hit the road, jack

I’ve never really been one to want the plug pulled on a coach mid-season unless it’s clear to everyone that the situation would be markedly improved with said coach being removed from the equation.


However, the time has come for the Houston Texans to turn the page on the Gary Kubiak era and start fresh with a renewed focus on the defensive side of the ball. Professional football teams tend to take on the personality of their head coaches. By all accounts, Gary Kubiak is a fair, honest and decent man who is respected by his peers and his players. Heck, he’s an Aggie which normally would be enough for me.

But football coaches aren’t paid millions of dollars to be liked or to win popularity contests – they’re paid to win football games, plain and simple. And Kubiak definitely hasn’t done enough of that in the 4-plus years he’s been in charge in Houston.

Since he’s been the head man of the Texans, I can count on one hand the number of times this team has come out of the locker room with swagger and punched the other team in the mouth from the opening whistle. Sometimes a team has to play dirty to win. They have to be mean and they have to want their opponent to suffer. There are certainly some players like that on the Texans roster, but largely, players take their cues from their Head Coach. If the coach doesn’t get fired up and instill that “F you” attitude, then most likely the players won’t either.

And before you try the old argument of “the coaches aren’t the ones playing the games, the players are”, remember this – 1) you can’t fire all the players, and 2) Kubiak has said to lay the blame on him. Well okay, it’s on you. There’s the door, don’t let it hit you on the way out.

The next step is to write an open check to Bill Cowher, a coach who knows a little something about toughness and winning football games. He’s a player’s coach, a taskmaster and a disciplinarian. He has earned respect as a hard worker and a Super Bowl winner. If he hired a top notch Offensive Coordinator, the Texans would be in good shape.

They would learn how to fight. They would learn how to come out swinging. They wouldn’t take any BS. And most importantly, they would learn how to win and not fold like a cheap card table.