Shutterstock / Michael Reaves
- The Houston Texans made a surprising hire today
- They hired Lovie Smith to be their new head coach
- Read more BroBible articles here
After weeks of reports that the Houston Texans wanted to hire Josh McCown as their new head coach, the Texans went in a very different direction. Instead of the extremely inexperienced McCown, the Texans today hired Lovie Smith, a coach with nearly 20 years of NFL experience plus a lengthy history coaching in college.
Texans are expected to hire former Buccaneers and Bears head coach Lovie Smith as their own head coach, sources tell me and @fieldyates.
Smith was the Texans’ associate head coach last season; all he now needs to do is drop the associate from his title.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 7, 2022
Still, the move was quite surprising to many in the football world. Smith wasn’t a name that was being thrown around much in conversations about potential head coaching hires and it has been some time since he was successful as a head coach.
Smith’s last stint as an NFL head coach saw him struggle to an 8-24 record over the course of two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He followed that up with a move to the college ranks, which went even worse.
In his first 4 seasons, Smith’s Illinois teams finished below .500 every year, including one season where they were winless in Big 10 play. Just two seasons ago, Smith was fired midway through the year after starting 2-5.
Smith joined the Texans staff last season, but there weren’t many out there expecting him to receive this promotion.
For the most part, fans are not very impressed by this hire.
Why am I a Texans fan pic.twitter.com/9PsUJAkmsX
— HTineSports🔩 (@HTine_sports) February 7, 2022
this is so they can hire McCown as OC and elevate him to HC next year
— Matt (@GeraltOfPhilly) February 7, 2022
No way this franchise still has fans
— #Alex (@SadNinersFan_) February 7, 2022
Will the $100k per loss be built into the one year contract?
— L Town (@JAYHAWKMAYOR) February 7, 2022
So Houston really wants to have a few more losing seasons or……
— Marcelino Garcia (@Marceli66434932) February 7, 2022
All the teams on the Texans schedule. pic.twitter.com/EroicYQI3n
— John Craig (@jcrizzle9) February 7, 2022
😂 he has not been the head coach of a winning football team since 2012🤷♂️
— Mike elEllis (@ElellisMike) February 7, 2022
There is still at least one fan holding out hope.
If this man can lead Rex Grossman to the Super Bowl, he can perform miracles on the Texans. Get him some players, especially on defense.
— Tom Griffin (@TomJG1011) February 7, 2022
Maybe the Texans are hoping for a “make the Super Bowl with Rex Grossman” type of miracle out of Lovie Smith.