NFL: Each team’s greatest head coach in franchise history
By Randy Gurzi
Houston Texans: Bill O’Brien (2014-2020)
There have only been four head coaches in Houston Texans history. One of them was an interim, as Wade Phillips went 0-3 after relieving Gary Kubiak in 2013. Their first coach was Dom Capers, who struggled to win with the expansion team he took over.
Running a brand new team has to be tough. Capers did manage to put together a few memorable games, such as winning their first-ever game over the Dallas Cowboys in 2002. Still, he was 18-46 and never finished better than 7-9 as their coach.
Next up was Kubiak, who turned them into a strong contender. They won 10 games in 2011 and 12 in 2012, but then fell apart, as they were 2-11 to start his final season in 2013 before he was fired.
That led to the short-lived Phillips era and finally the hiring of former New England Patriots assistant coach and Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Bill O’Brien. After turning around the Nittany Lions after the awful events came to life that happened while Jerry Sandusky was there, O’Brien became a hot name in the coaching world.
He turned the 2-14 club into one that went 9-7 for three consecutive seasons, even though they didn’t have the quarterback situation figured out. O’Brien was winning games with players such as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett and even Brock Osweiler starting under center.
He finally got his franchise quarterback in Deshaun Watson, although he was injured during his rookie campaign in 2017 out of Clemson University. In 2018, Watson was healthy for the entire season. The Texans were 11-5 and made the playoffs.
Overall, O’Brien is the only coach in the franchise’s short history with a winning record. Things had to end as he made some very questionable decisions regarding top players and was losing his locker room because of it.