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Head Coach Candidates

Greg Roman doesn't excite me at all. He's only had success on offense with electric guys who primarily run the ball better than they can pass it....That's not DW4. Short of that, his offenses leave alot to be desired & tend to be largely run-based offenses.

Eric Bienemy....don't know how i feel about him honestly. I personally don't think he's got enough skins on the wall to come in and be the guy we need. Reid's most successful offenses have always been predicated on speed and his qb's brilliance & he seems to be the only guy who can maximize that. Every other guy that has gone on to be HC's from under him has not been able to do that. IOW's, it's hard not to be successful with a HOF HC helping you, a generational talents at QB and ridiculous speed all over the field.

Brian Daboll - He's been an OC at several places & his offenses have largely been putrid until this year which just so happens to coincide with Josh Allen taking a step forward in his development....Aside from that, he's has ties to NE & Alabama...with 2 HC's known to be tyrants.


All of these guys are relative flavors of the month & I'm weary of hiring those types b/c all will be 1st time HC & do we really wanna go through the whole "learning on the job" thing AGAIN like we did with Kubes and BoB? I at least want a guy whose had a number of years doing it at the NFL level, has been an "assistant" HC or an actual HC with some success somewhere at multiple stops.

I think i'm leaning towards a retread though. My short list to kick the tires on:

Dirk Koetter - ATL's OC
Mike Pettine - Packers DC
might even kick the tires on Jay Gruden.


If we go with yet another new guy, i'd like for all these guys to be in the convo.
B. Schottenheimer
M. Eberflus
Darrell Bevell
 
amazing80 said:
2. Robert Saleh, DC SF. If you want a defensive minded guy, look no further than Saleh. This guy has guys playing tough and took a bad defense and two years later has them as one of the best. He is young and might not be ready to lead a team, but there is no denying what he was able to accomplish.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he's on a lot of short lists, but you make it sound like he coached up a bunch of scrubs & got them in a Super Bowl.

49ers invested heavily in that defense.
 
76Texan said:
https://www.si.com/nfl/2016/01/26/s...n-bill-parcells-john-fox-don-shula-dan-reeves
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Thanks. The track record of head coaches coaching more than one team to the Super Bowl is more than I expected.

None the less, I prefer taking the rout of giving some young hungry coordinator a shot at the head coaching job. Super Bowl participating head coaches had to start off as coordinators or be position coaches. The next great head coach has most likely cut his teeth in the NFL as a coordinator or position coach.
 
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Mr teX said:
I think i'm leaning towards a retread though. My short list to kick the tires on:

Dirk Koetter - ATL's OC
Mike Pettine - Packers DC
might even kick the tires on Jay Gruden.
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What do you think of Spagnuola?

He had a rough go in LA, then served under some pretty good HCs on his way back to Reid. At the very least I'd like to ask him, "What would you do different?"
 
thunderkyss said:
What do you think of Spagnuola?

He had a rough go in LA, then served under some pretty good HCs on his way back to Reid. At the very least I'd like to ask him, "What would you do different?"
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Yes!! how could i forget about him. Has a very good coordinator history of developing good defenses...was the primary architect of the defense that shut down that high flying offense of the Pats in the SB back in 2010 & has effectively been the only guy to be able to shut down the Ravens' offense with LJ8 & has done it multiple times now over 2 seasons. Shut down the 49ers offense last year in the SB & is the guy credited with getting KC over the top.

He's also a former HC whose probably learned a few things since those Rams days...

Now that you mentioned him, he'd probably be #1 on my list.
 
PHILLYTEXANFAN said:
I think its reasonable. McDaniels wants another HC gig. BB seems welcoming/loyal to his students. Cal leaning on ex PATRIOT staff/exec Easterby for next HC....
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As a Texans fan, I'm just tired of seeing a floundering organization that has to mimic other franchises instead of forging their own path.

First we were Denver South with Kubiak & Smith and all that entailed, then we became NE South with O'Brien & RAC & Easterby and the Caserio folly amateur hour last year.

They need to find a GM and let his vision lead the team, simply because the McNairs have never had a vision beyond building a franchise and making it profitable.
 
