The Houston Texans have plenty of head coach candidates this offseason.
October 5, 2020 marked a day of great relief for Houston Texans fans. Following an 0-4 start and a questionable offseason, the franchise fired head coach and general manager, Bill O’Brien. O’Brien’s departure represents the dawn of a new era for Texans football, and the question looms as to who will take over his head coaching duties.
A football team starts with the head coach, and it is difficult to put together a winning product without a competent leader at the top. The current situation of the Houston Texans is a little unique compared to your typical NFL opening.
Prior to the 2020’s trainwreck of a season, the Houston Texans had become regulars in the playoffs as they made the postseason four times in the previous five years. Now Houston is sitting with a current record of 4-11, and they do not exactly have a treasure chest full of assets and cap space to work with this offseason.
Former head coach and GM Bill O’Brien bankrupted the Texans of assets on his way out the door, which makes it even more vital that the Texans get this hire right if they want to return to the playoffs anytime soon.
The situation may appear bleak on paper because O’Brien’s 2020 offseason was a complete and total disaster. Things could still be far worse, though! The Texans have a stud young signal-caller in Deshaun Watson, and there are not five people in the world better than him at what he does.
If there is one question the front office of the Houston Texans should have in mind while hiring their next head coach, it is this: Who is the best choice to capitalize on the brilliance of Watson?
There is a wide range of promising options across the football landscape, when starting this piece I realized that there truly is a talented pool of coaching candidates to choose from this offseason.
Next are five intriguing fits as to who can become the next head coach of the Houston Texans. I want to make a note that these are not the only five candidates the Texans should be considering, there are some really good names left off this list.
Eric Bieniemy: Kansas City Chiefs Offensive Coordinator
The name Eric Bieniemy should not surprise any Houston Texans fan. After being mentioned for multiple openings last offseason, it would be stunning if Bieniemy did not land a head coaching position this time around. Bieniemy has spent the last three seasons residing over the most dynamic offense in NFL history.
Bieniemy skeptics claim that the dominance of the Kansas City offense should mostly be credited to head coach Andy Reid and star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. I understand the concern about how much responsibility Bieniemy actually has there, but the idea of Bieniemy is still an exciting one as he has now spent the last eight years working and learning from the great Andy Reid. Now, imagine Bieniemy coming to the Houston Texans and using those same concepts with Deshaun Watson.
Bieniemy undoubtedly checks a lot of boxes. He is a young, ambitious coach with one of the most impressive resumes of any coordinator in the league. If you hire him, you are hoping he has familiarized himself with Reid’s ingenious concepts and is ready to implement them on his own team.
Reid disciples have had different degrees of success in the past. The obvious success story here is Doug Pederson. While the last couple of seasons have been a bit frustrating for Philadelphia fans, he brought the Eagles franchise their first Super Bowl championship so it would be absurd to label him anything other than a hit.
The Chicago Bears have not been quite as successful under Matt Nagy. Throughout most of the 2020 season, Chicago has had one of the more dreadful offenses in the NFL and Nagy only has one playoff appearance to show for.
Bieniemy is not Reid, nor is he Nagy or Pederson. He is his own coach that will have his own ideas and philosophies, and it will be fascinating to watch them play out regardless of where he ends up. If you go the coordinator route, he appears to be one of the best possible options out there.
Don “Wink” Martindale: Baltimore Ravens Defensive Coordinator
If you have even remotely paid attention to the 2020 season, you would fully be aware that the Houston Texans’ offense is not the reason they are currently sitting at a 4-11 record. Houston currently has one of the worst defenses in the league, as the unit is giving up a staggering 411.7 yards per game.
Of course, it is an offense-driven league these days but you still are not going to be able to build a winning team with such a porous defense. It could absolutely make sense for the Texans to zero in on a defensive-minded coach as their next leader. If they decide to go this route, Wink Martindale is my favorite choice.
While the Ravens 2020 defense maybe has not been quite as strong as their 2019 unit, they have been dealing with injuries and some bad luck. Baltimore still unquestionably has a Top-8 defense in the league that appears to be hitting their stride at the right time.
Similar to how Eric Bieniemy has been studying Andy Reid, Wink Martindale has spent the last nine years learning from Super Bowl-winning coach John Harbaugh. When selecting a head coach, it certainly makes sense to pluck one from an organization that wins consistently. The Ravens have been regulars in the playoffs over the past decade, so Martindale definitely fits the bill.
Earlier I mentioned that Deshaun Watson should be priority number one when making this hire. It is of grave importance to hire a coach that will be able to get the absolute most out of Watson as a player. Is a defensive coach really the best choice if that is your first priority? I understand the concern here.
However, on the flip, the hope here is that Martindale will not overthink things. A scheme similar to what the Ravens run could also be perfect for Watson and the Houston Texans. Also, a common practice when a coach gets hired is that they fill their staff with people they are familiar with. How about Martindale as head coach with Ravens quarterback coach James Urban as offensive coordinator?
