Bill O'Brien Fired

[Keith]

Bill O'Brien has been fired, both as Head Coach and General Manager, and whatever other titles he had given himself.

[barrett]

Only about 12 months too late to save our roster. Hopefully the hiring process embraces a rebuild instead of giving the job to whoever convinces them we're a talented team that just needs a new voice. There are about 10 NFL players on this roster and almost every one of them is way overpaid.

[Keith]

Just signed meaningful extensions to Watson and Tunsil. I'm not sure a full rebuild is what I'd be looking for with the two biggest cornerstones entering their prime.

[Arky]

Goodness, I'm shocked. I didn't think they would do it especially, this early in the season.

Might be the Texas only "win" all year.....

I do hope they will hire some experience this time around. Two first-timers in a row really didn't play out well.....

[barrett]

Just signed meaningful extensions to Watson and Tunsil. I'm not sure a full rebuild is what I'd be looking for with the two biggest cornerstones entering their prime.

I don't think it matters what the team is looking for. We are terrible with no reasonable way to get better. We have no draft capital and no money. We are anchored with bad contracts. Deshaun deserves better, but that means nothing if you can't take any steps to help him. Not to mention a full regime change is going to mean turnover, tons of dead money, and no guarantee that what young talent we have matches with the new system going forward.

This is a completely broken team today with Watson and Tunsil. Nothing we do in the next 12 months is changing that.

[bikerack]

My friend still has his job for now and he thinks he is on solid footing.

He says you can thanks Mrs. McNair, Watt and Watson for this.

As is coming out elsewhere, BOB lost the locker room for good a couple of weeks ago.

Revenue also tanking as a ton of season ticket holders were walking away.

[bikerack]

more...

BOB got into some heated verbal arguments over the last couple of weeks. One was with Easterby and another was with someone on my friend's group. The wrong people (for BOB) witnessed them...

[Arky]

My friend still has his job for now and he thinks he is on solid footing.

He says you can thanks Mrs. McNair, Watt and Watson for this.

As is coming out elsewhere, BOB lost the locker room for good a couple of weeks ago.

Revenue also tanking as a ton of season ticket holders were walking away.

Good info....

Don't think I've ever seen Watt so bummed as at the press conference yesterday. And good on Watson for being diplomatic and just rolling with the flow....

-----------------------------------------------------


There talk of Eric Bienemy..... I dunno... maybe as the new OC? As I mentioned, not crazy about first-timers....

[chuck]

Revenue also tanking as a ton of season ticket holders were walking away.

I think this is the data point we have been searching for.

[HPF Bob]

Unless the Texans think they have somebody on the inside, I really question the timing of this. They still have 12 more games to go. If they fill it with an interim coach, I don't see much chance for improvement. If they fill it with someone from outside the organization, how good could he be if 31 other teams didn't have a job for him?

I think you have to fill it with a veteran head coach who is already in semi-retirement and is talked into coming in just to finish out his own legacy but not as a permanent solution, only a temporary fit. Someone like Dusty Baker.

Someone like Marvin Lewis.

[Keith]

Romeo Crennel named as the interim head coach. Tim Kelly reinstated as the offensive play caller.

I don't think this is a lightning rod-type change, but players ought to have greater respect for RAC at least.

[Warren]

Easterby apparently will survive (and may have had a hand in BOB's ouster) which seems really stranger given his involvement with GM BOB's questionable moves.

[bikerack]

Easterby apparently will survive (and may have had a hand in BOB's ouster) which seems really stranger given his involvement with GM BOB's questionable moves.

See my post above. BOB and Easterby got into it in the past couple of weeks.

Also, reading between the lines with what my friend has told me....I think BOB's son being immunocompromised during COVID (with all the false positives and everything else going on in the league) had something to do with some of his outbursts. His stress level was definitely up.

BOB did seek out my friend before he left the building and thanked him for a couple of things...

I'm not sorry to see him go but I wish him and his family well.

Edit to add - BOB has some $$$ coming to him due to the extension he signed a year or so ago, so don't be surprised to see him take another year off after this one.

[barrett]

Unless the Texans think they have somebody on the inside, I really question the timing of this. They still have 12 more games to go. If they fill it with an interim coach, I don't see much chance for improvement. If they fill it with someone from outside the organization, how good could he be if 31 other teams didn't have a job for him?

I think you have to fill it with a veteran head coach who is already in semi-retirement and is talked into coming in just to finish out his own legacy but not as a permanent solution, only a temporary fit. Someone like Dusty Baker.

Someone like Marvin Lewis.

The only thing wrong with the timing is that it wasn't sooner.

