Texans Hire Bill O'Brien as Head Coach

[HPF Bob]

Part of the reason Houston sports continues to seem minor league is that they never hire top guys who have held the job before. O'Brien fits the trend. Dom Capers and Phil Garner were seemingly the exceptions to the rule but typically it's "first time NFL head coach" or "first time MLB manager". Really hard to expect champions from people who need their own learning curve.

Anyway, best of luck to "The Dimple" or (now that I've read the comments above) "The F---ing Dimple". Just don't talk like that around Mr. McNair.

And Happy New Year, everyone. May 2014 be a huge improvement over 2013, especially for Houston sports teams.

[Warren]

Penn Live is reporting WR coach Stan Hixon is joining the Texans staff.

[popanot]

Supposedly Ray Horton (Browns DC) will be let out of his contract. I hope O'Brien considers him if that's the case. I want nothing to do with Wade at this point.

[painekiller]

Originally Posted by popanot

Supposedly Ray Horton (Browns DC) will be let out of his contract. I hope O'Brien considers him if that's the case. I want nothing to do with Wade at this point.

This would be a great hire.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Part of the reason Houston sports continues to seem minor league is that they never hire top guys who have held the job before. O'Brien fits the trend. Dom Capers and Phil Garner were seemingly the exceptions to the rule but typically it's "first time NFL head coach" or "first time MLB manager". Really hard to expect champions from people who need their own learning curve.

Anyway, best of luck to "The Dimple" or (now that I've read the comments above) "The F---ing Dimple". Just don't talk like that around Mr. McNair.

And Happy New Year, everyone. May 2014 be a huge improvement over 2013, especially for Houston sports teams.

Like Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, Sean Payton, etc...

[HPF Bob]

Originally Posted by barrett

Like Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, Sean Payton, etc...

Ignoring, of course, the hundreds of first-time head coaches who didn't pan out. Tomlin, FWIW, inherited Bill Cowher's team and many of his coaches. Harbaugh inherited those veteran Raven defenders.

O'Brien might have hit the jackpot inheriting Kubiak's team and will get kudos for leading them back above .500 in the next year or two. The Texans aren't loaded but they have some Pro Bowlers on both sides of the ball.

I just find it odd how often my team's tell us they will leave no stone unturned bringing in the best available coach/manager only to have that person be somebody who has never before held a head job at the top level.

Well, you can't accuse McNair of being cheap, not when it costs $6.5 million just to get O'Brien back to the NFL.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Ignoring, of course, the hundreds of first-time head coaches who didn't pan out. Tomlin, FWIW, inherited Bill Cowher's team and many of his coaches. Harbaugh inherited those veteran Raven defenders.

O'Brien might have hit the jackpot inheriting Kubiak's team and will get kudos for leading them back above .500 in the next year or two. The Texans aren't loaded but they have some Pro Bowlers on both sides of the ball.

I just find it odd how often my team's tell us they will leave no stone unturned bringing in the best available coach/manager only to have that person be somebody who has never before held a head job at the top level.

Well, you can't accuse McNair of being cheap, not when it costs $6.5 million just to get O'Brien back to the NFL.

If I am ignoring those hundreds of 1st time failures, are you ignoring the hundreds of retread failures?

You made a comment not based on any kind of fact and I mentioned off the top of my head 3 superbowl winning coaches in the past 10 years who had never been head coaches (and add Mike McCarthy after I just looked it up).

I just took the time to look up the 12 playoff coaches.

Fox, Bellachik, Reid, and Carrol are previous HCs.

Lewis, Pagano, Kelly, Mike McCoy, McCarthy, Rivera, Payton, and Harbaugh are all 1st time NFL HCs.

Nothing in recent NFL history says anything about retread coaches being better at winning than 1st timers. There is nothing minor league about hiring a 1st time NFL HC, and it is not hard to expect champions from 1st time guys.

[Keith]

O'Brien is a first time NFL head coach, but not a first time head coach... that was a key line item in McNair's wish list that ought to separate him from the early learning curves of Gary Kubiak.

