Houston Texans don’t plan to interview Ken Whisenhunt, all signs point to Bill O’Brien
San Diego Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt prior to the game against the Oakland Raiders at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
The Houston Texans were close to hiring Bill O’Brien even before the San Diego Chargers played on Sunday, but the Chargers entrance into the playoffs has taken away a potential head coaching option for the Texans. The team planned on doing due diligence even when O’Brien was starting to look like more and more like “the guy” for the Texans at HC, and Ken Whisenhunt was shaping up to be a real darkhorse for the Texans job. Not only has he done a great job with the Chargers as their offensive coordinator this season, but GM Rick Smith is high on Whisenhunt, who is a former Arizona Cardinals head coach.
But according to a source close to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport “are not planning on interviewing” Ken Whisenhunt for the head coaching job, and that narrows down their list of prospective candidates. It looks like Bill O’Brien will indeed get the job, since the O’Brien-to-Texans rumors are heating up even more. He is easily the most likely candidate to get hired by the team, especially since Lovie Smith seems to be more interested in joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who mercifully cut ties with Greg Schiano.
Whisenhunt looked like a potential option for the Texans, but the Texans don’t want to have to wait for the Chargers to get eliminated in order to interview him. Again, it’s looking more-and-more like O’Brien will be hired, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was hired by the Texans as soon as today. As for Whisenhunt, he’s been tossed around as a potential hire for the Cleveland Browns and should continue to get looks.