One day after his name was added to the list of finalists for the job, defensive coordinator Lovie Smith is close to being officially hired as the head coach of the Texans. As Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports (via Twitter), Houston is “moving towards” hiring Smith. 
[Related: Texans Considering Lovie Smith For HC]
The 63-year-old has gone from being out of the picture with regards to the vacancy to the likely hire in a matter of hours. While it was believed that the three finalists for the position were former Dolphins HC Brian Flores, Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon and recently retired quarterback Josh McCown, it came out recently that the latter two were out of the running for the position.
The presence of Flores as a finalist came, of course, with the fact that his lawsuit against the NFL and three of its teams was ongoing. Flores has made it clear he would carry on with the suit even if he had been hired by Houston or any other team. That won’t be the case, in Houston at least, as the Texans are sticking with an internal candidate to replace David Culley.
Smith brings a wealth of experience to the table, having been a head coach for 16 of the past 18 years between the NFL and NCAA ranks. His longest stint on any one sideline was as HC of the Bears between 2004 and 2012. That stretch included a Coach of The Year award, along with a Super Bowl appearance not long after. From then on, though, his time in Chicago generally went downhill; an unsuccessful two years as the HC in Tampa Bay (which came after interviewing in Houston) certainly didn’t help his chances of another opportunity to lead an NFL team. 2021 was his first and only season as the DC in Houston, a year in which the defense did show signs of improvement.
Meanwhile, Rapoport’s colleague Mike Garafolo tweets that McCown could still find himself on the Texans’ sideline this year. While that is a “possibility”, he adds that “those talks have yet to really happen”. He also states that Pep Hamilton is expected to remain on staff, becoming the new offensive coordinator.
With Smith seemingly in place, here’s what appears to be the final look at the Texans’ HC search:
- Brian Flores, former head coach (Dolphins): Conducted second interview 1/31; finalist
- Jonathan Gannon, defensive coordinator (Eagles): Conducted second interview 1/29; finalist; Informed by Texans he won’t be hired
- Joe Lombardi, offensive coordinator (Chargers): Interviewed 1/15
- Jerod Mayo, linebackers coach (Patriots): Mentioned as candidate
- Josh McCown, longtime NFL QB: Conducted second interview 1/28; finalist; considered out of running?
- Kevin O’Connell, offensive coordinator (Rams): Conducted second interview 1/31; expected to be hired by Vikings
- Lovie Smith, defensive coordinator/associate head coach (Texans): Interviewed 2/6; believed to be hired soon
- Hines Ward, wide receivers coach (Florida Atlantic): Interviewed 1/15
The Texans have officially taken a step further being the biggest joke organization in the league.
I gotta hand it to Flores here, he realky fumbled this on the one yard line. Pulled a Jalen Reagor perhaps. Dude was being handed this job, but then sues the league when he did. I cant imagine he’d have been let go of by TEX if he came out with the suit AFTER being hired.
Flore or not there was a million better options out there but they pick the least attractive one
This smells like a placeholder until the roster is rebuilt.
I don’t know why people think Flores was absolutely going to get the job.
The fact that McCown was even a finalist suggests that the Texans were quite serious about the hiring him, and frankly, I believe Flores report blocked them from going ahead with McCown, not Flores. No way they were going to go down that road, as hiring an utterly unqualified coach after firing Culley would have exposed them to the lawsuit.
If they really wanted Flores, they would have hired him quickly instead of going through a parade of third-tier coaching candidates which, in hindsight, looked to have been clearing the way for McCown.
They didn’t interview any of the top offensive coaching candidates besides O’Donnell (if you believe he was such a candidate), and went with lesser defensive candidates.
That may have been to clear path for Flores, but fact that McCown was actually the runner up suggests otherwise.
given the way things were progressing they seemed well in on him from the time they dumped Culley.
To believe it was Flores is also to ignore the multiple reports suggesting that McCown was the front runner for the job.
