Texans fire David Culley

NFL: JAN 09 Titans at Texans
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David Culley is one-and-done as head coach of the Texans.

Culley was fired this afternoon, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle reports.

The 66-year-old Culley was brought in as a first-year head coach for the 2021 season at the most tumultuous time in the Texans’ franchise history. Quarterback Deshaun Watson ended up sitting out the season amid a dispute with the team and an ongoing investigation into accusations of sexual assault brought by massage therapists, longtime team leader J.J. Watt was released, and new front office boss Jack Easterby made major changes within the organization.

Given all that turmoil, Culley would seem to have done a solid job just by matching last year’s total of four wins. But it wasn’t enough to get another job.

Now the Texans will begin searching for a new head coach, at a time when there’s a widespread perception that the Texans are a franchise with major issues, and that turning the team around won’t be easy.

116 responses to “Texans fire David Culley

  1. Sure bring a guy and take away your ball pro quarterback and trade away all your best players And then blame him. Ugly

  2. Culley wasn’t set up for success anyway. Let’s be honest he was a lame duck. Stinks that he finally got a shot and it was with the Texans.

  3. More fuel for the dumpster fire. That firing was unfair. Culley did an excellent job, given the circs. Nobody in their right mind would want that job!

  4. The Texans are officially the worst franchise in all of sports.. think about all the assistants that now have to pack it in also. This effects numerous families. Somebody will take this job, it shouldnt be any coach employed in any capacity with any other NFL team.

  5. Texans knew what they were doing when they hired Culley. They knew no top coaches would want this job, so they hired Culley to be the coach, knowing he would fail and be replaced after a year. Then the new coach can come in and draft their next QB. Deshaun could be a creep, we will let the justice system take its run, but he wasn’t wrong about the Texans and how they do business.

  6. This is so dumb. The Texans actually overachieved this year with the talent Culley had to work with. He was just the fall guy for Nick Caserio to avoid responsibility. Who are they going to get to take that job with him still as GM?

  7. Wow that’s terrible. He and Fangio should be Coach Of The Year candidates for what they had to work with.

  8. Culley was fired for the hand he was given. If I’m Texans players, I would speak to my agent requesting a trade.

  9. They did this man dirty IMO. Handed him a circus and he actually got a competitive team out of it. I am frankly unsure if the man is HC material, but he seems more of a professional at the moment than the team he was just employed by. Take the buyout and get outta there for greener grass Mr Culley.

  10. No quality coach in his right mind will take this job. Culley did an excellent job. They will just hire some cheap, incompetent stooge now.

  11. I guess I just wonder: WTF is Easterby’s master plan??? What does he think he’s accomplishing right now?

  12. I don’t have a dog in this fight, and Culley wasn’t the flashiest name out there but matching the win column without Watson and JJ Watt seems pretty good to me. Everyone was down on the Texans and Culley seemed to have them motivated and buying in.

  13. He was brought to Houston in an attempt to gain favor with Watson. Remember, Watson wanted out of Houston before the lawsuits came to light. Once the Watson issue became so obviously not repairable, Culley became totally disposable. The ownership and GM situation makes Houston a less desirable coaching destination than Jacksonville, and that’s saying a lot.

  14. I kind of thought that Culley was a one year stop gap. I don’t think that Caserio was able to get his guy and needed a stop gap.

    I don’t believe that target was Brian Flores however, that is now an interesting ingredient in the recipe. But Caserio has had a target on someone.

  15. This Texans job isn’t attractive at all. I mean who is really running the show there Caserio or Easterby?

  16. I thought it was a bad hire at the time but actually was pretty impressed how competent they looked for stretches of the year, you could see the talent lacking but they seemed to play hard and scheme well to create some plays. They were supposed to be the laughing stock of the league but won 4 games, were usually competitive and he had a non 1st round rookie qb outcompeting a lot of the highly touted 1st rouders, why fire him?

  17. I am sure they will be all lining up for this job. The franchise may have done the old toilet spiral, but the squad does sport neat jerseys.

  18. They treated him like a pilot of an airplane with 1 working engine and a complete loss of hydraulics.

  19. He should be thanking that disgusting team for firing him. He actually did well despite the circumstances. Other teams should take note. A low class move for a guy who demonstrated high professionalism trying to make something out of an outhouse. I agree they did him dirty. He should be thankful that hot mess is no longer his.

