Lovie Smith Fired / Head Coaching Search / DeMeco Ryans Hired!

[Keith]

Didn't wait until the annual Black Monday tradition of firing head coaches the first day after the conclusion of the regular season. For the second year in a row, the Texans have fired a head coach.

Lovie Smith reportedly has three more years due to him. Iirc, his predecessor David Culley has at least one more, maybe two?

Lovie was always something of a stopgap. Brian Flores sued the team, and no one seemingly wanted to be in Houston with the Deshaun Watson issue still unresolved. Theoretically, the position is somewhat more desirable if only because it couldn't get much worse.

Lots of flashy candidate names out there. Doubt any will come, but I would like to see DeMeco Ryans and the Texans have mutual interest. The early buzz though is that Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon and Lions OC Ben Johnson are favorites.

[chuck]

Speaking of suing the team, there is no way Demeco is going to come to the Texans. He sued the team over their jink ass field and he knows first had what a shitshow the place is.

Lovie was always a stopgap, true, but I'm pretty sure the team fired the wrong guy.

[Keith]

Yes, I remember now that Aaron Wilson or someone reported that earlier re: DeMeco. And there is virtually no significant talk of him coming here. Another in a long line of disappointments.

The talk of Gannon a year ago was that he wanted some say in his assistants that for whatever reason the Texans didn't want to give him. Gannon had like 3 interviews and was a finalist but then things got weird with the Flores suit, the Easterby influence, etc.

It's not my money, but by hiring two consecutive stopgaps, the McNairs are paying both Culley and Smith an extra three years for their one year of service. Good for them. For whatever faults, Lovie surely maintained some respect in the league for how the Texans performed dating back to Week 14 (except for that horrid game agains the Jaguars).

[chuck]

Lovie has his share of faults and made more than his share of mistakes and is nowhere near the ideal coach for the team, but he is a very experienced head coach who fits the bill of head coach. A guy like Culley was set up to fail. As you point out, he gets to collect (large) paychecks for a while, so good for him.

I can't imagine any attractive candidate is going to want to work for Caserio, but we'll see.

[Keith]

Yeah, I don't imagine guys like Payton or Harbaugh have any interest.

fwiw...

@ChronBrianSmith
The Texans have interest in DeMeco Ryans for their recently opened HC job.
Up to Ryans if the interest is mutual but the Texans are interested in him.
10:46 AM · Jan 9, 2023

https://twitter.com/ChronBrianSmith/...91049284562947

[chuck]

I have interest in Scarlett Johansson.