Every Houston Texans head coach ever: full list
By Chad Porto
5. Lovie Smith, 2022 (3-13)
- No playoff appearances
The case of Lovie Smith was a peculiar one. He was serving as a consultant to the Houston Texans prior to his 2022 campaign as head coach. He was supposed to be one of the voices to pick the next head coach, which many assumed would be Josh McCown. In fact, it looked like McCown would be the guy, the guy they originally wanted in 2021 but couldn't get. Then a lawsuit from fellow coaching candidate Brian Flores bit the Texans hand so to speak, forcing them to about face. That is, according to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle (via NBC Sports).
Due to the optics of hiring a coach with no coaching experience over a "more experienced minority", the Texans backed out of hiring either McCown or Flores and selected Smith instead. Smith would last one year with the club and his team looked horrid every game they played. As the Texans were still rebuilding, that's not surprising.
He did the best he could, let's be clear. He's not someone who wasn't a good head coach historically, but when the team was lackinng the talent that it was, Smith was only ever going to do so well.