Sources: Texans poised to hire Lovie Smith as head coach

Houston is expected to name the assistant, who was not guaranteed continuity with the franchise, as his new coach.

It is expected that Houston Texans hire a Lovie Smith as his next head coach, sources told Adam Schefter and Field Yates of ESPN this Monday.

Smith He was an associate head coach and defensive coordinator for the Texans Last season.

Smith replaces David Culley, who was fired by the Texans in mid-January, less than a year after he was hired.

Smith He was previously an NFL head coach with the Chicago Bears (2004-12) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2014-15). He joined Culley’s staff after being fired after five seasons as head coach at the University of Illinois.

Smith he has an 89-87 record as an NFL head coach and was named The Associated Press Head Coach of the Year in 2005.

After Culley was fired on January 13, the general manager of the Texans, Nick Caserio, did not commit to the return of Smith as defensive coordinator, but said he had “a lot of respect and appreciation for what love did this season”

“I believe that love He is a good coach and I think he has done a lot for our program and system, our players believe in him a lot,” Caserio said.

Caserio decided to part with Culley after the Texans they won four games — the same number as in 2020 under interim head coach Romeo Crennel — and they did it without quarterback Deshaun Watson, who was on the active roster but was not activated despite being healthy in the 17 matches. Watson, who filed for a trade last January, faces 22 civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault and misconduct.

Even without trading Watson, the Texans have their highest draft pick since they drafted Jadeveon Clowney with the No. 1 overall pick in 2014. houston in 2021 he placed them with the No. 3 pick, just his first first-round pick since 2019.

houston interviewed seven candidates for the vacancy: Smith; former NFL quarterback Josh McCown; Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon; Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell; Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi; former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores; and former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and current Florida Atlantic wide receivers coach Hines Ward.