Texans Rumors: Lovie Smith, HOU 'Moving Toward' Contract Agreement to Be Next HC

The Houston Texans are reportedly "moving toward" promoting defensive coordinator Lovie Smith to head coach.

Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported the deal is near completion. It's expected that an announcement will be made later Monday or early Tuesday. 

Smith, 63, spent last season as an associate head coach and defensive coordinator in Houston under David Culley. The Texans fired Culley after only one season in January.

For much of the search, it appeared Houston was determined to hire former NFL quarterback Josh McCown as its next head coach. The team interviewed the 42-year-old as part of its hiring process last offseason before hiring Culley and then brought him in again this offseason—a sign the team had some buyer's remorse about not hiring McCown in the previous cycle.

However, it appears that widespread criticism of McCown's potential hiring may have led the team in another direction. McCown has no coaching experience at any level of football, and the spotlight on hiring an inexperienced, white head coach amid the racial discrimination lawsuit filed against the NFL by Brian Flores had the makings of a public relations nightmare.

Garafolo reported the Texans could hire McCown as an assistant under Smith, which would make for an awkward situation if Houston gets off to a slow start in 2022.

The Texans' coaching search is rivaled only by the Jacksonville Jaguars in its head-scratching nature. It appears the team had a plan in place for its search heading into the offseason and abandoned it; Smith was not linked to the vacancy until the last week.

Regardless, it's hard to find much logic in Houston firing Culley and then running things back next season with almost his entire staff in place unless the working relationship between the two sides had gotten toxic.

Smith previously spent nine years with the Chicago Bears and two years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an NFL head coach. He holds an 89-87 overall record and was also 17-39 in five seasons at the University of Illinois.