[chuck]

As much as I think BOB is a bad head coach and an even worse GM, I have boundless respect for him as a father to a child with some very, very seriously fked up health issues. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have that weight on you all the time. I mean, the child is surely a source of tremendous love, but he requires constant care and has very limited mobility and it must be very, very difficult as a parent.

For Jack’s sake I’m glad BOB’s been able to make off with a great deal of McNeck money.

[chuck]

What’s Easterby’s actual, day to day role, by the way?

[bikerack]

EVP of Football Ops

[HPF Bob]

don't be surprised to see him take another year off after this one.

He could take a color analyst job although the network would need somebody full time manning the bleep switch.

[barrett]

Nobody on the football side should keep their job in this one. There might be good people who aren't directly to blame, but the entire structure was created by BOB from top to bottom. There is zero reason to try to salvage it. And there is even less reason to have your new hire have to navigate existing personnel issues.

Hire a GM/President of Football operations with total authority and do it by November. Then let that guy make the HC hire at the end of the season when guys become available.

[nunusguy]

Good info....

Don't think I've ever seen Watt so bummed as at the press conference yesterday. And good on Watson for being diplomatic and just rolling with the flow....

-----------------------------------------------------


There talk of Eric Bienemy..... I dunno... maybe as the new OC? As I mentioned, not crazy about first-timers....

Why would Bienemy leave the OC position in KC to take the same job with a winless team, but as the new Texans HC I'd think he'd make that move ?

[Arky]

Why would Bienemy leave the OC position in KC to take the same job with a winless team, but as the new Texans HC I'd think he'd make that move ?

OC/AHC more $$$$

[barrett]

OC/AHC more $$$$

Bienemy cares most about being a head coach. Getting a fake promotion or a slight pay bump isn't going to help make that happen. Unless we can offer him a head coaching job he'll stay in KC where he get his name on the NFL's best offense throughout the playoffs. Then he'll take a head coaching job next year with an actual promotion and a much bigger pay raise.

[bikerack]

FYI - apparently there are issues out there that make hiring Bienemy as a HC a little more delicate. I don't even know what they are exactly, but I was told that there is a reason he isn't a HC yet.

[Keith]

As much as I think BOB is a bad head coach and an even worse GM, I have boundless respect for him as a father to a child with some very, very seriously fked up health issues. I can’t imagine what it’s like to have that weight on you all the time. I mean, the child is surely a source of tremendous love, but he requires constant care and has very limited mobility and it must be very, very difficult as a parent.

For Jack’s sake I’m glad BOB’s been able to make off with a great deal of McNeck money.

I hope Bill takes a lot of time off to help care for Jack. He can certainly afford to at least. And da real MVP here is his wife.

I initially thought Bill's best move would be to return to college football as a head coach, but I doubt that happens. Those with a second chance at being an NFL head coach have had a decent track record of success in spots, and to a lot of woeful franchises, the consecutive playoff appearances and division titles to O'Brien's resume probably look quite appealing.

[Keith]

FYI - apparently there are issues out there that make hiring Bienemy as a HC a little more delicate. I don't even know what they are exactly, but I was told that there is a reason he isn't a HC yet.

Article on Bienemy's past.
https://www.cincyjungle.com/2019/1/6/18169793/bengals-coach-search-chiefs-eric-bieniemy-vance-joseph-broncos

DUIs, rape allegations... stuff is fairly old now, but it's not clean. That said, in spite of this, his alma mater and former employer, Colorado, reached out to him about their coaching job in Feb this year.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/28697413/colorado-reaches-chiefs-eric-bieniemy-coaching-job

[Arky]

Bienemy cares most about being a head coach. Getting a fake promotion or a slight pay bump isn't going to help make that happen. Unless we can offer him a head coaching job he'll stay in KC where he get his name on the NFL's best offense throughout the playoffs. Then he'll take a head coaching job next year with an actual promotion and a much bigger pay raise.

I really don't care. Everyone else is talking about him. He's not my cup of tea. Just a suggestion on how they could maybe get him onboard....

I'd rather have experience. Texans are in very good shape to have pick of the litter at the end of the year...

[Warren]

Pretty interesting podcast interview from last New Year's Eve with former Eagles and Browns executive Joe Banner on hiring head coaches: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/regular-season-wraps-up-black-monday-mailbag-tuesday/id916244917?i=1000461194339. The interview starts at around 15:30.

