would respond “Hallelujah!” Watson carried on that tradition this season as a nod to his former teammate, and Hopkins agreed to a two-year extension with the Cardinals. (Hopkins is No. 2 in the NFL with 85 catches.)

Some of Easterby’s staples weren’t as effective in Houston as they had been at previous stops. Those motivational cards from his South Carolina days traveled to New England, and then to Houston, where they were customized with the Texans’ logo. Each week, a new card would appear on players’ stools in the locker room and on employees’ desks. Members of the organization asked one another if they could throw the cards away without repercussions—at least one did. Eventually word reached Easterby: This particular tool had not resonated.

Easterby also began occasionally addressing the team on the nights preceding games, turning the meeting room into his pulpit. But some of his efforts to relate to the majority-Black roster occasionally failed him; in some cases he even caused offense. During one Saturday-night meeting in 2019, Easterby, who is white and cites Martin Luther King Jr. as a role model, asked players to think back to when they were growing up “playing ball with Ray-Ray and Ki-Ki and them,” according to three people in the room for these meetings. Some saw the language as more of a misguided attempt to fit in—players often called Easterby a “try-hard.” But at least one person was bothered enough by what they saw as a use of Black stereotypes that they debated saying something to Easterby. (They decided not to take on that conversation with a game the next day.) A few weeks later, one of the sources says, Easterby used similar language again.

A culture of distrust had started to permeate the organization. Multiple Texans from Easterby’s tenure say they began to watch what they would say in conversations with him, nervous that the culture coach was looking for reasons to move out people with different values or lifestyles. Those worries weren’t limited to the workplace. One player was so convinced he was being followed by someone representing the team that he paid a friend to watch the dark sedan he says he observed frequently parked outside his house. He even went so far as to log license plate numbers of unfamiliar cars. Two other members of the organization shared the player’s concerns that members of the team were being surveilled away from the building. (The Texans did not respond to specific questions about these accounts.)
Click to expand...

Joshfast · Dec 10, 2020

Jack Easterby with his charlatan Rasputin ass **** this guy

red5rocket · Dec 10, 2020

This guy needs to go ASAP!

Nimo · Dec 10, 2020

Tell me again that the Hopkins trade was about money

zeeshan2 · Dec 10, 2020

The partnership between Easterby and O’Brien appeared to work well at first. O’Brien wasn’t at odds with Easterby the way he had been with former GM Rick Smith, and Easterby took on tasks that gave O’Brien more time for his priority—coaching. But as Easterby continued to expand his influence in 2019 and beyond, team employees began to wonder when O’Brien would finally see Easterby the way they did. By that point, three Texans say they believed that the vast majority of the franchise did not trust the person brought in to improve the culture. Two of them estimate that 85% of the building did not trust Easterby; another upped the percentage to 90.

The Texans did not respond to specific questions about their editing process. Easterby’s bio was heavily revised for the ’20 media guide—and updated online—to state that he “gained his first NFL experience in the summer of ’04 with the Jacksonville Jaguars, helping in football operations and public relations.” In a statement provided to SI by a Texans spokesperson, McNair said that Easterby’s background was “fully vetted” and that the owner stands by his hiring.

As recently as November, a bio for Easterby that appeared on the website for the Greatest Champion Foundation (a nonprofit with a goal of serving athletes holistically through faith and founded by Easterby and his father) claimed that Easterby has over the years “been entrusted with over 50 head coaching searches at both power-five and mid-major universities for multiple sports.” Neither the Texans nor Easterby addressed specific questions from SI about which programs he has worked with on coaching searches and in what capacity.

That foundation’s site was down for most of the past month—a staffer explained that it was due to a redesign and migration to a new content management system—and when the new version launched last weekend, Easterby no longer had a bio. He is still noted as the foundation’s founder and chair of the board of directors, and the foundation’s latest 990 tax return says Easterby worked there an average of 40 hours per week in 2019, also his first year in Houston, collecting a salary of $16,981. A statement provided to SI by a Texans spokesperson on Easterby’s behalf reads, in part, “I have made no false claims about my experience, nor my work with my Foundation.”

Considering his limited experience in pro football, these shifting credentials can be seen as an attempt to retroactively justify the roles he held in the NFL—particularly his current one, for which many feel he is unqualified. Perhaps more off-putting: A leader, whose greatest skill is his ability to build strong moral character, long maintained a public bio that may not have been fully transparent about his past.

The Texans sent that message again Tuesday. One day after SI provided the Texans with a list of questions regarding the details of this story but before its deadline for the team’s response, McNair sent a letter to season-ticket holders announcing the Texans had assembled a star-studded committee to conduct the search for the Texans’ next coach and general manager. Hall of Fame coaches Tony Dungy and Jimmy Johnson, as well as franchise legend Andre Johnson and others, will join McNair, team president Jamey Rootes and search firm Korn Ferry in the process.

In a statement provided to SI by a Texans spokesperson, McNair said he believes Easterby did “a great job picking up [GM] responsibilities in addition to his other duties,” but that he wants to “make it clear that Jack is not on our internal search committee for the next GM or head coach. ... However, I value Jack’s input and if he has first-hand knowledge about a specific candidate, I will ask for his observations and feedback.” He and the next GM, McNair affirmed, will determine the roles of all football operations employees, including Easterby.

There’s a sense that Easterby is scrambling. Confidants say that the last couple of months have been a tough time for Easterby, as he’s faced what McNair labeled as “personal attacks.” He’s trying to hang on as the roles he once captured slip away. Those who were with him in that first season in Houston know that he’s capable of doing it. As one former Texans staffer says, it doesn’t matter what the rest of the building thinks of him. “All you have to do is convince one or two people, then isolate them from the thoughts and feelings of the rest of the staff.”

