“I’m constantly evaluating our football operation and believe this is the best decision for us at this time,” Texans General Manager Nick Caserio mentioned in a statement. “It is my responsibility to build a comprehensive and competitive program that can sustain success over a long period of time. We aren’t there right now, however, with the support of the McNair family and the resources available to us, I’m confident in the direction of our football program moving forward.”
Smith turned the second straight Texans coach fired after solely one season. He was promoted from defensive coordinator final offseason after Houston dismissed David Culley.
“While we understand the results have not been what we had hoped for, we are committed to building a program that produces long-term, sustainable success,” Texans proprietor Cal McNair mentioned in a statement. “Our fans and city deserve a team that they can be proud of. I will work alongside Nick Caserio throughout this process and I’m confident we will find the right leader for our football team.”
Smith was one of three Black head coaches within the NFL this season, together with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Todd Bowles. A fourth Black coach, Steve Wilks, served as interim coach of the Panthers after they fired Matt Rhule in October. Smith and Bowles had been the one Black head coaches employed leaguewide final offseason, among the many 10 groups that employed new coaches. The Miami Dolphins employed Mike McDaniel, who’s biracial.
NFL leaders have mentioned they hope for higher outcomes from their variety efforts within the hiring cycle this offseason. The cycle happens as the league and groups face a racial discrimination lawsuit filed final yr by former Dolphins coach Brian Flores, now an assistant coach for the Steelers. Two different Black coaches, Wilks and Ray Horton, later joined the lawsuit.
The Texans beat the Colts, 32-31, earlier Sunday on a profitable two-point conversion within the recreation’s ultimate minute as Smith made an aggressive teaching transfer to safe the victory in regulation fairly than play for time beyond regulation. That got here after a 28-yard landing move by quarterback Davis Mills on a fourth-and-20 play.
The Texans’ triumph meant the Chicago Bears may have the primary choice within the draft. The Texans may have the second alternative as they try and discover a franchise quarterback to switch Deshaun Watson, who was traded to the Cleveland Browns final offseason amid allegations of sexual misconduct that led to him serving an 11-game suspension this season for violating the NFL’s private conduct coverage.
“We understand what our win total is,” Smith mentioned during his postgame news conference. “That’s not enough. That wasn’t part of the plan. But that’s how it goes sometimes. Now we came down to this game, one game left to go. We wanted to leave the season with a good taste in our mouth.”
He mentioned that he’d met with McNair final Monday, simply as he met with McNair on Mondays all through the season. He mentioned he anticipated to be retained, regardless of hypothesis on the contrary.
“Do I expect to be back? Yeah, I expect to be back,” Smith mentioned. “Absolutely.”