NFL fans reacted accordingly to Lovie Smith being hired as the next head coach of the Houston Texans.
With the Houston Texans promoting Lovie Smith from within, there is now only one head-coaching vacancy left in the NFL: The New Orleans Saints.
This will be Smith’s fourth time as a head coach and third shot at it in the NFL. He previously served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Big Ten’s Illinois Fighting Illini. While he served as David Culley’s assistant head coach/defensive coordinator only a season ago, the Texans promoting Smith from within has been met with mixed reviews.
Though most people seem to be rooting for him to a do a good job in Houston, the Texans brass truly screwed up the hiring process for the second offseason in a row.
NFL fans have mixed reviews on Lovie Smith being new Houston Texans HC
With Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon being told he was no longer in consideration for the job, that meant the two finalists for the job were former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and former journeyman quarterback Josh McCown. So the Texans were going to either hire a man suing the NFL for discrimination or a guy who has never coached before.
Once it became apparent that hiring McCown would have been an atrocious look optically, the Texans brass sat back and thought about a guy they already had in-house in Smith. Though his Buccaneers and Illinois tenures were less than stellar, one could argue he was the best head coach the Bears have had since Mike Ditka, or at least Dave Wannstedt. Smith became their new target.
By promoting Smith from within, this probably means Pep Hamilton will remain on staff. The quarterbacks coach played a big role in Davis Mills’ development in his rookie year out of Stanford. He is a hot candidate to be an offensive coordinator and has potential to be a future NFL head coach. Again, the Texans hiring Smith is not all bad, but you have to feel awful for David Culley…
Overall, the Texans are coming off a season in which they overachieved to go 4-13. They are still picking in the top five, but this team could be trending up. Perhaps the reason the Texans are going with Smith instead of giving Culley another year at the helm is they value his lengthy coaching experience on multiple levels? This is not a home-run hire, but it could have been so much worse.
Smith becomes the second minority candidate to be hired as a head coach this offseason, joining new Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, who is biracial.