Gaine, O’Brien working in sync
In return to Houston, GM brings some new perspectives, unity of approach with coach
After Brian Gaine was hired as the Texans’ new general manager in January, his mentor, Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells, offered some valuable advice.
Parcells pointed out that Gaine and coach Bill O’Brien need to share a similar philosophy about the personnel side of the organization if the Texans are going to become consistently successful.
"Communication is so important," Parcells said. "The head coach has to have someone he can talk to. They've got to be able to vent to one another, to question one another and to use each other as a sounding board.
"You have to have a philosophy on personnel that's in concert with the offensive and defensive systems you're employing. That philosophy on personnel has to be coordinated, understood and implemented by the GM, the scouting department and the coaching staff.”
During Gaine’s three seasons with the Texans that included him working on four free-agent periods and four drafts before he went to Buffalo, he developed a close relationship with O’Brien.
O’Brien was on the team’s search committee with owner Bob McNair, vice chairman Cal McNair, president Jamey Rootes and Jed Hughes from the Korn Ferry search firm.
There was no secret about O’Brien’s preference to replace Rick Smith, who had been the general manager for 12 seasons.
Gaine has been on the job for 2½ months. He has worked closely with O’Brien on free agency, and they spend a lot of time preparing for the draft.
O’Brien couldn’t be happier with the McNairs’ decision to bring back Gaine to oversee the personnel side of the organization. They had to be convinced that Gaine’s close relationship with O’Brien wouldn’t make him a yes man for the head coach.
“It was a very important decision, and I thank Bob and Cal for choosing Brian,” O’Brien said last week at the NFL meetings in Orlando, Fla. “We interviewed some great candidates, but Brian was head and shoulders above everybody.
“You talked about his evaluation skills, but he’s also a wellrounded guy because he’s seen it all in this league — everything from the medical to the weight room to the travel to all of those things that come underneath that roof of the general manager. He has a good grasp of that.”
O’Brien and Gaine haven’t tried to hide their friendship because they believe it’s conducive to a prosperous working relationship that will be good for the team.
“The biggest thing for me, just personally, is he’s a real close friend of mine, and we’re very much aligned footballwise,” O’Brien said. “We don’t agree on everything, but it’s so comfortable to go into each other’s office, throw the film on and try to see this player through the same set of eyes and talk football.
“It’s been a really good hire for us.”
One reason the McNairs preferred Gaine as a candidate was his experience of working in personnel for the New York Jets, Dallas, Miami and Buffalo as well as the Texans. He worked with different owners, general managers and head coaches.
In Gaine’s three seasons with the Texans, they finished 9-7. The Bills finished 9-7 last season and made the playoffs for the first time since 1999. Gaine has a personal streak of three consecutive playoff appearances.
“Speaking on my own from listening to him, Buffalo was a really good move for him,” O’Brien said. “He was able to work for the (owners Terry and Kim) Pegulas and (general manager) Brandon Beane and see (head coach) Sean McDermott in his first year there do a great job.
“I think he gained a new perspective, not only on our players but also on everything from how the cafeteria was set up there and what type of food they were serving their players and then, obviously, when he came back, he was able to bring a different perspective on our players.”
As soon as Gaine came back, he and O’Brien went to work on trying to improve the Texans. “The first thing we tried to do was evaluate our own team and then figure out where we had to go from there relative to contracts and all the things that go into evaluating your own roster,” O’Brien said. “That’s something I think really helped us early on.”
Gaine has signed eight free agents, with backup quarterback Brandon Weeden the most recent, but he and O’Brien still have a lot of work to do. At least they seem to be off to a good start.