Houston Texans set to appoint Lovie Smith as new head coach

The Houston Texans are expected to hire current assistant Lovie Smith as their head coach, a person familiar with the process told the Associated Press.

Smith, who is Black, will be the second minority candidate to be hired this offseason after the Miami Dolphins appointed San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, who is biracial, on Sunday.

Smith spent last season as Houston’s associate head coach and defensive coordinator. He will take over for David Culley, who is also Black, and was fired after just one season. The 63-year-old Smith joined the Texans last offseason after spending 2016-2020 as the coach at Illinois.

This will be the third NFL head coaching job for Smith, who coached the Chicago Bears for nine seasons and coached Tampa Bay for two seasons ending in 2015.

Now he takes over a team in the process of a complete rebuild after trading or releasing almost all of their top players in the past couple of years. The Texans went 4-13 last season in a year where star quarterback Deshaun Watson did not play after a trade request and amid 22 lawsuits alleging sexual harassment or assault.

After the hiring of Smith is complete, the Texans will continue an offseason where they are expected to finally trade Watson. They have the third overall pick in the draft after not having a first-round pick since 2019, and could acquire more high draft picks if they’re able to trade Watson.

Houston interviewed multiple candidates over the past few weeks, including Brian Flores, Hines Ward, Josh McCown and Joe Lombardi. Flores, who is Black, was fired despite posting winning records in the final two of his three seasons in Miami. He sued the NFL, the Dolphins and two other teams last week over alleged racist hiring