New OC - Rick Dennison

[cland]

Dennison has agreed to join the team. He was one of Kubiak's original targets when coming over in 2006. In my opinion he is a perfect candidate to keep the wheels rolling, and hopefully his OL experience can help re-craft the Texans' run game.

[TheMatrix31]

Hopefully we don't skip a beat!

[Arky]

From the chron: Continuity key in offensive hire (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/fb/texansfront/6812584.html).

Good hire.

[Mike]

With three O-line coaches on staff, and Dennison the OC, also with experience with the OL, I do not see the team adding another OL coach to replace Alex Gibbs.

[Warren]

Shanahan was OC and QBs coach, yet I've seen Dennison called only the OC and he's never been a QB coach. Does that mean a QB coach may also be hired? With Gibbs leaving, there's still one empty chair at the offensive coaches' conference table. They might also be able to use Gibbs' AHC title and $$$ to attract a more senior guy who wouldn't ordinarily take a non-OC position.

[HPF Bob]

Interesting question, Warren. Kubiak can certainly fill those shoes himself if necessary.

[Roy P]

They might also be able to use Gibbs' AHC title and $$$ to attract a more senior guy who wouldn't ordinarily take a non-OC position.

Is this how we can get Musgrave from the Falcons? Call him the Assistant Head Coach/QB Coach. I hear Ken Anderson is available too.

[Warren]

Interesting question, Warren. Kubiak can certainly fill those shoes himself if necessary.Yeah, it's not a necessity, but letting Kubiak focus on being HC and adding another quality coach to the staff (be it a veteran or another bright up-and-comer like Shanahan) would seem to be a good thing.

[Warren]

Is this how we can get Musgrave from the Falcons? Call him the Assistant Head Coach/QB Coach. I hear Ken Anderson is available too.If Musgrave is still under contract, the Falcons could block any move, even a promotion, unless its to head coach.

I believe Anderson retired, but then again so have Alex Gibbs, Tom Moore, Howard Mudd, etc.

[nero THE zero]

I wonder if promoting someone from within is something they might be interested in. Offensive Assistant, Matt LaFleur, was a college QB, coached QB's at Ashland and Northern Michigan (in addition to running the offense), and assisted Shanahan with the QB's last season.

He seems like the likely candidate to promote from within, if they feel he's ready.

[Joshua]

While I have been one to complain in the past about Kubiak's refusal to get out of his Denver comfort zone, this was probably the right move. Clearly, we're not going to make any signficant changes to the offense and Dennison can hit the ground running. Plus, I think it is pretty clear that Kubiak has a hard time giving up the offensive reigns unless it is someone he really trusts. In the past, I think this has led to him giving insufficient attention to other parts of the team. Hopefully, with the confidence he has in Dennison, he can continue to use the majority of his time overseeing the entire team and not get bogged down playing the role of both HC and OC.

[cland]

It would be nice to see an OC-in-waiting join the staff. If our passing game stays in the top 5, and the running game shows some pretty decent improvement...our offensive staff will get looted like a hurricane's blowing through.

I do think Dennison is a great hire...but his downside is that he's already interviewed to be the Broncos head coach. I'm hoping we didn't hire another short timer. With another successful offensive season or two, he'll be interviewing again for the big job.

[Roy P]

It would be nice to see an OC-in-waiting join the staff.

Maybe the Packers or the Vikings or Eagles have a guy who understands the WCO. Remember when nearly every team ran some version of it?

http://www.packers.com/team/coaches/mcadoo_ben/
The 32-year-old McAdoo is an up-and-coming member of the coaching profession.

http://www.vikings.com/team/coaches/jimmie-johnson/5e370d6b-1308-4775-ac74-ca7dbf6205ee
Johnson entered coaching, beginning his career as the running backs coach at South Carolina State in 2001, where he helped the Bulldogs finish 6-5. He then held the offensive coordinator position at Shaw University in 2002 before becoming offensive coordinator/QBs coach at Texas Southern in 2004 and 2005.

http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/eagles_files/html/coach_melvin_1.html
Tom Melvin has been an offensive coordinator, offensive line, tight ends/running backs coach, and quality control/Offensive Assistant.

[cland]

Too bad Parcells had all daughters, I'd love to hire on "Kyle Parcells" and teach him the ropes :)

[Roy P]

Too bad Parcells had all daughters, I'd love to hire on "Kyle Parcells" and teach him the ropes :)

http://www.tantor.com/AuthorDetail.asp?Author=Walsh_C

Too bad this guy didn't get into coaching football.

Craig Walsh, the only surviving son of former NFL coach Bill Walsh, is a former marketing executive for the San Francisco 49ers and the current executive director of Santa Clara's Healthy Kids program.

[cland]

Looks like the texans found their OC-in-training coach, with Marc Lubick (http://www.houstontexans.com/news/Story.asp?story_id=6061).

McNair noted in his recent interview that he likes that Kubiak consistently improves his coaching staff year to year. Kubiak's ability to work with highly experienced coaches as well as young up-and-comers can provide a 'next man up' mentality that will help sustain success.

My guess is that Greg Knapp won't last very long as QB coach before getting offered an OC job on another team. Maybe down the road, Lubick will take the QB coach to OC road that Kyle Shanahan did.