Former NFL quarterback Josh McCown has twice interviewed for the Texans head coaching gig, but that’s not the only interest he’s generated around the NFL. In a profile of the 43-year-old, Dan Pompei of The Athletic writes that the Colts, Eagles, and Vikings have reached out to McCown about joining their coaching staffs, with the writer suggesting there have probably been other suitors for the retired player’s services.
McCown got into 102 games after entering the NFL in 2002. He saw time in three games for the Eagles in 2019 (plus a playoff loss where he attempted 24 passes), and after briefly joining Houston’s practice squad, he was asked to interview for their head coaching job after the 2020 campaign. That gig ultimately went to David Culley, but McCown was asked to join the staff as associate head coach.
Instead, McCown joined the staff at Rusk High School in Texas, where he’s coached his sons over the past two years. He was brought in this past offseason to once again interview for Houston’s head coaching gig, with some reports suggesting he was the favorite for the position. The Texans ended up promoting defensive coordinator Lovie Smith to head coach, but McCown clearly made a good impression during his time with the Texans.
After spending time with 12 different organizations during his playing career, McCown has many connections throughout the league. As a result, Pompei writes that “there is a chance” the former QB could be hired somewhere as a head coach, a feat that would make him the first individual to go directly from the NFL to a HC gig since Norm Van Brocklin in 1961.
“Life takes you a bunch of places, and those experiences develop skill sets that you can sit on, or you can pass on and maybe try to bring more good into the world that way,” he says. “Coaching in the game of football is a way for me to do that, to pass that forward and have an influence the way some of these good men have had in my life.”
While it’d certainly be strange for McCown to jump right into a head coaching job, he has earned endorsements from a number of former coaches and executives, including Bill Parcells. While he rejected previous overtures to join coaching staffs, he made it clear that he wouldn’t solely look for a head coaching job next offseason and would consider a variety of roles.
would love to see McCown back in Philly.
Would be very interesting to see McCown go straight to head coach .. I mean other than high school coach (which this article mentioned) does he have no other experience coaching ?? I would hope he’d succeed, but tbh I’d be down right shocked if it wasn’t a unmitigated disaster.. I mean there’s first time head coaches and then there’s FIRST time coaches ..
I think former QB Sam Wyche only spent 4 years as an NFL assistant with the Niners before taking over in Cincy as HC and eventually leading that team to a SB, so yes it would be interesting. 90% of coaching success is about earning the respect of the players and I think McCown could probably manage that.
But that would make Mr Wyche a first time HEAD coach .. McCown has zero coaching experience on any level higher then HS and holding a clip board most of his career (which I’m sure he’s learned alot) and I’m 100% sure being a successful head coach is lot more than “earning the respect of players” as tons of “players coach’s” have flamed out .. but maybe josh is the one that can raise above
Obviously roster talent plays a significant role in determining how successful a coach can be but a coach without player respect isn’t winning anything no matter how much talent he has access to.
bro should go to a college school first before making such a big jump
steelers
I think he would be perfect for the eagles coaching staff. He played in Philly during the 2019 season and had to play the w.c. game against Seattle when J. Clowney cheap-shot Carson wentz
McCown would be wise to try some assistant level positions first. He has more experience learning different offenses than most people not named Ryan Fitzpatrick, but calling plays or devising schemes is not an inherant skill that needs no practice. Working with different offensive philosophies would help round out his skillset and also show him more on the peculiarities of how coaches make their decisions.
Norm Van Brocklin, by the way, was not very good as a head coach. He had two winning seasons in twelve years of coaching. It would be best if McCown did not follow in that example.
There are a couple of elements left out of the article. For one, it probably would be more accurate to say McCown has no experience carrying the title of coach. I’d say he has lots of experience teaching X’s O’s to other football players. The problem is that a head coaches responsibilities’ go way beyond X’s and O’s. It’s more of a CEO position.
Maybe he could play QB for the Vikings.
New coach is lucky Packers had a bad day or the purple would be 0-2.
He was probably the new Texans head coach had Flores not decided to sue.