The Texans are ramping up their search for Bill O’Brien’s replacement. Houston completed an interview with former Lions and Colts head coach Jim Caldwell for their vacancy, the team announced Monday.
Caldwell was the coach in Detroit for four seasons from 204-17. After spending 2018 out of football he agreed to become an assistant head coach with the Dolphins, but then took a leave of absence for medical reasons. We heard in December of last year that he was back to full health and looking to coach again, but he didn’t sign anywhere this offseason. Caldwell succeeded Tony Dungy as Colts coach, and held that position for three seasons from 2009-11, but was fired after a 2011 season where Indy went just 2-14 with Peyton Manning missing the entire year with neck issues.
Caldwell has a 62-50 record as head coach, although as Mike Garafolo of NFL Network pointed out in a tweet it’s 60-36 if you take out the year where the Colts essentially tanked for Andrew Luck. In his first season in Detroit Caldwell went 11-5 and made the playoffs. He went 9-7 each of his last two years with the Lions, making the playoffs again in 2016.
Detroit brass decided that wasn’t good enough and that Caldwell wasn’t the one to get them over the hump, and obviously we’ve all seen what’s happened there since he left. A highly regarded offensive coach with plenty of big time experience, it always seemed like only a matter of time before Caldwell got another shot. He spent a couple of decades in the college ranks before jumping to the pros as an assistant under Dungy with the Buccaneers in 2001.
The Texans are in an interesting spot, as obviously O’Brien was their coach as well as GM. The team recently interviewed ESPN analyst Louis Riddick for the GM opening. We’ve heard that Texans owner Cal McNair wants Deshaun Watson to have input on who the next head coach is, so what the young quarterback thinks of Caldwell could determine whether or not he has a real shot at the gig.
Interim GM Jack Easterby is proving to be a divisive figure, but recent reports indicate he’ll have a large role in determining the next head coach and GM as well. To say this is a pivotal offseason for the franchise would be a massive understatement, and it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Caldwell would be a great hire.
He’s just a coach you interview to keep the Fritz Pollard Alliance off your back.
Would rather have Eric Bieniemy.
Wish list for 2021
Bring in Gus Edwards, Malcom Brown or Jamaal Williams would be a decent 2nd option.
Bring in another receiver to pair with Cooks and Cobb. David Moore would be a cheap #3, same with Demarcus Robinson (KC connection),
Bring in a TE. Jacob Hollister is underrated in SEA and would make a nice Swiss army knife type TE.
They need to work on the defense. Use your picks to work on the defense.
Texans hire Dan Quinn. Falcons hire Bill O Brien. The incompetent circle keeps on spinning.
Caldwell has shown he can lead a team with a good QB to the playoffs. Would be a good, if perhaps uninspired, hire.
Jim Caldwell, longest tenured head coach in Lions history (204-2017). What a pension that must bring.
Those Romans were tough to beat during those times!
The refs missed an unnecessary roughness call during the Sack of Rome, but otherwise it was a clean game
He got a raw deal in Detroit, but it looks like Bienemy may be the preferred choice for Watson. There would be one advantage with Bienemy in that he certainly could attract free agent interest through either his KC/Andy Reid tree ties or the general interest in Bienemy himself the last couple of years. The Texans, with all of the picks they are missing, definitely should consider that as as way to attempt to make up for the lack of buying power that they’ll experience the next few years.
With all that said, Caldwell is a fine coach who has worked with a few good quarterbacks. He is well liked and has a good record overall, and most importantly I think, has the right personality to help build a locker room. If the Texans do not get Bienemy as I suspect they want to, Caldwell should be a good choice. Of course, we still have no clue who their GM will be. All of this will be for naught if they hire the wrong person.
He got a raw deal in Detroit, but it looks like Bienemy may be the preferred choice for Watson. There would be one advantage with Bienemy in that he certainly could attract free agent interest through either his KC/Andy Reid tree ties or the general interest in Bienemy himself the last couple of years. The Texans, with all of the picks they are missing, definitely should consider that as as way to attempt to make up for the lack of buying power that they’ll experience the next few years.
With all that said, Caldwell is a fine coach who has worked with a few good quarterbacks. He is well liked and has a good record overall, and most importantly I think, has the right personality to help build a locker room. If the Texans do not get Bienemy as I suspect they want to, Caldwell should be a good choice. Of course, we still have no clue who their GM will be. All of this will be for naught if they hire the wrong person.
With the chiefs getting I believe 2 3rd round picks as compensation for hiring Bienemy, I think it is highly unlikely they hire him. Why make it easier for the best team in you conference to get better. Caldwell would be a good hire. The pool will be Caldwell, Shotty, Beinemy, Saleh, and maybe someone like Sarkisian.
Caldwell was absolutely lost as a HC in Detroit. Didn’t understand personnel, didn’t have a disciplined team that knew its assignments, couldn’t manage the game clock, or manage his time-outs. When the pressure was on, he melted, time and time again. That is not a man that belongs at the head of a football team. He certainly has his place and his knowledge that justifies a coaching position on the field, but as HC, just no, he’s not cut out for it.
And yet somehow the Lions won a lot more when he was there than before and after.
I’m not saying he’s a great head coach or anything. But he’s EASILY the best head coach the Lions have had for 40+ years. The way the media suddenly turned on him and ran him out of town was very strange. He overachieved with the talent he had.
“EASILY the best?” I don’t know, but I’ve still got a bit of a warm spot for Monte Clark, 1978-84, who was saddled with a mess at QB during his tenure. Looking over their drafts for those years, it amazes me that the Lions never used anything higher on a QB than the 1980 4th rounder they spent on Eric Hipple. Bizarre.
I think Caldwell has a SB ring with the Ravens if I’m not mistaken.
He should have two, one with the 2006 Colts (Asst. HC and QB Coach) and the other with the 2012 Ravens (QB Coach and then OC).