  20. He was dealt a terrible hand, and he knew it. Next coach will face the same obstacles.

  21. Assuming Bills OC Daboll gets hired elsewhere and Dorsey takes over as the playcaller, I’d love to see him as Josh Allen’s QB coach next year.

  22. Only because they don’t have the dignity to fire the real reasons for their failure…ownership. Despicable.

  23. Flores would be a good choice for Houston since he had plenty of experience dealing with dysfunction in Miami.

  24. buffalojohnsema says:
    January 13, 2022 at 3:22 pm
    Hello Brian Flores!
    ———————
    Wouldn’t it be funny if Flores ended up coaching Watson after all?

  25. Shows Texans are ready to compete more quickly than the media expected us to be able to compete. He was never supposed to be anything but a bridge coach. Caserio must have somebody in mind, maybe Brian Flores. We can get a huge haul for Watson and really be heading in a great direction.

  26. Flores is going to go to Houston. There are the Nick Caserio, Jack Easterby Patriots connections. There is a good relationship between Flores and Watson. Flores wanted Watson in Miami. Watson drew ire with the franchise because he didn’t have any say in the HC decision. They bring in Flores, they can bring back Watson and immediately turn around their fortunes. It’s not as crazy as it sounds, in fact, it’s not crazy at all.

  27. He deserved better. I bet the Ravens would welcome him back to the flock (see what I did there)

  28. What a terrible call on the coach. Everybody thought the Texans wouldn’t win a game at all this year and he did a great job with the players he had to work with! He had my vote for coach of the year really.

  29. Nothing is going to change until they get a new GM and staff. A GM that is passion in and can focus on only football.

  30. All Easterby cares about is will the head coach do his bidding. Culley was someone who would do whatever he was told. Expect next coach to be a low profile person whose personality is not too big. Also the next coach has to be willing to cow down to Easterby on a daily basis. Josh McCown may be that person.

  31. This situation is so messy. Bill O’Brien really left this whole organization in shambles. They will be dealing with the problems he created for the next decade.

  32. The most Texans thing ever.

    Sure- we’re going to fire our coach, but we are going to give every other team with an opening a huge head start by waiting until 4 days after the season ends.

    Vince Lombardi couldn’t have won more games than Culley did this year.

    What an absolute joke of a franchise.

  33. Ridiculous. Culley actually did a fairly good job with the dumpster fire he had on his hands. But he took the job, got paid, and did a good job. Any player on that roster that has the ability to leave is telling his agent to get me out of here asap!

  34. Dolphin’s made the move to the worst run franchise a couple days ago. Houston- hold my beer…

  35. Presumably they fired him for winning too much as they must have been aiming for first pick in the draft. Texans had the least amount of talent this year yet Culley did as well as O’Brian who had much more to play with. Clearly Culley is a better coach than O’Brian. Texans organization must be the worst in the league. Nobody in their right mind would go there.

  36. No wonder bad organizations stay bad. They make stupid decisions like this. Feel really bad for Culley…..the guy shined a turd pretty good and definitely deserved a second year. Here’s hoping Houston spends the next decade in mediocrity.

  37. I don’t know what they were expecting him to do that he didn’t accomplish. He managed the Watson circus well and given the state of that roster nobody was going to win many games there as head coach. If anything he overachieved IMO.

  38. There are only about two or three scenarios where I can say this as a Lions fan: glad I don’t root for the Texans.

  39. What if Flores gets hired there, does Watson then want to stay???
    30 pending free agents is a recipe for a head coach and GM nightmare

  40. This could be the worst franchise in professional sports. Could they handle things worse? Next coach will get a large multi-year deal or they won’t have a coach.

  41. He inherited a mess and did the best he could. Firing him was a dumb move after just one season.

  42. maxamili says:
    January 13, 2022 at 3:30 pm
    If Brian Flores goes to H town does Watson stay?
    ———————————
    Steven Ross would explode. BOOM! While walking down the streets of SoHo in the rain.

  43. Do the Ravens have to forfeit the 2nd draft pick they will receive for his hire ? Sounds like a nice way for one GM to do another GM a solid as well.

    I cant get a coach I want, but I will hire your minority candidate and you get two 3’s.
    (You owe me ‘something’ in return).

    Maybe the Texans should LOSE two 3’s for only keeping him for 1 year ?