EB is by far my favorite of the options available. Daboll has also been impressive turning JA from looking like a bust to looking like an MVP candidate. No retreads or Patriot connected coaches, please.
 
thunderkyss said:
What do you think of Spagnuola?

He had a rough go in LA, then served under some pretty good HCs on his way back to Reid. At the very least I'd like to ask him, "What would you do different?"
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His record is quite spotty; a good year here and there (but those were when he had a good roster and proven players to work with - kinda like Wade).
I'm lukewarm on him.
Need to dig deeper though.
 
BullRushTX said:
EB is by far my favorite of the options available. Daboll has also been impressive turning JA from looking like a bust to looking like an MVP candidate. No retreads or Patriot connected coaches, please.
Click to expand...

Then Daboll should be off your list.
 
banned1976 said:
Whoever gets the gig, there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth by some disgruntled closeted O'Brien fans.
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This is always a time when a selection of forum members will choose to nail their colours to the mast in favour of one candidate or another and will set themselves up for years of irrational shoehorning of that opinion into all aspects of the organisation. We will lose many of these along the way. A handful of them will stick it out to the end. No matter how successful the hire is it will come to an end at some point and then they’ll be correct.
 
welsh texan said:
This is always a time when a selection of forum members will choose to nail their colours to the mast in favour of one candidate or another and will set themselves up for years of irrational shoehorning of that opinion into all aspects of the organisation. We will lose many of these along the way. A handful of them will stick it out to the end. No matter how successful the hire is it will come to an end at some point and then they’ll be correct.
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ha! Well said.

I'll go out on a limb here and state unequivocally that the Houston Texans will never win an NFL championship under any of them. :gun: Did you see what I did there? . . .

I'm j/k, of course. If I could predict any future, I'd have winning lottery numbers and y'all would never see me again. :runaway:
 
PHILLYTEXANFAN said:
Calling my shot: McDaniels will be HC, OB will resurface as OC in NE (hopefully im dead wrong)
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I suspect O'Brien will have ops to continue head coaching, and i don't see him as anyboyds assitant coach at this point in his career.
 
IDEXAN said:
I suspect O'Brien will have ops to continue head coaching, and i don't see him as anyboyds assitant coach at this point in his career.
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It will be interesting to see what's next for him. With his reputation, can any GM hire him and trust him to be a team player without having full control? Can any owner hire him and trust him with full control?
 
CloakNNNdagger said:
Swinney has no interest in reuniting with Watson, Texans job

Dabo Swinney is uninterested in the Texans' head coaching job following the firing of Bill O'Brien and has not heard from former Clemson QB Deshaun Watson.
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And no coach has ever lied ever about their potential next season whereabouts in a press conference in the middle of an ongoing season.. good grief..

Also I don't have any strong advocation at all about Dabo coming here, I'm against it versus the other potential candidates in fact. But c'mon, bud..
 
Earl34 said:
It will be interesting to see what's next for him. With his reputation, can any GM hire him and trust him to be a team player without having full control? Can any owner hire him and trust him with full control?
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Can you imagine OB in charge of an airline? He trade away your 747s for a couple of Cessnas and some tires.
 
thunderkyss said:
What do you think of Spagnuola?

He had a rough go in LA, then served under some pretty good HCs on his way back to Reid. At the very least I'd like to ask him, "What would you do different?"
Click to expand...

Was thinking about him while watching the Chiefs play. He's turned that defense around in KC.
 
IDEXAN said:
I suspect O'Brien will have ops to continue head coaching, and i don't see him as anyboyds assitant coach at this point in his career.
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Nobody in his right mind would hire OB with his playoffs resume and the last 4 games that got him fired.
He'll be lucky to get an OC job.
But why should he care. He can retire and join the TT MB, picking a fight with us all day long.
 
Considering the stories coming out of how he treated people in the building, how they dreaded going to work, always walking on eggshells, I doubt he sees another NFL head coaching gig any time soon.

Coordinator or position coach or something, but I don’t see HC in his future unless he goes back to college.
 
texan279 said:
Was thinking about him while watching the Chiefs play. He's turned that defense around in KC.
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I wouldn't call it a turnaround in KC.
That D tallied 52 sacks a couple of years ago.
They just had a few weaknesses.
Look at their draft the last 3 years and Free agency.
Extremely defensive driven.

