The Houston Texans may turn to a familiar face to fill their most high-profile opening.
While they are still more than a month away from conducting the search to fill their head-coach opening, sources say that one strong possibility is to turn to Romeo Crennel as their full-time coach. It’s currently being debated inside the organization.
Crennel — now the interim coach — is a well-respected, affable, long-time defensive coordinator who has been a head coach in the past. For the Texans, he could serve as a stop-gap coach, allowing the team to get to 2021 with some stability and pushing their true coaching search to the following offseason when COVID-19 restrictions would allow for a traditional in-person search.
No one knows what the country will be like in January, but flying around the country and interviewing several candidates may be challenging, even on private planes. It’s possible that coaching candidates will be interviewed on Zoom. That means a team could invest $30 million or $40 million in a head coach they’ve never met.
For Houston, coming off a tumultuous but successful tenure under Bill O’Brien, having Crennel hold it down for a year is an intriguing option for how to move forward. He’s also someone the players like and respect.
Crennel, 73, was head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 2005-2008 and had the same role with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2012. He’s been in Houston since 2014 in various leadership roles.
Under that scenario, VP of football operations Jack Easterby would continue to run football through the transition and may continue in that role if the team doesn’t hire a GM. At least, that puts Easterby at the helm for several years until things settle.
