Bob McNair said before last season he believed the Houston Texans had their best team in franchise history.
Now, the Texans' owner said be believes they have the coaching staff to match.
Texans coach Gary Kubiak, after firing four defensive assistants on Monday -- including defensive coordinator Frank Bush -- on Wednesday evening officially hired former Dallas Cowboys head coach and longtime defensive coordinator Wade Phillips as the coordinator.
The pending hiring of Phillips had been rumored and reported for nearly a week.
Following the firing of Bush and the three defensive assistants, McNair said he plan was to hire a coordinator with a proven track record of NFL success. On Thursday, he said Phillips very much meets that criteria.
"I've never been so confident about our coaching staff as I am now," Nick Scurfield of HoustonTexans.com quoted McNair saying Thursday. "We have absolutely the best coaching staff we've ever had. It would've made a difference for us last year.
"It will make a difference for us this year, and I'm looking forward to it."
The Texans, after starting the season 4-2, lost eight of their last 10 games to miss the post-season for a ninth consecutive year. They finished the season ranked 30th in the NFL in total defense, 32nd against the pass.
Phillips has coached 29 seasons as an NFL head coach or defensive coordinator. He has coached 12 Top 10 defenses, and his teams have made 11 playoff appearances.
"I have so much more confidence," McNair said. "Generally, when you make any kind of change, you sort of hold your breath. You say, 'Boy, I hope this works out.' I'm not saying that here. It will work out. He's done it. He's been there. He's come in, he's looked at our film, we've talked about it, and he just cut to the quick so fast. He saw exactly what our problems were, and he had ideas as to how they could be corrected that weren't necessarily requiring a lot of additional personnel. And I agree with him.
"I just think that we can perform a lot better than we did, and I think with the right coaches in there, you're going to see some great improvement."
Bob McNair: Wade Phillips Makes Texans' Coaching Staff Better Than Ever
Jan 6, 2011 – 4:33 PM
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