Jamey Rootes was riding off into the sunset in 2021.
He had the new book and he was going to stay active serving the Board of Directors of the Greater Houston Partnership and the United Way of Greater Houston. Rootes was also going to teach undergraduates at the University of Houston’s C.T. Bauer College of Business, a job he had already taken in January.
Sports appeared to be behind the man who had been with the Texans since 2000. Rootes was in his reflection and instruction phase after accomplishing so much sports wise in Clutch City.
Not so fast.
According to Vanessa Richardson of KPRC-TV in Houston, the former Texans president is going back to his roots and joining the Houston Dynamo and Houston Dash as their new chief executive officer.
Before Rootes took the job to help Bob McNair bring the NFL back to Houston, he was the president and general manager of the Columbus Crew, also of Major League Soccer.
That Rootes took a job within the same city and is back in pro sports opens the question as to whether the Texans burned out one of their longest-tenured employees who was instrumental in building a winner over a 20-year arch.
The consolation for the Texans is that the new president, Greg Grissom, is a front office boss that learned plenty from the first ever Texans president.
“I got the opportunity to work for Jamey for almost 20 years,” Grissom told reporters on May 10 at the team’s charity golf classic. “What did I learn? I think it’s countless, too much to even ever really measure. He just taught me about doing the right thing, treating people the right way and investing back in our team and our teammates that work with us every day and then obviously our community as a whole.
“Jamey was a phenomenal mentor to me. I can’t thank him enough for the opportunities that he has helped me grow into. Very thankful for him.”
Houston sports benefits from keeping one of their more successful front office executives in the fold in Rootes. The Texans are hopeful one of his understudies can continue to build upon the foundation Rootes laid.