Met Capers ...

[TexansFan4EvR]

I had a chance to meet him last year .. sadily enough it was at his brothers funeral. He told me that he loved his job and didnt want to caoch anywhere else, even though the team was doing bad at the time. (I dont remember the record at the time). He told me he didnt want to fire Palmer, that they were good friends and it was one of the hardest things to do. I also could tell by the way he talked was that he knew this was probaly going to be his last year. You know you guys riddicule and bash capers, but the man was going through a ruff time last year. I wish we would have given him one more year to pick who he wanted staff and personal wise and not have it chosen by Casserly. The man did give us a 7-9 record the previously year. I just feel really bad the way he left, with all he went through last year.

 

[real]

I had a chance to meet him last year .. sadily enough it was at his brothers funeral. He told me that he loved his job and didnt want to caoch anywhere else, even though the team was doing bad at the time. (I dont remember the record at the time). He told me he didnt want to fire Palmer, that they were good friends and it was one of the hardest things to do. I also could tell by the way he talked was that he knew this was probaly going to be his last year. You know you guys riddicule and bash capers, but the man was going through a ruff time last year. I wish we would have given him one more year to pick who he wanted staff and personal wise and not have it chosen by Casserly. The man did give us a 7-9 record the previously year. I just feel really bad the way he left, with all he went through last year.

Business is Business...Totally relate to the human side of the story but he went 2-14 last season...what have you done for me lately....Time is Money...ect...there are a thousand cliches I could throe out...bottom line is he didn't cut it...as a human he may be great, but his body of work as a head coach speaks for it self...

 

[Ibar_Harry]

I had a chance to meet him last year .. sadily enough it was at his brothers funeral. He told me that he loved his job and didnt want to caoch anywhere else, even though the team was doing bad at the time. (I dont remember the record at the time). He told me he didnt want to fire Palmer, that they were good friends and it was one of the hardest things to do. I also could tell by the way he talked was that he knew this was probaly going to be his last year. You know you guys riddicule and bash capers, but the man was going through a ruff time last year. I wish we would have given him one more year to pick who he wanted staff and personal wise and not have it chosen by Casserly. The man did give us a 7-9 record the previously year. I just feel really bad the way he left, with all he went through last year.

Once again, nobody has ever question Capers as a gentleman and a person you really could call a friend if you knew him. The real problem was despite all he wanted to be he could never be a real good head coach. A few of us are born leaders and most of us are not. He is an excellent assistant coach, but he has never been an excellent head coach. His other stint was very similar to what happened in Houston.

Unfortunately he did not recognize that and really did a lot of damage to the ball club through his assistants. It is hard for anyone to recognize they are failing and say its time to give up. McNair didn't want to fire Capers but his record made it impossible for even McNair to keep him. I dare say if Capers had won 7 or 8 games he would still be here. McNair even made statements he hoped Capers could do that. It was a tough decision that had to be made and McNair finally made it. Once again, this was not a personality decision this was a football decision.

 

[Htown34s]

Just because someone despises the way he does his job doesn't mean that person should think poorly of him as a person.

People are too quick to attack someone personally just because they didn't coach very well/made a bad play/went to another team/etc.

 

[Corrosion]

I like Capers the person , I just dont like Capers as a head coach . I think he is in a much better situation now as DC for the fish as he is better suited to the job . Capers offensive gameplans were donwright offensive at times .Far too conservative . I wish him the best ..... Unless the fish are playing the Texans.

 

[HJam72]

I agree that he was a much better person than he was a head coach, but I also can't help thinking that firing Palmer was absolutely not the answer. Palmer wasn't a great OC or anything, but he wasn't the problem and his replacement was a really, really bad choice who should've probably been the first one fired, long before the OC job was available. The main coaching problems were the DC and--big one right here--Joe Pendry, who got promoted. Capers is not capable of recognizing other coaching talents and misgivings, despite being a very good "coach" himself. I think that's his problem.

 

[FILO_girl]

I had a chance to meet him last year .. sadily enough it was at his brothers funeral. He told me that he loved his job and didnt want to caoch anywhere else, even though the team was doing bad at the time. (I dont remember the record at the time). He told me he didnt want to fire Palmer, that they were good friends and it was one of the hardest things to do. I also could tell by the way he talked was that he knew this was probaly going to be his last year. You know you guys riddicule and bash capers, but the man was going through a ruff time last year. I wish we would have given him one more year to pick who he wanted staff and personal wise and not have it chosen by Casserly. The man did give us a 7-9 record the previously year. I just feel really bad the way he left, with all he went through last year.

I don't recall anyone getting on Dom personally, it was only professionally. He is a great guy, from what I have seen and is upstanding and likeable. But...football is a cutthroat business and nice guys do tend to finish last, especially if they bring friends in and can't play executioner when needed.

I hope Dom does well in Miami, but the fact remains that he didn't do well here. We have reiterated the fact he is a heck of a D coach, but not much for H coach material. I don't blame all the woes on Cass or Capers, but the CC mix was toxic for the Texans and we have moved on.

 

[Hutch13]

I hope Dom does well in Miami, but the fact remains that he didn't do well here. We have reiterated the fact he is a heck of a D coach, but not much for H coach material.

He didnt do well as a head coach for us but he was coach of the year one time.

