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Sifting Through the Josh McCown Rumors

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By: Mike Bullock

Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Conor Orr sure thinks so…

Logic. Strategy. Chemistry. Qualifications. Intelligence. Experience.

These are all things a pro football franchise should take into account prior to hiring a new head coach.

Unless said franchise is the Houston Texans.

Then just throw all those things out the window and go whomever makes you feel good.

Not exactly a solid gameplan, but it is what it is at this point.

After firing David Culley, who was not really the problem, or the answer, the Texans are once again in a hiring cycle and once again standing at the precipice of compounding bad decisions with worse ones.

Early on in this, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and current New England Patriots linebacker coach Jarod Mayo were deemed the front runners for the job.

Then, Houston interviewed Hines Ward of all people, a former wide receiving great who isn’t currently coaching for any NFL team.

(insert head scratching here)

Then came a handful of more logical options, like Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon (no relation to former league MVP Rich Gannon) and Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi (who is related to former coaching great Vince Lombardi).

Then, just to show the world they were still the Texans, Houston’s brass interviewed former career backup quarterback Josh McCown. This isn’t much of a surprise, since they interviewed McCown last season and deemed him not as good as David Culley – which says a lot about McCown’s coaching potential, maybe.

It’s easy to dismiss this as either A) Jack Easterby doing his bestie a solid by getting him a second interview in the hopes that intrigues another team enough to give McCown a shot or B) something no sane general manager and owner would do, so it’s merely an aberration.

Unfortunately, it seems like Houston’s general manager, Nick Caserio is the acting ‘straight man’ in a front office Monty Python skit bereft of laughs or common sense.

Over at SportsIllustrated.com, Conor Orr seems fairly convinced McCown is going to get the nod and Houston will make its second straight head coaching hire from a pool of people with ZERO head coaching experience.

Conor Orr

I can say that Josh McCown has been on my future head coaches list prior to this season. I can say that I once profiled McCown as the consummate backup quarterback when he was working behind Sam Darnold during Darnold’s rookie year. I can also say that, according to one person familiar with the Jets’ setup that year, McCown kept Darnold from getting destroyed by a very poorly designed offense. He was kind of, in a way, a member of the coaching staff that year, translating different aspects of the offense and, sometimes, pointing out irregularities in the scheme, play design or audible call list that would have seriously impeded Darnold’s ability to execute. While McCown’s career was winding down, the idea that he would quickly vault to a high-ranking NFL coaching position existed out there.

Now, on the surface this is actually sound logic. But, let’s refer back to Seth Payne’s tweet above:

Seth Payne

I mean, he took that interview last year, and then prepared to become an NFL head coach by… not coaching in the NFL for the next year.

Feel free to take a moment and finish scratching your head (again) before we move along.

Done?

Ok…

With the rumors that several of Houston’s current coaches are here to stay, you can almost completely cross Lombardi, Gannon and Flores off the list of candidates. No qualified head coach is going to happily step into a team as storm struck as the Texans knowing he has no say over the defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator, or two key offensive coaching positions.

If this is true, any sought after candidate is likely to view Houston’s offer as a set up for failure – if they didn’t already (see Jack Easterby).

Why would a team leave existing coaches in place after the team was literally the WORST IN THE LEAGUE in several key areas last season? Possibly so that an incoming rookie head coach with no experience whatsoever assembling a staff wouldn’t have to do that.

Cue the Jarod Mayo and Josh McCown walk up music…

Conor Orr

All that said, this would be a tough one to sell. The Texans let go of David Culley, one of the few black head coaches in the NFL, after he coached one of the worst rosters in the NFL to four wins. They did this, theoretically, to clear the deck for McCown. They did not have McCown coach the team last year, because he would have been pummeled by Deshaun Watson questions and wilted under the weight of public perception.

He still might. The Culley firing should have freaked some people out around the NFL. It will probably scare prospective assistants, veteran coaches that the Texans would like to surround McCown with. Given how much Houston would have at stake in legitimizing McCown early, the likelihood that they would quickly dismiss “underperforming” assistants and use them as scapegoats is high.

We all saw the writing on the wall after Culley was hired: he was a patsy, a scapegoat for dysfunction, and thankfully, a man who got paid $22 million to attend the NRG Parkway Clown College for a year.

Now, if McCown IS Jack Easterby’s BFF, as it’s been widely reported, we all know the same fate will not befall him… well, except Jack giving Josh a wheelbarrow of the McNair fortune. So, abandon hope all ye assistants who enter here.

Since Easterby has proven that you don’t need any experience whatsoever to hold down a high level NFL job, it’s easy to see why he firmly believes McCown should do the same.

Chron.com

[Josh McCown has] never coached aside from a brief period as a volunteer assistant on his son’s high school team.

And what are we fans to do? Stand around on the deck while we watch the captain drill holes in the boat’s hull?


Staff photographer

One thing is for sure, like Culley, McCown won’t be the answer to rapidly declining fanship numbers. And, chances are, it will only increase the number of fans hoping onto the Sell the Team life raft.

What we can hope for is that Caserio’s common sense prevails, he hires someone like Lombardi or Gannon, Eric Bieniemy, Demeco Ryans or Kevin O’Connell, lets them choose their staff and one of those men decides to hire McCown as an offensive assistant. If Josh is that good – let him prove it by developing Davis Mills from a 3rd round question mark into a bona fide NFL starting quarterback.

Then, and only then, should a team seriously consider hiring McCown as the head coach.

Originally posted on Battle Red Blog – All Posts