San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
How Culley became the new coach
After 27 years as an assistant, his character, confidence and passion won over the McNairs
HOUSTON — The first time the McNair family heard David Culley could become their next head coach was when new general manager Nick Caserio included him on his list of candidates for the Texans’ vacant job.
Unlike the McNairs’ pursuit of Caserio that dated back to January of 2018 when they were looking to replace Rick Smith, the whirlwind search for a head coach to replace Bill O’Brien took 18 days and culminated in Culley’s hiring on Wednesday night.
Culley, 65, is going to be the CEO of the team, the face of the franchise whose primary responsibility will be to oversee the revitalization of a team that finished with a disastrous 4-12 record and is involved in an embarrassing controversy with disgruntled quarterback Deshaun Watson, who wants to be traded.
The process that ended with Culley, Baltimore’s assistant head coach/passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach, getting his first head coaching job after 27 years as an NFL assistant dated back to Jan. 11, Caserio’s first day on the job.
Once Caserio became official, he turned his attention to the coaching search, and by the time he recommended Culley, he had interviewed seven candidates, including two finalists in Houston — Culley and Buffalo defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier.
Before Caserio was hired, Cal McNair, the chairman and CEO, had been part of the three-man search committee with team president Jamey Rootes and Jed Hughes, vice chairman of the Korn Ferry executive search firm.
The committee interviewed three candidates – former head coaches Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati) and Jim Caldwell (Indianapolis and Detroit) and offensive coordinator Joe Brady (Carolina).
The search committee was also looking for a general manager. Five candidates were interviewed, including Caserio, who agreed to a six-year contract on the night of Jan. 5.
Caserio, 45, had spent 20 years working for Bill Belichick at New England, where he earned six Super Bowl rings. It was no secret he wanted to become a general manager with final say over personnel for the first time.
Through his vast knowledge of the NFL and his leaguewide connections, Caserio had developed a list of possible head coaches if he received the opportunity to become a general manager.
Jack Easterby, the executive vice president of football operations who was named interim general manager after O’Brien was fired four games into the season, played an influential role in Caserio’s hiring. Caserio and Easterby became friends while working together with the Patriots, and now they’re working closely with the Texans.
McNair had said the new GM would lead the search for the next head coach and would be entrusted with making a recommendation McNair would sign off on.
McNair made sure he and Caserio were aligned on how the organization would operate if he became the GM. Once that decision was made, McNair made it clear what he was looking for in a new head coach.
McNair and Caserio agreed about how the personnel side of the organization would function. Caserio would have final say on all personnel decisions. The head coach would have control of his staff, with input from Caserio.
O’Brien had control of coaching and personnel the last two years, and McNair no longer wanted his organization to operate in that manner.
McNair wanted a head coach to be a leader of men, as he called it. He wanted a coach with the kind of leadership qualities that would unify an organization that had been divided during the O’Brien era.
Culley was the only one of Caserio’s five original candidates who didn’t have NFL experience as a head coach or as a coordinator.
Culley was among the five candidates Caserio and McNair interviewed on Zoom conference calls, including Frazier, Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Indianapolis defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus and Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator Brandon Staley.
On Jan. 22, the Texans announced Caserio had interviewed Caldwell and quarterback Josh McCown. Easterby is a huge fan of McCown’s and was behind the quarterback’s interview for the head coaching job even though he’s never been an assistant coach. McCown, who has one year left on his contract, is expected to be part of the offensive staff.
Interviewing McCown for the job caused the Texans to get ridiculed across the NFL because he’s never been a coach.
Caldwell and McCown were the sixth and seventh candidates to be interviewed by Caserio. After his initial round of interviews, Caserio elected to bring Frazier and Culley to Houston to meet in person with the McNairs, eliminating the other candidates.
According to sources involved in the process, the McNairs knew Frazier would be the safe pick because he’d been a head coach at Minnesota and a defensive coordinator for multiple teams. They knew Bieniemy would be the popular choice because he was the favorite among fans and media. Like Culley, Frazier and Bieniemy made strong impressions in their Zoom interviews.
But Caserio was in charge of the search, and he was hired to recommend a candidate he thought would be the best fit for the team at this time, when the Texans are mired in the Watson controversy, need an infusion of talent, have salary cap issues and no draft choices in the first two rounds.
Because of Caserio’s network of coaches, players and personnel people around the league, he’d been able to gather a lot of detailed information about his candidates. He wanted to know everything he possibly could, including positive and negative, to have an idea of what he’d be up against during the interview process.
Caserio and the McNairs liked that Culley had worked for Bill Cowher at Pittsburgh, Andy Reid at Philadelphia and Kansas City, Sean McDermott at Buffalo and John Harbaugh at Baltimore. Culley received enough strong recommendations from those Caserio consulted with to merit an in-person interview.
Before Culley arrived in Houston for his Wednesday afternoon interview, McNair and Caserio discussed what had impressed them so much during his Zoom session.
They were impressed with Culley’s presentation, including his vision for the team and staff recommendations. They liked his character, confidence and passion for the job and the game.
Frazier and Culley interviewed at controlling owner Janice McNair’s home. She likes to be informed with what’s happening with the team her late husband, Bob McNair, founded, but she’s given her son the power to make important decisions.
During Tuesday’s interview, Caserio and the McNairs were impressed with Frazier’s experience, knowledge, leadership and his quiet professionalism. His engaging personality was compared to Tony Dungy and Gary Kubiak.
After Frazier’s interview and
subsequent conversations, he was considered the leader for the job. One person familiar with the interviews described it this way: If Frazier hit a home run on Tuesday, Culley knocked it out of the stadium a day later.
Like Frazier, Culley talked to Caserio and the McNairs about assistant coaches he wanted to hire, the importance of communication as it relates to dealing with players, coaches and others within the organization. He spoke about the significance of holding everyone, starting with himself, accountable for their actions.
The more Caserio and the McNairs listened to Culley, the more they thought his inspiring personality, experience, knowledge of the game, leadership qualities, positive attitude and boundless energy might be perfectly suited for the Texans.
Janice McNair was sold on Culley, and so was her son, said two people familiar with the process. When Caserio and Culley were together Wednesday night after the lengthy interview and subsequent conversations, the general manager called Cal McNair and made his recommendation.
Caserio put Culley on his cell. McNair asked Culley if he’d like to be the head coach of the Texans. Culley, a lifelong boxing fan, admitted in his Zoom interview Friday that he was floored. When he accepted, the search was officially over, and Culley became the fourth coach in Texans’ history after Dom Capers, Kubiak and O’Brien.
David Culley will be the face of the franchise whose primary responsibility will be to oversee the revitalization of a team that finished 4-12 and is dealing with
disgruntled quarterback Deshaun Watson, who wants to be traded.