Last November, the Texans boarded their team charter for a 10-hour trip home after a game against the Jaguars in London. Mid-flight, several players gathered around a table in the galley area, playing cards and sharing laughs after their sixth win of the season. Nearby, Easterby knelt in an aisle, speaking in a low voice to McNair. The volume of the card game grew, and Easterby took his stand. He rose and made a move toward the galley, shushing the players, demanding quiet—imploring them that Mr. McNair needs his sleep. Then he returned to his post, by the owner’s side, the one voice in his ear.
Click to expand...

zeeshan2 · Dec 10, 2020

Rock Block · Dec 10, 2020

Nimo said: ↑

Tell me again that the Hopkins trade was about money

Click to expand...

Gawddamn how f*cking embarrasing. Get rid of this guy

King1 · Dec 10, 2020

What a ****ing joke

Rock Block · Dec 10, 2020

Last November, the Texans boarded their team charter for a 10-hour trip home after a game against the Jaguars in London. Mid-flight, several players gathered around a table in the galley area, playing cards and sharing laughs after their sixth win of the season. Nearby, Easterby knelt in an aisle, speaking in a low voice to McNair. The volume of the card game grew, and Easterby took his stand. He rose and made a move toward the galley, shushing the players, demanding quiet—imploring them that Mr. McNair needs his sleep. Then he returned to his post, by the owner’s side, the one voice in his ear.

What kind of big baby is Cal? WTF is going on over there.

Damion Laverne · Dec 10, 2020

As I said many times on this board before:

Jack Easterby is a F U C K I N G fraud who should be fired.

Typical "fake Christian" nonsense

conquistador#11 · Dec 10, 2020

If the chaos to your roster didn't get it done, if the fake resume didn't get it done, here is hoping this is the final nail on the coffin.
How do you let this go on?

TEXNIFICENT · Dec 10, 2020

Rock Block said: ↑

Last November, the Texans boarded their team charter for a 10-hour trip home after a game against the Jaguars in London. Mid-flight, several players gathered around a table in the galley area, playing cards and sharing laughs after their sixth win of the season. Nearby, Easterby knelt in an aisle, speaking in a low voice to McNair. The volume of the card game grew, and Easterby took his stand. He rose and made a move toward the galley, shushing the players, demanding quiet—imploring them that Mr. McNair needs his sleep. Then he returned to his post, by the owner’s side, the one voice in his ear.

What kind of big baby is Cal? WTF is going on over there.
Click to expand...

You have this garbage going on but folks around here want to blame the QB for everything. You can't make this stuff up. The Texans lost an ALL PRO WR over garbage that had NOTHING to do with football! It figures because Easterby doesn't know anything about football yet he is in charge of FOOTBALL OPERATIONS!!! You can't make this stuff up!

TEXNIFICENT · Dec 10, 2020

zeeshan2 said: ↑

Click to expand...

SMDH.

J.R. · Dec 10, 2020

One Patriots staffer compared Easterby to a preacher at a megachurch—a man of God who stands onstage and denounces the ills of poverty, then slips out the backdoor, into a private jet. Several current and former colleagues, from Foxboro and Houston, agree that this description is accurate.

fchowd0311 · Dec 10, 2020

Man how many ****ing nude comprising photos of Cal Mcnair are there and how many people have it to hold over him?

fchowd0311 · Dec 10, 2020

Watson has to have some pull. This is one of the few situations where I want the player to lay down the line to the owner and say if you don't fire this toxic religous hustler, I'm done playing and will request a trade.

HillBoy · Dec 10, 2020

What a cluster****! Almost makes me wish for the days of the Oilers and Bud Adams. This franchise is done...

Forums

Fired Jack Easterby

STR8Thugg STR8Thugg Member

Nook Member

zeeshan2 Member

zeeshan2 Member

Joshfast "We're all gonna die" - Billy Sole
Supporting Member

red5rocket Member
Supporting Member

Nimo Member

zeeshan2 Member

zeeshan2 Member

Rock Block Sorta here sometimes
Supporting Member

King1 Contributing Member

Rock Block Sorta here sometimes
Supporting Member

Damion Laverne Member

conquistador#11 Member

TEXNIFICENT Member

TEXNIFICENT Member

J.R. Member

fchowd0311 Contributing Member

fchowd0311 Contributing Member

HillBoy Contributing Member

Share This Page

About ClutchFans

Rockets Content

Support ClutchFans!

Fired Jack Easterby

STR8Thugg STR8Thugg Member

Nook Member

zeeshan2 Member

zeeshan2 Member

Joshfast "We're all gonna die" - Billy Sole Supporting Member

red5rocket Member Supporting Member

Nimo Member

zeeshan2 Member

zeeshan2 Member

Rock Block Sorta here sometimes Supporting Member

King1 Contributing Member

Rock Block Sorta here sometimes Supporting Member

Damion Laverne Member

conquistador#11 Member

TEXNIFICENT Member

TEXNIFICENT Member

J.R. Member

fchowd0311 Contributing Member

fchowd0311 Contributing Member

HillBoy Contributing Member

Share This Page

Joshfast "We're all gonna die" - Billy Sole
Supporting Member

red5rocket Member
Supporting Member

Rock Block Sorta here sometimes
Supporting Member

Rock Block Sorta here sometimes
Supporting Member