  44. I am thinking Josh McDaniels more than Brian Flores heading to Houston.

    Pretty sure the Washington Football Team is going to retain its “Worst Franchise” dynasty going for a number of years yet.

  45. This moves only makes sense if they hire Brian Flores to keep Deshaun Watson. If the reports were true that Watson wanted to play for Flores in Miami, then maybe they can convince Watson ton stay if they hire Flores. Other then that, then firing Culley makes no sense after 1 season.

  46. Is the Texans train wreck Culley’s fault? No. Is Culley head coach material in the NFL? Probably not.

  47. “They bring in Flores, they can bring back Watson and immediately turn around their fortunes. It’s not as crazy as it sounds, in fact, it’s not crazy at all.”
    ___________

    Except for the fact Watson said he’d never play for them again. And his main gripes were against the front office and ownership and that is unchanged from when he made that declaration. Culley was brought in specifically to appease him and that clearly didn’t work so why would Flores have any better luck?

  48. His job this year was to lose, and he messed that up by turning a 2nd rate college team into a team with potential. For that shown the door. Good old dysfunction.

  49. And I thought duh Bears were dysfunctional with the McCaskeys ownership…Texans are a joke.

  50. Culley is like an ER Doctor. He stabilized the patient and did a very good job. That doesn’t mean he is the right guy for the next phase. It also doesn’t mean he isn’t. I think he deserved another year. He made a lot of money and made a positive impact in his year. Good for him.

  51. All this crying about how unfair it is that the guy got fired. Oh come on, you knew when he knew that he was one and done that day was hired. This is no surprise.

  52. Everyone thought the worst franchise was the Jaguars, but here come the Texans saying “Hold my beer.” Culley got more wins than the Jaguars with a team bereft of half of the talent the Jaguars had. Brutal.

  53. How can you fire someone after one year?. What did you give him to succeed?. I follow the Lions and at least they gave their coaches time to show they were bad.

  54. The only reason Culley was hired was that the front office believed he could influence Watson to buy into the new regime. It failed… now the Texans will hopefully hire a legit HC.

  55. There really isn’t a worse franchise in the NFL. At least Detroit has Thanksgiving and the Jaguars have been in two AFC Championship games.

  56. A lot of Texans fans on here rating down the comments that say that Flores is coming to Houston. The reports are that Flores was pushing for Watson this year before the trade deadline. Also that the reason Watson would agree to be traded to Miami was Flores. Not a big stretch to think that Flores comes to Houston and Watson stays. Who’s going to pay 4 number 1’s minimum anyway?

  57. Of all the firings, this one seems most like a raw deal. Culley did everything asked of him and produced the same record as last season, without Watson – or any one QB for more than a few weeks at a time – while avoiding team controversy.

    He put a good coaching staff together. I hope they give this team management what they deserve, and leave the team to join Culley somewhere else better.

  58. What coach in his right mind would want to be a head coach for the Texans after all of this?

  59. Texans are a dumpster fire. Ownership and Easterby finished what, former HC Bill O’Brien, started: running it into the ground. Getting a quality HC is near impossible with dysfunctional way they run things. Their next HC won’t be any better than the one they fired. I feel bad for Culley, though. There was no way he was actually going to be successful there. Set-up to fail from day one. He’s probably breathing a sigh of relief.

  60. No doubt, when Flores was let go at Miami, Nick was on the phone with Flores, offering the HC with power to pick his staff. I also think that Nick placed a call to Watson and said If we bring in Flores, will you stay I H-Town? In all likelihood, it was thumbs up with both… with an agreement is in place to make Flores the Texans next HC with Watson remaining as the franchise QB before firing Culley.

  61. Why would anyone feel bad for Culley? He knew what he was signing up for when he took the job, nobody else was going to come calling with a HC job, and he got paid several million dollars to be the sacrificial lamb for one season. Now his pocket is fat and he gets to go home and take his dream job coaching HS football in Tennessee. Dude is NOT NFL head coach material.

  62. Culley didn’t deserve to be fired. There must be somebody the Texans want such as Brian Flores.

  63. I think when Culley was hired, it seemed apparent that it was a caretaker position. I doubt if anyone I’m the league, including the Texans, blame him for the team’s struggles this year. If anything , he came out of this looking pretty good. I wonder if he gets some looks for vacant HC jobs or maybe OC positions. This Easterby guy sounds like the worst. I doubt they attract many strong HC candidates. They’ll be picking from the scrap heap.

