The Houston Texans are sweeping away all facets of the old regime.
The Texans announced on March 10 they will be keeping Romeo Crennel onboard as senior advisor for football performance.
Crennel came to Houston in 2014 as the defensive coordinator under first-year coach Bill O’Brien, who had ties to the New England Patriots as their offensive coordinator. Similarly, Crennel was most remembered as defensive coordinator for the Patriots from 2001-04 when they won three Super Bowls in that span. Also working with the Patriots during that era was new Texans general manager Nick Caserio.
In 2017, Crennel was simply the assistant head coach as former linebackers coach Mike Vrabel took over as defensive coordinator. In 2018, Crennel took over as defensive coordinator again until giving up the duties to defensive line coach Anthony Weaver.
Four games after the 2020 season, Crennel, then the associate head coach, took over interim coach with the firing of O’Brien following an 0-4 start. The Texans finish with a 4-12 record.
New coach David Culley, the fourth full-time coach in team history, is pleased to have Crennel’s “wealth of experience” still around the team.
“Obviously, he’s been on football teams that’s been multi-Super Bowl winners, two different football teams,” Crennel said. “He’s got a wealth of experience. He’s been a head coach. He’s a guy that I have the utmost confidence in, and he’s kind of been a mentor to me throughout my career in the NFL.”
Culley has known Crennel since 1973 when he tried to recruit him to play at Western Kentucky. Crennel was the defensive line coach, but Culley chose Vanderbilt, where he was recruited by linebackers coach Bill Parcells.
“I go way back with Romeo and have followed his career, and as my career has gone up, I’ve talked to him many, many times, and I’m so elated to be able to have him here with us to be able to bounce things off of him,” said Culley.
The staff under Culley has a nice mix of the old regime, the new regime, and the influences from New England.
[vertical-gallery id=59412]