Matt Campbell: Iowa State Head Coach
After the Bill O’Brien experiment, it seems very unlikely that the Houston Texans would dip back into the college ranks for their next head coach, but all options should be on the board. As the NFL continues to modernize, watching coaches jump from college to the NFL could become more frequent.
You simply can not deny what Matt Campbell has done at Iowa State. For decades the Cyclones were mostly seen as cellar-dwelling punching bags. Campbell has had four winning seasons in his five years in Ames, and came within a few plays of winning a Big 12 championship this season. That is an incredible accomplishment, and Campbell’s name is rightfully being thrown around for bigger jobs.
A lot of parallels can be drawn between Campbell and former Baylor head coach Matt Rhule, who is now the coach of the Carolina Panthers. Both oversaw dramatic turnarounds of Big 12 programs and placed an emphasis on building “long term” winners. Sure, Rhule is only 4-10 in his first season in Carolina, but he has taken on a long rebuilding project there and the Panthers have been much more competitive than their 4-10 record may suggest.
Campbell is also winning at Iowa State without necessarily bringing in top tier talent. This suggests that he is elite at developing talent. That is such an important asset to have, especially since the Houston Texans will have to hit on their limited draft selections in the next year or two if they hope to be back in contention anytime soon.
Campbell is a “players coach” that just wins football games. On his first day, Campbell would make his top priority establishing a winning culture. There is of course risk involved anytime you bring a coach from the collegiate to the NFL level, but Campbell’s inspiring leadership could be just what Houston needs right now.
Marvin Lewis: Arizona State co-Defensive Coordinator
Please, do not start throwing tomatoes at me yet. I get it, on paper Marvin Lewis is not the sexiest name to consider. When selecting a new head coach you crave a flashy and exciting name. Not the retread choice with an 0-7 playoff record as head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.
It has been rumored that Marvin Lewis could be back in contention for NFL head coaching jobs, and I think it really could make some sense for the Houston Texans. I know, the playoff record in Cincinnati quite literally could not be any worse. But let us take a step back and consider just how dreadful Cincinnati’s franchise history is under the leadership of anyone but Lewis.
In his 16 years in Cincinnati, Lewis guided the Bengals to the playoffs seven times. In fact, Lewis is responsible for half of the playoff berths in franchise history. In the 37 years the Bengals franchise has been coached by anyone but Lewis, they only have seven other playoff appearances.
The point I am trying to make here is that Cincinnati is not necessarily an easy place to win, but Lewis made it happen there. There of course is some concern that as the NFL modernizes Lewis is an old-school coach from the past. That absolutely is not what you need with a dazzling young quarterback like Deshaun Watson.
After the rocky end to the Bill O’Brien era, the consistent and steady leadership of someone like Lewis could be just what Houston needs to get back into the playoffs as soon as possible. If he surrounds himself with young, forward-thinking coordinators it could be the perfect balance of experience and excitement.
This would not even be close to as egregious as the Los Angeles Rams giving Jeff Fisher a second chance at being a head coach. That is a lazy comparison as Fisher never had anywhere close to the sustained record of success that Lewis boasts.
Joe Brady: Carolina Panthers Offensive Coordinator
I figured I would round off the list with the antithesis of Marvin Lewis. Joe Brady is half the age of Lewis, and is currently the head of the offense of a 5-10 team. So where in the world does the hype come from?
In today’s NFL, everyone is trying to find the next Sean McVay. That coach may or may not exist, but it will not keep teams from looking. Joe Brady has been labeled as football’s next offensive mastermind as he was the architect behind the best offense in college football history last year.
LSU’s offense was completely unstoppable last year, it even had the game’s best defensive coaches such as Nick Saban and Brett Venables beyond puzzled. The 31-year-old Brady has been dubbed as the next “Wonderboy” throughout the football community, but is he ready to be in charge of an NFL team?
His first season at the NFL level has been a bit of a mixed bag. The Panthers currently rank 20th in yards per game and 22nd in points per game. Of course, it is a rebuilding project, but the Panthers offense is not exactly devoid of talent featuring the likes of Robby Anderson, DJ Moore, and Curtis Samuel.
Brady’s offense has still flashed this year and shown that all these accolades he is receiving could be warranted, but there have also been some cases of questionable play calling as well, which is to be expected with any young coach.
Brady would be the definition of a boom or bust hire for the Houston Texans, but it is certainly exciting to think about what he could do coaching a player as talented as Deshaun Watson. Perhaps Brady has definitely been a bit limited with what he can do this year due to Teddy Bridgewater’s weak arm.
Watson would be the most talented quarterback he has ever coached, and the Texans could have one of the most dangerous offenses in the league from year one.
Maybe the Houston Texans should swing for the fences, if they do not give Brady a chance someone else certainly will sooner rather than later.