  64. It will be the same deal as last year, multiple coaches declining to be interviewed.

    Culley did pretty good with that roster and developing David Mills. Not who could have done much better

  65. Raven fans are hoping they don’t lose their compensation draft pick! Culley deserved much better than he got!

  66. Absolutely disgraceful. He deserves much better. They deserve to lose draft picks for how they treated him.

  67. According to reports fron a year ago in the Houston papers, Culley signed a 5-year $22 million dollar deal. Not bad for a 66 year old with no head coaching experience. Culley has another $17 million coming to him after getting $5 million this year, and he doesn’t have to show up for work anymore.

  68. burlingtonbills says:
    January 13, 2022 at 3:37 pm
    Flores is going to go to Houston. There are the Nick Caserio, Jack Easterby Patriots connections. There is a good relationship between Flores and Watson. Flores wanted Watson in Miami. Watson drew ire with the franchise because he didn’t have any say in the HC decision. They bring in Flores, they can bring back Watson and immediately turn around their fortunes. It’s not as crazy as it sounds, in fact, it’s not crazy at all.
    ——————————————————————————————————————
    “And immediately turn around their fortunes.” Tell us all again how Flores turned around Miami. He inherited a 7-9 team. After three seasons and take away game 17 and he would’ve been 8-8. Yup, turned it around. By the way, they were 2-6 against teams that finished the season over .500. Need me to remind you of how they lost to the worst team in the NFL- the Jags? Things were looking up. Right?

  69. A lot of people are looking at this the wrong way Culley was fired for being a bad coach. Sorry but it’s true. If you didn’t see a lot of Texans games this year and I am sure most of you didn’t, the team routinely looked ill prepared and his in game management at times was wretched. This team was shut out twice once at home for the first time in team history. After being shut out by the Colts he motivated the team to a 31-3 blow out in game 2. To say they overachieved is nonsense, they finished 3rd worse behind Detroit and Jacksonville, that’s not the highest standard to compare yourself against. It was very common knowledge the Texans choice was not available last year. He was always gonna be one and done. The guy is gonna get paid for 3 more years. Not Urban Meyer retirement money but more than sufficient for a 1 year babysitting job while they dig themselves out from hurricane Bill.

  70. Texans need the following for their head coach vetting process. First question: “Are you committed to developing a winning culture?” Second question: “Will you communicate well with the rest of your staff?” Third question: “Can you handle clock management better than Andy Reid?”

  71. If Flores get’s hired to coach the Texans, Davis Mills better be able to handle Flores telling how he wishes Mac Jones was his QB and not him on a regular basis since that is reportedly what got him fired from the Dolphins.

  72. Culley, Fangio, Flores* – all first-time head coaches. And we all know how super-easy it is to be an NFL head coach. It’s not like it takes time to learn how to manage such an incredibly complex, stressful job under constant pressure from ownership, the media and fans.

    I say these teams should give their new coaches two games, tops. If they don’t have it mastered, THEY’RE OUT!

    *I’m not going to count Meyer in this. He dug his own grave.

  73. “Hi, St Louis,

    Still interested in an NFL team?

    …. well, they’re semi-pro, sort of.”

  74. I probably would have worked in the term “unkindness”…

    ————————————————————-
    inozwetrust says:
    January 13, 2022 at 3:39 pm
    He deserved better. I bet the Ravens would welcome him back to the flock (see what I did there)

  75. Culley was in over his head and was hired to be a caretaker. The Texans will hire Flores or Mc Daniels. I think the target is Mc Daniels and Flores will go to the Giants. If Flores goes to the Giants, look for the Giants to trade at least the 5th and 7th 1st round picks for Watson.

    With the 3rd, 5th, & 7th picks in the 1st round, the Texans can go OL-Evan Neil, OL-Ikem Okwonu and trade back with the 7th pick. Falcons, Broncos, WFT, Vikings, Saints, & Steelers may want to trade up into the 7th pick to get their QB. By trading back the Texans would pick up an additional 2rd round pick, and still get WR with the later round 1st round pick.

  76. $22 million for a year’s work. I wouldn’t be disappointed with that. Can make a pretty nice retirement on that amount.

  77. I wonder if it even occurred to Caserio or McNair how exponentially much more unattractive this coaching position would be after they let Culley go. Who would actually want this job?

    Clown show.

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