Report: Houston Texans Finalizing Deal With Lovie Smith To Fill Head Coaching Vacancy

In less than 24 hours, Houston Texans defensive coordinator Lovie Smith went from “not even a candidate” to “presumed winner of the Texans Head Coaching Sweepstakes.” Smith’s ascension to the big chair is now even closer to becoming official, as Ian Rapoport says the Texans are finalizing a contract with Smith and Mark Berman reports that the Texans are in fact “expected” to make Lovie Smith their next head coach.

We can debate whether Lovie Smith is a good hire. Personally, I’d have rather the Texans gone with Brian Flores as their next head coach, but I’ll take Lovie over Josh McCown. What I believe is far less arguable, however, is the notion that the Texans’ process to arrive at a new head coach was a bumbling disgrace. We’ll likely never know the real story of how the Texans went from a reported group of three finalists, none of whom was named Lovie Smith, to Lovie Smith becoming the next head coach of the team. From the outside looking in, it appears the Texans either struck out with all of their preferred options, decided at the last minute to abruptly scrap all the work they’d done over the last month in favor of hiring someone they’d employed for the last year, and/or that Lovie was the compromise candidate because the people in charge couldn’t agree whether to hire Josh McCown or Brian Flores.

Whatever the explanation is, it doesn’t paint the picture of a finely tuned operation. What are your thoughts on the matter?

UPDATE: It’s official. Lovie Smith is the new head coach of the Houston Texans.