Caserio may have wanted Flores. But Easterby calls the shots, and is the point person for McNair.
It may not come out now, but I am certain they were planning to hire McCown, which is why the search was loaded up on third tier largely defensive candidates.
Again, if they wanted Flores, they could have made the hire immediately. The lawsuit is being used as a diversion to their real intentions, which again, have been documented.
I’m convinced they’re going to have Lovie coach the team while they rebuild and keep McCown around in an assistant capacity of some sort. Then, when the latter gains enough experience, they’ll probably hire him. That’s my theory
Are there starting a retirement home down there?
So a coach who hasn’t been a HC in forever get the job over up and coming assistants or a HC who got fired for no reason by Miami. Texans love to lose I guess
Exactly. Embrace the mediocrity.
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Should of never hired Culley and then never fired him. Lovie Smith??? Wow do the Texans and Jaguars share the same ownership??
Lovie Smith’s last two head coaching jobs:
2014-2015 – Bucs head coach – 8-24 record
2016-2020 – head coach for Illinois – 17-39 record
He does have a really cool looking beard, though.
Not usually in my nature to defend the Lovester..but it’s hard to blame him for the bucs failure when ownership and management didn’t seem to have nearly the same focus on winning as they have the past few years.
And Illinois..they really haven’t been relevant in the B1G (let alone nationally) in..um..a long time.
Illinois being in a tough conference is no excuse when Bielema had the team looking so much better under him.
But still not relevant.
I’m just saying. He did nothing really to prove he deserves the job over the previous head coach or so many deserving people who have never had their first chance let alone their 3rd.
He never got much of a chance in Tampa, and comparing college records to pro records is meaningless.
Lovie lost in Illinois because everyone loses at Illinois, which really doesn’t make much investment in the football program. The stadium is a dump and the facilities aren’t much better.
Smith got Illinois bowl-eligible in 2019, a season that included wins for the Illini over Wisconsin and Michigan State.
You know the reason he was hired.
What is that reason, Dodger Jr?
Trade for Jordan Love confirmed.
I love how Pro Football Rumors is either ignoring the Alvin Kamara arrest news or they don’t even know about it. Which doesn’t look good either way.
Reading the comment above yours, I can take a guess why they might be trying to avoid it.
Do you mean my comment or the one about Jordan Love? Neither have anything to do with Kamara.
It was racist and now deleted.
ha, gotcha. There was one guy the other day going nuts in the Josh McCown article, too. Hope that guy got banned.
Probably wouldn’t allow comments anyway, if you had ideas along those lines.
it didnt seem to keep you from finding out. why do you much care?
Because this is my main source of NFL news and they haven’t failed to cover other players getting arrested, so I’m interested as to why this particular player’s arrest wasn’t getting covered.
Any other questions for me, high and mighty DarkSide?
Question-
If a team hires its own coordinator who is a minority, are they awarded compensatory picks? Or does it still not happen if he goes to another team?
There aren’t many situations where I’d say, “oh, Lovie Smith, that’s a good hire” but HOU needs someone who knows what they are doing, even if they aren’t the best at it.
Why not Gannon, whyyyy?!
Because a veteran coach to handle a dysfunctional team is a better idea than a guy who has only been a coordinator one year, and who frankly wasn’t very successful doing so.
NFL put the kabosh on the McCown hiring until next off-season. Can’t handle that PR hit.
It really doesn’t matter. When you a have a $tar QB that is a legal trainwreck and PR nightmare that doesn’t even want to play for you. Your team’s got deeper problems than coach.
Whoever gets the job is most likely going to be a proxy for one ass-ended reason or another. I don’t envy whoever gets hired.
Texans offense is going to suck now. He has NO idea about offense
1. It already sucked before
2. He’ll probably leave the offensive duties to those more qualified to handle it
Shaking my head. Lovie (A+ beard game) is not the worst retread but come on now, more attractive than Bieniemy, Flores (career suicide?), Kellen Moore (should chase him) or the ghost of Bum Phillips?