The bill will begin to come due beginning next year.
Some cuts will have to be made.
 
76Texan said:
I wouldn't call it a turnaround in KC.
That D tallied 52 sacks a couple of years ago.
They just had a few weaknesses.
Look at their draft the last 3 years and Free agency.
Extremely defensive driven.

The bill will begin to come due beginning next year.
Some cuts will have to be made.
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Their defense was horrid in 2018, ranking 24th in scoring and 31st in yards allowed. Spagnuolo took over the defense in 2019 and Chiefs were 7th in scoring and 17th in yards allowed. So far in 2020, 2nd in scoring and 14th in yards allowed. Even with solid drafts and free agency, a coach has to know how to utilize the talent he has. Kind of the opposite of what BOB did here.
 
texan279 said:
Their defense was horrid in 2018, ranking 24th in scoring and 31st in yards allowed. Spagnuolo took over the defense in 2019 and Chiefs were 7th in scoring and 17th in yards allowed. So far in 2020, 2nd in scoring and 14th in yards allowed. Even with solid drafts and free agency, a coach has to know how to utilize the talent he has. Kind of the opposite of what BOB did here.
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I hear what you're saying, but a down year in 2018 didn't mean they already had some solid pieces.
And they had already started investing in the draft that year; rookies needed time to develop and/or getting used to the game.

I had already looked up all of their draft picks and free agent acquisition.
If you give Weaver that much ammo, he would have done better just the same.
But Weaver is on the opposite end of the spectrum; his defensive roster had been slowly stripped off for the last few years now.

And we all know how a good offense can help out the defense, too.

Go back and look up his entire career's record, and the personnel that he inherited.
Spagnuolo is at best Wade Phillip 2.0
 
texan279 said:
Their defense was horrid in 2018, ranking 24th in scoring and 31st in yards allowed. Spagnuolo took over the defense in 2019 and Chiefs were 7th in scoring and 17th in yards allowed. So far in 2020, 2nd in scoring and 14th in yards allowed. Even with solid drafts and free agency, a coach has to know how to utilize the talent he has. Kind of the opposite of what BOB did here.
Click to expand...
Also, do you remember how the Texans lost to the Colts 7-21 in 2018.
Guess what, the Colts then lost to the Chiefs 13-31

That Chiefs Defense was just inconsistent; they needed to sure up the back end, and they did that through FA and the draft.
 
Mr teX said:
Greg Roman doesn't excite me at all. He's only had success on offense with electric guys who primarily run the ball better than they can pass it....That's not DW4. Short of that, his offenses leave alot to be desired & tend to be largely run-based offenses.

Eric Bienemy....don't know how i feel about him honestly. I personally don't think he's got enough skins on the wall to come in and be the guy we need. Reid's most successful offenses have always been predicated on speed and his qb's brilliance & he seems to be the only guy who can maximize that. Every other guy that has gone on to be HC's from under him has not been able to do that. IOW's, it's hard not to be successful with a HOF HC helping you, a generational talents at QB and ridiculous speed all over the field.

Brian Daboll - He's been an OC at several places & his offenses have largely been putrid until this year which just so happens to coincide with Josh Allen taking a step forward in his development....Aside from that, he's has ties to NE & Alabama...with 2 HC's known to be tyrants.


All of these guys are relative flavors of the month & I'm weary of hiring those types b/c all will be 1st time HC & do we really wanna go through the whole "learning on the job" thing AGAIN like we did with Kubes and BoB? I at least want a guy whose had a number of years doing it at the NFL level, has been an "assistant" HC or an actual HC with some success somewhere at multiple stops.

I think i'm leaning towards a retread though. My short list to kick the tires on:

Dirk Koetter - ATL's OC
Mike Pettine - Packers DC
might even kick the tires on Jay Gruden.


