Will New Texans Head Coach Lovie Smith Succeed In Houston?

Another year, another embarrassing offseason for Houston Texans fans. With no ability to affect actual, positive change within our beloved team, all we can do is follow along with the morose notion that Cal McEasterby just doesn’t care.

After an “exhaustive” search of potential head coaching candidates, including former All-Pro wide receiver Hines Ward and former backup quarterback Josh McCown, the braintrust at NRG Park realized they already had a Super Bowl winning coach on staff and promoted Love Smith to the head coaching role.

All conspiracy theories aside, if current events hadn’t unfolded as they did, would Smith have landed the gig? It sure doesn’t seem that way, but here we are.

Once it suddenly became a foregone conclusion that Smith was getting hired, I asked the masthead how many former head coaches had returned to find greater success after years out of the role. I remembered Dick Vermeil. Others mentioned Pete Carroll and Bruce Arians. Not many other names came to mind. All that to say, Smith has an uphill battle ahead of him to get this team to its first ever Conference Championship game.

Worst Stat of the Modern Era?

The Houston Texans are the only team in the NFL to have never participated in a conference championship game

• Dom Capers didn’t make the NFL Playoffs.
• Gary Kubiak did make the postseason in Houston and eventually won a Super Bowl - with the Denver Broncos.
• Bill O’Brien got pantsed by the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs on multiple occasions.
• David Culley won the NFL lottery but never made it to the five win mark.

Enter Lovie Smith as the Texans newest head coach.

Smith has amassed a lot of NFL games as a head coach prior to landing here.

• Regular season NFL Record: 89–87 (.506)
• Postseason NFL Record: 3–3 (.500)
• Career NFL Record: 92–90 (.505)
• Career NCAA Record: 17–39 (.304)

While those are far from rock star coaching stats, Smith does have a Super Bowl ring from his time as a defensive coordinator with the St. Louis Rams and qualified for another Super Bowl when he was leading the Bears. Capers made it to the big game as a coordinator as well, only to lose to the Green Bay Packers. Kubiak had three Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach with the San Francisco 49ers and offensive coordinator with the Denver Broncos. O’Brien also made it to the Super Bowl as an offensive coordinator, for the New England Patriots, where they ultimately lost to the New York Giants.

Will Lovie Smith outperform all those who came before him in H-Town? At this point, anything short of a conference championship game berth is a failure for this organization. Winning a Super Bowl is the ultimate passing grade.

Do you believe Lovie Smith will be a successful head coach in Houston?