(Image credit Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle)
Written by: Nicholas Mullick
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-mullick-354076184
The Houston Texans have been one of the most confusing and disorganized organizations to analyze with the questionable moves made. Then again Jack Easterby is still a part of this organization for some reason. Remind me Why again he is still here? Anyways after the Texans decided to fire David Culley after one season a question asked is who will the Texans hire as head coach. Well the NFL world and Texans fans finally got their answer as news came out that Lovie Smith has been promoted as the head coach for the Houston Texans.
As always I take a look at the coaching experience with Lovie Smith. He started coaching in the sport of football not in college or in the NFL but in High School. He started in 1980 as the Defensive Coordinator for Big Sandy HS (TX). In 1981-1982 he was the Assistant defensive backs coach & wide receivers coach for Cascia Hall Prep. In 1983 Lovie Smith made his coaching debut with Tulsa as their linebacker coach until 1986. He also became the linebackers coach for Wisconsin (1987), Arizona State (1988-1991), and Kentucky (1992). Lovie Smith then became the Defensive backs coach for Tennessee (1993-1994) and Ohio State (1995). Lovie Smith then made his appearance in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a Linebacker Coach from 1996 to 2000. Lovie then was a part of the St. Louis Rams as a defensive coordinator from 2001-2003. Lovie Smith was hired as the head coach for the Chicago Bears (2004-2012) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2013-2014). Lovie Smith then returned to coach college football for Illinois as the head coach. Then he spent time with the Houston Texans as the Associate head coach & defensive coordinator during the 2021 season. Now he is being promoted as the Head Coach for the Houston Texans. So as a result he has 41 years of coaching experience which is very impressive.
Now before I talk about the hiring of Lovie Smith I got to ask, Why is this team interviewing Josh McCown for the head coaching job? I seriously don’t get it as McCown has little to no experience coaching. Yes, he has coached in high school but only as an assistant. McCown has no experience in leading a coaching crew. This is the second year in a row that the Texans almost hired him as the head coach. I don’t understand why he is not the QB coach for the Texans. That to me would make a lot of sense but interviewing him for the head coaching position just makes no sense. I think McCown will get an opportunity to coach in the NFL but I don’t see him as a head coach unless he gets experience coaching in college football or in the NFL as a QB coach.
Now getting into Lovie Smith being hired as the head coach I got to say this move makes no sense. Have the Houston Texans seen how disastrous his tenure as the head coach was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Illinois was? It was completely awful and he went 25-63 during his time as the head coach there and his win percentage was 39.6%. Plus he even struggled with clock management, calling time outs and knowing when to challenge a play. Those problems continued as well during his tenure in Illinois and in Tampa Bay.
Now Lovie Smith is excellent in handling the culture of the locker room. I remembered the anger many fans and Bears players had when the time came of Lovie Smith being fired as the Head coach. Heck, even many Houston Texans players wanted him to still be a part of the team. It is clear that the players respect Lovie Smith and wanted him to stay with the Texans. Well, they got their wish due to him being promoted as the head coach of the Houston Texans. The handling of the player and culture of the locker room is a big benefit. Plus with the amount of experience as a coach in the sport of football he would be a benefit to any coaching staff.
However, despite me not being a big fan of this move I want to say congratulations to Mr. Smith for acquiring the position as the head coach for the Houston Texans. Hopefully, he proves my concerns wrong and has success with the Texans organization. But again I will ask Why is Jack Easterby still a part of the Houston Texans organization?