O'Brien likely won't be easing his way into the role, getting guidance from guys like Mike Sherman the way Kubiak did. And hopefully he learned from what happened to Josh McDaniels in Denver too.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by Keith

O'Brien is a first time NFL head coach, but not a first time head coach... that was a key line item in McNair's wish list that ought to separate him from the early learning curves of Gary Kubiak.

O'Brien likely won't be easing his way into the role, getting guidance from guys like Mike Sherman the way Kubiak did. And hopefully he learned from what happened to Josh McDaniels in Denver too.

I like the hire, but that is my one concern. McDaniels just wanted so badly to be the man in Denver and had such an ego, that he immediately went to work eliminating anyone who threatened his view of himself. He had to do it HIS way with HIS guys. And because of that, a guy who was a very good football mind was a very bad HC his first try.

O'Brien seems to be another Tyrant type (not necessarily a bad thing). I just hope he can work with the rest of the front office here, hire assistants that are more than yes men, and not dump talent simply because he didn't acquire it. It will break my heart if Watt goes because he "wouldn't get with the program in OTAs" or something dumb like that.

But overall, he was the most sought after candidate available (if you don't count guys who were not really available like Gruden), he is the offensive mind I was hoping for, and he will give this team some toughness.

[Nconroe]

So far I like the hire of O'Neil as HC and Hixon as WR coach.

Wish O.Neil and Texans the best going forward.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

Just don't talk like that around Mr. McNair.

See, this is exactly what I like about this hire, that it seems so counter to the other two guys. I'm sure that O'Brien knows how to behave in polite company but I'm also sure that he doesn't much care who's put off by salty language when he steps onto the practice field.

[Keith]

Jason La Canfora @JasonLaCanfora3h
Assistants Bill O'Brien will want to bring to HOU- Stan Hixon from Penn State (formerly coaches WRs in NFL); Pats TE coach George Godsey
https://twitter.com/JasonLaCanfora/s...86544471973890

Godsey has deep ties to O'Brien. Played QB at Georgia Tech when O'Brien coached there. Coached for O'Leary at UCF (QBs & RBs) before coming to the Pats in 2011.

[Warren]

More staff reports/speculation:

Godsey (mentioned above) would be OC
Penn St. special assistant to the head coach and director of player development Jim Bernhardt
Penn St. RB coach/recruiting coordinator Charles London
Penn St. DC/CB coach John Butler
Former Bucs offensive assistant Ben McDaniels, if his brother Josh doesn't get a head coach job and he doesn't join him
Iowa OL coach Brian Ferentz for OL coach

[Keith]

Ahem...

@JasonLaCanfora
Many people in the league believe if Texans GM Rick Smith had his way, Ken Whisenhunt would have been his top choice. More change could come

https://twitter.com/JasonLaCanfora/s...79035968614400

So, left to question here how much power Rick Smith still has. The team let go of director of pro personnel Brian Gardner and pro scout Kevin Murphy on Friday.

[chuck]

Originally Posted by Keith

So, left to question here how much power Rick Smith still has.

But this has always been the question, hasn't it, how much power does Rick Smith have? My feeling gathered from various information sources over the years was always that Smith had, shall we say, limited influence on draft day. Maybe that was good, maybe not. Could you have done worse in the later rounds yourself? I doubt it. Would a monkey throwing a dart yield worse results? I doubt it.

Smith had no experience that would lead anyone to believe that he was suited for or prepared for the role of general manager of an NFL franchise. It always seemed to mew like Kubiak had brought along Denver's jailhouse snitch to be his yes man / bag man.

McNair fired Marciano, something I thought he would literally never do. Maybe as he ages fielding a winning team is beginning to trump some other considerations. If so that would be about the best offseason news I could have asked for.

[Warren]

I have no idea what these two particular guys did or didn't do to get fired but it's good to see that the personnel side of the organization is getting some scrutiny. From the press conference for Kubiak's firing on all of the talk had been about what great talent the team had and the pro and college scouting departments seemed to be getting a complete pass.