If we go with yet another new guy, i'd like for all these guys to be in the convo.
B. Schottenheimer
M. Eberflus
Darrell Bevell
Click to expand...
Lol of course you want the same ol lame old coach who provides nothing new and is a proven failure. Good god man. I agree with Daboll being more risky because of his lack of track record, but Roman and Bieniemy have proven they can lead their units to success over and over again. Both have creative ways to get the run game going, vs shoving it up the C’s ass all the time. The NFL is evolving and we either evolve with it or continue to suck
 
amazing80 said:
Lol of course you want the same ol lame old coach who provides nothing new and is a proven failure. Good god man. I agree with Daboll being more risky because of his lack of track record, but Roman and Bieniemy have proven they can lead their units to success over and over again. Both have creative ways to get the run game going, vs shoving it up the C’s ass all the time. The NFL is evolving and we either evolve with it or continue to suck
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Roman and Bienemy have proven nothing as HC’s..which again is the job...not OC.
 
Mr teX said:
Roman and Bienemy have proven nothing as HC’s..which again is the job...not OC.
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You take the unknown vs the known. You take the up and coming talent vs the washed out couldn’t hack it. You have to align them with a GM that is a fit, not force two opposites together. They get 3 years then you move on to someone else, even with a depleted roster and no draft choices. Loyalty should be earned, not given.
 
amazing80 said:
You take the unknown vs the known. You take the up and coming talent vs the washed out couldn’t hack it. You have to align them with a GM that is a fit, not force two opposites together. They get 3 years then you move on to someone else, even with a depleted roster and no draft choices. Loyalty should be earned, not given.
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The 2 most successful HC’s coaching today are retred HC and if their respective owners took your advice, Seattle would be 1 Lombardi lighter and 2 SB appearances shorter. Likewise the Pats dynasty wouldn’t exist. Gary Kubiak promptly parlayed his training here as a HC into a SB win when he went to Denver. There’s something to be said for actual experience of doing the job. How much? Depends on whether the individual learned anything or not. But theee only 1 way to find that out...for them to be hired again.

Furthermore None of what you’ve said is any more of a guarantee that they’ll be any more successful than a retred HC. All it does is make fans like you feel good.
 
Mollywhopper said:
And no coach has ever lied ever about their potential next season whereabouts in a press conference in the middle of an ongoing season.. good grief..

Also I don't have any strong advocation at all about Dabo coming here, I'm against it versus the other potential candidates in fact. But c'mon, bud..
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I hope those comments were not directed towards me. I have no opinions one way or the other re. Dabo. I just posted this article FYI only.
 
CloakNNNdagger said:
I hope those comments were not directed towards me. I have no opinions one way or the other re. Dabo. I just posted this article FYI only.
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Nah, they were directed at the pointed idea based on the wording of the headline and such that anything he (Dabo) had to say in the presser were any legitimate indication of his honest take on moving here and teaming up again with DW.
 
Mr teX said:
The 2 most successful HC’s coaching today are retred HC and if their respective owners took your advice, Seattle would be 1 Lombardi lighter and 2 SB appearances shorter. Likewise the Pats dynasty wouldn’t exist. Gary Kubiak promptly parlayed his training here as a HC into a SB win when he went to Denver. There’s something to be said for actual experience of doing the job. How much? Depends on whether the individual learned anything or not. But theee only 1 way to find that out...for them to be hired again.

Furthermore None of what you’ve said is any more of a guarantee that they’ll be any more successful than a retred HC. All it does is make fans like you feel good.
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I think all stones need to be turned.
I'm not opposed to either idea: the proven vs. the rising star.
See who has the better idea to get the franchise back up and running.
Weight the pros and cons and make the final decision.
 
Brian Schottenheimer is another potential candidate. He helped Indy navigate the QB room without Luck and he’s taken the Seattle offense to a new level. He has a good history and family name/connections.
 
Plus you have guys like Bill Cowher and Jim Harbaugh (the two retreads I would actually be in favor of)
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest a name (that I had mentioned once): Kellen Moore.
He's awfully young, and has only been an OC for two years.

But, like I had said before, he was the QB coach for Dak Prescott for just one year, and was promptly promoted to OC under Jason Garrett who run an Air Coryell system (what it said on the team page).

When Mike McCarthy came in this year, Moore was retained as the OC.
McCarthy is a WCO guy throughout; however, when I study the game films of the Cowboys from this year and last, I don't see any change in the offense though.

