Houston Texans not expected to pursue Mike Shanahan as next head coach
By Josh Hill
The NFL head coaching dominos are starting to fall with the first being Gary Kubiak being axed by the Houston Texans earlier this week after the team’s 11th straight loss. The coaching crater created by his firing is one that analysts and fans have been trying to hypothetically fill over the last few days and one name that keeps popping up is Washington Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan.
Shanahan is still the head coach of the Redskins but as we saw today, that’s not likely something that’s going to last much longer. But while his name keeps popping up on lists for the next Texans head coach, Houston beat writer John McClain is telling us to knock it off. McClain says that even if Shanahan is fired by Washington, Houston will not be giving him a look despite the fact he fits their criteria of an experienced NFL head coach.
"The Texans will not try to hire ESPN analyst Jon Gruden and they won’t be pursuing Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, even if he does get fired."
The names on McClain’s list are Lovie Smith, Ken Whisenhunt and Stanford head coach David Shaw. It’s still a little early on in the process to be eliminating names but it’s interesting to hear someone close to the team already writing off a coach like Shanahan before the team can even get a chance to look at him.
Perhaps they’ve seen all they need to see out of Shanahan’s last two seasons in Washington, but either way it’s looking like if Shanahan is axed in Washington he won’t find a home in Houston.