When the Eagles were looking for a coach in 1999, they did a study of all of the coaches who had won at least two Super Bowls. They found no commonalities in football background (offense or defense, etc.), but they all had several traits:

Great leader
Great evaluator and manager of people
Detail-oriented, to the point of being obsessive
Strong convictions -- regardless of what their philosophy was, there was no ambiguity about what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it


Reid checked all of the boxes and so the Eagles hired him even though he had never been a coordinator or head coach, which was a very unusual move at the time. The Packers also had an opening that year but didn't interview him even though he was on their staff (QB coach). Banner also talked about two hires that he was involved in that didn't go as well -- Rob Chudzinski and Mike Pettine with the Browns.

He felt the then-current (last offseason) candidate pool had been pretty well picked over due to the high turnover of head coaches in recent years and that college coaches needed a closer look. He really liked Baylor's Matt Rhule and Ohio State's Ryan Day, because they had some NFL experience and had shown leadership skills and the ability to put together an entire college program.

He said that the top mistake that NFL teams make is not hiring strong leaders. They say that's what they want then end up going with guys because they are great playcallers or because they are associated with certain successful coaches or teams. He said that there is a huge difference between the job description of a head coach and the job description of a coordinator.

[barrett]

Pretty interesting podcast interview from last New Year's Eve with former Eagles and Browns executive Joe Banner on hiring head coaches: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/regular-season-wraps-up-black-monday-mailbag-tuesday/id916244917?i=1000461194339. The interview starts at around 15:30.

When the Eagles were looking for a coach in 1999, they did a study of all of the coaches who had won at least two Super Bowls. They found no commonalities in football background (offense or defense, etc.), but they all had several traits:

Great leader
Great evaluator and manager of people
Detail-oriented, to the point of being obsessive
Strong convictions -- regardless of what their philosophy was, there was no ambiguity about what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it


Reid checked all of the boxes and so the Eagles hired him even though he had never been a coordinator or head coach, which was a very unusual move at the time. The Packers also had an opening that year but didn't interview him even though he was on their staff (QB coach). Banner also talked about two hires that he was involved in that didn't go as well -- Rob Chudzinski and Mike Pettine with the Browns.

He felt the then-current (last offseason) candidate pool had been pretty well picked over due to the high turnover of head coaches in recent years and that college coaches needed a closer look. He really liked Baylor's Matt Rhule and Ohio State's Ryan Day, because they had some NFL experience and had shown leadership skills and the ability to put together an entire college program.

He said that the top mistake that NFL teams make is not hiring strong leaders. They say that's what they want then end up going with guys because they are great playcallers or because they are associated with certain successful coaches or teams. He said that there is a huge difference between the job description of a head coach and the job description of a coordinator.

This is really good stuff.

[nunusguy]

Texans are in very good shape to have pick of the litter at the end of the year...

Listen my friend Arky, do you really think the Texans' organization is currently in a position of strength when it comes to attracting a capable HC ?
We do have a young QB who is talented but beyond that it's unclear to me what allure this NFL franchise holds for a prospective HC, but I can think of several significant liabilities including depleted cap space & high Draft picks ?

[barrett]

Listen my friend Arky, do you really think the Texans' organization is currently in a position of strength when it comes to attracting a capable HC ?
We do have a young QB who is talented but beyond that it's unclear to me what allure this NFL franchise holds for a prospective HC, but I can think of several significant liabilities including depleted cap space & high Draft picks ?

It all depends on if ownership thinks we can have a quick turnaround.

If I'm being hired to fix O'Brien's mess and win right away with a broken roster, hard pass.

If I'm being hired to help rebuild a broken roster with input on the roster along with a competent GM, then there won't be a better job open.

[Arky]

Listen my friend Arky, do you really think the Texans' organization is currently in a position of strength when it comes to attracting a capable HC ?
We do have a young QB who is talented but beyond that it's unclear to me what allure this NFL franchise holds for a prospective HC, but I can think of several significant liabilities including depleted cap space & high Draft picks ?

Barrett made some good points. I think they should fill the GM spot, first - and get it right.

Unless I am missing something, the Texans have posted the first want-ad for a new head coach so this has a small advantage right there. The qualified will take note.

It's a tough situation for a new coach to walk into but it also has some things to like. I would think owner/GM/new coach all would adjust their expectations to the circumstances...

[nunusguy]

Barrett made some good points. I think they should fill the GM spot, first - and get it right.

Unless I am missing something, the Texans have posted the first want-ad for a new head coach so this has a small advantage right there. The qualified will take note.

It's a tough situation for a new coach to walk into but it also has some things to like. I would think owner/GM/new coach all would adjust their expectations to the circumstances...

Sure the ownership hires the GM, and then the GM is the principle agent of ownership in hiring the HC. That's clearly the most logical progression.