The Houston Texans are one of several teams that former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has called out in his lawsuit against the NFL. Today, weeks after the lawsuit was filed, the Texans have addressed the issue.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Texans defended their hiring process and said that they respect Flores, giving him the full interview process. They said that they ultimately went with Lovie Smith because they believe he is the best fit for their team.
“The search for our head coach was very thorough and inclusive,” the statement said. “Due to his previous success as a coach in the NFL, Brian Flores was among the first candidates we held a formal interview with for the position and he remained a candidate until the very end. We have a lot of respect for Brian both personally and professionally. He has been a competitive coach in the league for a number of years and his resume speaks for itself. We enjoyed our multiple conversations with Brian regarding his vision for our organization, which included an in-person meeting with the McNair family and General Manager Nick Caserio. In the end, we made the decision to hire Lovie Smith as our head coach and we believe he is the best fit for our team moving forward. It was a very fluid process that allowed us to spend time with a number of quality candidates. We are proud of our decision and will vigorously defend our process.”
The Texans’ head coaching search was lambasted for reportedly including former quarterback Josh McCown, who has no coaching experience in the NFL or college. Many fans called foul and believed that the Texans were deliberately picking coaches that would fail in order to make it easier to justify giving McCown the job.
The Houston Texans ultimately went with Lovie Smith, who served as an assistant on former head coach David Culley’s staff last year. While he has the requisite experience, the general sense is that Smith is considered a stopgap solution internally.
Meanwhile, the Brian Flores lawsuit could take months or even upwards of a year to resolve.
No number of public statements by the Texans or any other team is going to accelerate it.
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