 

[U4ikrob]

Capers was a nice, stand up guy in my book and seemed to be a good person all the times I spoke with him, as ive said on other threads. Its his football philosophies that had him in trouble both times he's been a Head coach and where I had trouble following him personally as a fan.

While I certainly empathize with the trouble Capers was having last season on the team, the whole arguement about him picking his staff doesnt seem right from what ive seen, read and come to know over the years since the franchise started. From everythign reported thus far - The problem was he did pick his own staff - and his players - But he wouldnt hold them responsible. His staff failed to do their jobs time and again and it got to the point the business side had to get involved. The problem was as it usually is, nobody likes being a bad guy to their friends and getting on to them much as it is in normal life for all of us. In this case Capers friends [Palmer, Fangio, Hoke, Pendry etc..] were all pretty much picked by Capers & Casserly together as his staff before the first season. Aside from Pendry who was hand-picked by Capers from his Panther days - all other coachess were hired after Capers was here allready as Coach of the team. The only person hired before Capers was Casserly. And as we all know Casserly has said more than once that he got the players the "Coaches" wanted.

The hard line is Capers went down because he wouldnt make the hard choices as a coach he needed to make WHEN he needed to make them and would not hold his staff and players accountable and thus provide a clear and distinct direction for all of them to follow. IMO thats the crucial part of being a real Head coach. He has to do those things all the time along with providing Leadership, education and training to all his staff & players on a regualr basis to help improve his team overall.

Honestly I wish Dom the best and hope he is able to learn from the Texans and his past jobs and becomes a better coach for the Dolphins or whichever club he's with in the future.

 

[Meloy]

I like Capers and would loan him ten bucks or pick him up if he was hitchhiking. I would not hire him as head coach. His philosophy of hanging close in the score and hope something happens in 4th quarter enabling a win just tightened my JAW!!!! SHHH. Calming down now. It's going to be ok. Just chant Kubes, Kubes, Kubes. Ahhhhh.

 

[GP]

No doubt about it: He is a great person.

Not many coaches in the pros (of any sport) can be called a GREAT PERSON.

But, at the end of the day...it is the record that gets you ran up the flagpole or ran out of town.

It's especially bad in Texas high school sports. With no control of each year's athletes...a coach can find one's self jobless over a lack of talent that's never his/her fault. That's what always makes me ill about high school sports: The variable of being judged, and possibly fired, just because you couldn't compete with the talent you were given vs. the talent the other schools might have against you.

Dom was good people. But he was in way over his head with the level of expectation we're holding.

 

[Mr. White]

Bobo can't be too far away right now... I predict this thread will end up being a 10 page debate.

 

[powerfuldragon]

Bobo can't be too far away right now...

Yeah, you can smell the B.S. on the wind.

 

[infantrycak]

I wish we would have given him one more year to pick who he wanted staff and personal wise and not have it chosen by Casserly.

What makes you think the staff and personnel were chosen by Casserly?

By your report Capers liked Palmer and wanted him here regardless of whether CC picked him. Fangio was pure Capers. By all reports, Babin and Buchanon were coaching staff decisions personnel wise--CC certainly paid too much for them. JMO, but Capers' down fall was not in not getting to pick his staff--it was in overcontrolling the OC (an area which was not his expertise) and undercontrolling the DC (an area which was his expertise).

 

[FILO_girl]

He didnt do well as a head coach for us but he was coach of the year one time.

Your logic is lost on me. Who cares if he was Coach of the Year, in 1996 WITH THE PANTHERS. Didn't get us anywhere, did it!

Dom Capers record: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/CapeDo0.htm
+--------------+----------+
| Reg. Season | Playoffs |
+----------+--------------+----------+
| Year TM | W L T | W L |
+----------+--------------+----------+
| 1995 car | 7 9 0 | 0 0 |
| 1996 car | 12 4 0 | 1 1 |
| 1997 car | 7 9 0 | 0 0 |
| 1998 car | 4 12 0 | 0 0 |
| 2002 hou | 4 12 0 | 0 0 |
| 2003 hou | 5 11 0 | 0 0 |
| 2004 hou | 7 9 0 | 0 0 |
| 2005 hou | 2 14 0 | 0 0 |
+----------+--------------+----------+
| TOTALS | 48 80 0 | 1 1 |
+----------+--------------+----------+


Dom is where he needs to be, a D coach. Best of luck to him.

 

[Bobo]

Once again, nobody has ever question Capers as a gentleman and a person you really could call a friend if you knew him. The real problem was despite all he wanted to be he could never be a real good head coach. A few of us are born leaders and most of us are not. He is an excellent assistant coach, but he has never been an excellent head coach. His other stint was very similar to what happened in Houston.

Unfortunately he did not recognize that and really did a lot of damage to the ball club through his assistants. It is hard for anyone to recognize they are failing and say its time to give up. McNair didn't want to fire Capers but his record made it impossible for even McNair to keep him. I dare say if Capers had won 7 or 8 games he would still be here. McNair even made statements he hoped Capers could do that. It was a tough decision that had to be made and McNair finally made it. Once again, this was not a personality decision this was a football decision.

Unfortunately, you did not recognize what the guy just said -- which I have said many times before. The guy had a 7-9 season with a team from scratch in his third year. He deserved another shot.

 

[Bobo]

Bobo can't be too far away right now... I predict this thread will end up being a 10 page debate.

I have one thing to say -- apparently it isn't only me who sees it this way.