It's still mostly one back quick strikes (getting the ball out of the QB's hand fast) coupled with the play action, sprinkling in a bunch of RPOs, a few outside zone runs here and there, some well designed screens, moving the pocket, some bootleg or straight roll out, a few pitch to the RB, the jet sweep, etc.
The tempo is fairly quick, much quicker than the Texans' offense.
They average some 77 play a game in the last 20 games (vs. 62 for the Texans).
In another word, they run about 15 more plays per game than the Texans.

Everything that is in Watson's wheelhouse (that is not a Kubiak's version of a WCO).

The play designs are very sound, not boring like OB's.

They ranked 6th in scoring last year, and 1st in yard.
This year, it's 3rd and 1st.
So the proof is there.

Moore is awfully young though, just 31.

For those who don't know him, Moore was a machine in college:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/kellen-moore-1.html
But he was also the King of the quick strike and the check down, if you want to know. LOL.
That was why he went undrafted despite a great college career.
 
76Texan said:
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest a name (that I had mentioned once): Kellen Moore.
He's awfully young, and has only been an OC for two years.

But, like I had said before, he was the QB coach for Dak Prescott for just one year, and was promptly promoted to OC under Jason Garrett who run an Air Coryell system (what it said on the team page).

When Mike McCarthy came in this year, Moore was retained as the OC.
McCarthy is a WCO guy throughout; however, when I study the game films of the Cowboys from this year and last, I don't see any change in the offense though.

It's still mostly one back quick strikes (getting the ball out of the QB's hand fast) coupled with the play action, sprinkling in a bunch of RPOs, a few outside zone runs here and there, some well designed screens, moving the pocket, some bootleg or straight roll out, a few pitch to the RB, the jet sweep, etc.
The tempo is fairly quick, much quicker than the Texans' offense.
They average some 77 play a game in the last 20 games (vs. 62 for the Texans).
In another word, they run about 15 more plays per game than the Texans.

Everything that is in Watson's wheelhouse (that is not a Kubiak's version of a WCO).

The play designs are very sound, not boring like OB's.

They ranked 6th in scoring last year, and 1st in yard.
This year, it's 3rd and 1st.
So the proof is there.

Moore is awfully young though, just 31.

For those who don't know him, Moore was a machine in college:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/kellen-moore-1.html
But he was also the King of the quick strike and the check down, if you want to know. LOL.
That was why he went undrafted despite a great college career.
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Just as I had suspected, Moore has been calling play all along, and McCarthy doesn't change the offense.

www.cbssports.com

New Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy says OC Kellen Moore will call plays in 2020

Retained from Jason Garrett's staff, Moore is set to continue running the Dallas offense
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com

This guy is a rising star to at least keep in mind.
 
xtruroyaltyx said:
I want Greg Roman.
Texans need Greg Roman.

I want a guy who is responsible for the entire offense. I like Bieniemy and would not be upset with that hire, but Reid is what makes that engine go imo.

Roman has done well with mobile qbs. Kaep,Tyrod and now Jackson. And I think Deshaun’s Skillset is closer to those guys than it is to Mahomes. Mahomeshas good mobility, but that dude is a football thrower. He is a distributor of the rock like a pg picking defenses apart. He just has a better arm and sees the field differently.

Not to make this a Watson thread, but I think he needs to have more designed plays that take advantage of his running ability. There’s easy yards to be picked up that have been left on the field simply due to over complicating things.

I think Roman matches well with Watson, and based on his background and reading about him he seems extremely flexible. Willing to take chances and try things based on his personnel. I also like that he’s Been in and around multiple organizations so he probably has a good idea of what to avoid and what to incorporate.
Plus he seems like the kind of upbeat personality this team will need next year.

So yeah, he’s the guy I’m hoping for.
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Something we agree on.

Roman is at the top of my list his work speaks for itself ... with multiple QB's.



Another name to keep an eye on for HC openings is Randy Fichtner Pittsburgh's OC. I really like their running scheme with all the pulling linemen , they've run this for 40 years and been successful across multiple era's. Lots of play action , big sets and pounding the rock ...

I wouldn't be against a more defensive minded HC like Robert Saleh , SF DC who broke into the league with Kubiak and has worked with Pete Carroll & Baby Shanny.
 
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