The Texans’ GM and head coaching search is underway. In addition to big-time firm Korn Ferry, owner Cal McNair has also enlisted the help of several notable names (via Mark Berman of FOX26). That list includes Hall of Fame coaches Tony Dungy and Jimmy Johnson, plus Texans legend Andre Johnson, and Spurs architect RC Buford.
“I’m very excited,” McNair said. “These guys are all so experienced and had a lot of success in the various areas they’ve been working and they all want to help and make the Texans the best we can be and it’s really quite a testament that they want to do that. I’ll be talking to them. [Team president Jamey Rootes] and I will have conversations with them, get their ideas on how they see the landscape and try to put together the best group that we can.”
For now, the head coaching position belongs to Romeo Crennel, though there are conflicting reports on whether he’ll be a real candidate for the gig in 2021. The GM role is also vacant and the Texans swear that they will not be filling it with fast-rising exec Jack Easterby.
“It’s a relentless search for greatness is what we’re after, and these guys have gotten there and we’ll use some of their intuition and intelligence to help us get there as well,” said McNair. “This search is going to be really, really exciting.”
The Texans could certainly use some excitement — their latest loss to the Colts has dropped them to 4-8 on the year. They’ll look to get back in the win column this weekend when they face the Bears in Chicago.
2 legendary HC’s, a legendary WR and one of the great architects in the NBA. What a team to conduct the search
Tony Dungy is legendary? That’s a stretch
Two decades of constantly hearing about Tampa 2. First coach to get Peyton a ring. First black coach to win a Super Bowl after very nearly doing it with a different team. Averaged more than 10 wins a year over a 13 year head coaching career.
I’m not sure I would have used the word legendary, but we use it on people who’ve accomplished less.
Why doesn’t he hire himself then
Probably for similar reasons Jimmy Johnson can’t and won’t?
Besides, I think the Texans have learned a lesson about letting people give themselves jobs.
Yea and the defensive mastermind Monte Kiffin, who had a ton more experience than Dungy, didn’t have anything to do with the creation of the Tampa 2. Also, inheriting a legendary QB just entering is prime when he got hired by Indy didn’t have anything to do with Dungy’s success either. After all, they were a defensive minded team that didn’t score any points. HA!
Monte Kiffin’s tons more experience than Dungy was all in college. After one year coaching DB’s at the U. of Minnesota, Dungy became a NFL assistant coach in 1981, and was promoted to Defensive Coordinator in 1984. He served as a DC for nine of the next 12 years.
After 17 years coaching college ball, Kiffin became a pro coach in 1983, and was a linebackers coach for 11 of the next 12 years, three of them working under Dungy. When he became Dungy’s DC in Tampa, he had two years of pro DC experience to Dungy’s nine.
I’ve got nothing against Kiffin, he had a couple of really good stints coaching the Vikings’ LB’s, but my impression is that the Tampa 2 is primarily a coverage scheme, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the coach with five years of pro DB coaching experience and nine years as a DC had as much or more to do with developing the Tampa 2 system as the LB coach with two one-year DC stints in 11 years.
In his six seasons as Indy’s HC, his defenses finished 19th-23rd in points allowed three times, but also finished 1st-7th three times (twice outranking the O in points scored), proving that Dungy didn’t just rely on his HoF QB.
139-69 record, a Super Bowl win. There aren’t many coaches with that resume.
A few division titles to sow for his career as well. Can’t win it all every year, but you can compete & Tony’s teams always did so.
Do you think Mcnair wants to get it right or just have more people to blame if it doesn’t work out.
Now that’s an excellent question
Both. He wants A, but B is a nice security blanket
What experience do any of these people have in conducting a NFL head coaching search?
Jimmy Johnson and Dungy certainly have a ton of experience being head coaches and hiring assistant coaches. Between them, they’ve had something like ten assistants go on to become NFL head coaches, including a couple of very successful ones. I’m pretty sure Dungy had input into Caldwell succeeding him in Indy.
Jimmy Johnson’s coaching tree when it comes to subsequent head coaching experience isn’t too impressive (Norv Turner and Dave Wannstedt the best). Dungy, on the other hand, employed Mike Tomlin (SB champ), Jim Caldwell (Conf. Champ), Lovie Smith (Conf. Champ) and Frank Reich, among others.
“In addition to big-time firm Korn Ferry”
Korn Ferry = Jed Hughes
Listening to Dungy on the Notre Dame broadcasts tells me the game has left him by. Guy sounds incompetent at this point. Pretty much the Jimmie Johnson.
same for*… man I sound as incompetent as those two.
What happens when you get all those ego’s together? It won’t be pretty. Sounds like a great PR move after you have screwed the fans will with Bill O’lose at the controls and you did NOTHING.
You think a bunch of guys getting a consulting fee to join a search committee for a team that doesn’t employ them are going to have a hard time putting their egos aside? And other than Johnson clashing with Jerry Jones, which of these guys have a reputation for not getting along with people well?
A much simpler and effective approach would be to ask Jerry Jones what he would do…and then do the exact opposite.
So let me get this straight….
An NFL team has an owner that has identified that the team has some talent on both sides of the ball. The team just went through a “Coach First Philosophy” that is currently in place in Washington and is rumored as the future plan for Detroit. The Texans were burned as an organization and roasted by the media and fans for this approach.
So the owner is bringing in multiple sources with different points of view to try and find the best possible path to success.
Both of these ideas have received negative feedback on this forum. Negative feedback without possible alternatives.
It’s not necessarily that the coach first approach is bad. It’s that the coach who they decided to give all the power to was a guy that everyone said from the start couldn’t handle all the power. THEN he lost his mind and started making dumb decisions about personnel even more spectacularly than we expected. Coach first can work, just like college dropouts can run multi billion dollar companies. Hence why you need to identify the talent and not just wing it.
Yeah, ultimately I don’t understand the hate for this. These are just guys hired to give their opinions on a potential hire. We’re not going to see Dungy or Johnson on the sidelines. They’ll offer their input and the owner will make a decision.
I’d argue they should probably consult Watson because he’s their franchise cornerstone, but this generally has the feel of a solid plan. It’d be hard to do worse than BOB unless they traded picks to NY for Gase. Lol
Korn Ferry? The legendary Jed Hughes is on the case. He’ll pick a winner.