The Houston Texans' next step as a franchise will involve a committee of legends from various arenas of sport.
Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair announced in a letter sent to season-ticket holders the formation of the group with notable advisors: Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Tony Dungy and Jimmy Johnson, Texans Ring of Honor member Andre Johnson, San Antonio Spurs CEO R.C. Buford, and Fritz Pollard Alliance executive director Rod Graves. The team made such information public via its official site Tuesday.
The group of advisors will work with search firm Korn Ferry, and will also include McNair and Texans president Jamey Rootes.
Notably absent from the group was EVP of football operations Jack Easterby, who is serving as interim general manager following the firing of Bill O'Brien, but is not in the running for the job. In November, Rootes told season-ticket holders Easterby will not be the GM in 2021 or beyond, adding Easterby has no intentions of being the GM and "realizes we need personnel expertise to put together the best football team," which Easterby does not possess.
This all-star committee of advisors will attempt to pair Houston with a promising candidate ready to take on the task of taking Houston from an organization that has a franchise quarterback but lacks long-term direction to one that has a firm roadmap for future success. Dungy and Jimmy Johnson provide coaching expertise, as evidenced by their Hall of Fame credentials, while Andre Johnson knows the franchise better than anyone from a player perspective, having played there from 2003-2014.
Buford has demonstrated his personnel expertise from decades spent with the Spurs, winning four titles from 2003-2014, and understands the Texas sporting scene having been in San Antonio since 1988. Graves understands Houston as a city as well as anyone, attending high school in Houston and college at Texas Tech in Lubbock before eventually serving as general manager of the Arizona Cardinals from 2002-2012, which included a run to Super Bowl XLIII.
Houston is still picking up the pieces from the O'Brien era, which ended unspectacularly with his in-season firing following a horrid start to the 2020 season. O'Brien's termination left the Texans without a head coach and GM, roles filled by Romeo Crennel and Easterby in the interim.
Tuesday's news simply confirms what we already knew: Big changes are ahead in Houston.
