Texans coach Bill O’Brien laments exit of Mike D’Antoni from Rockets

“Mike D’Antoni is a great coach,” O’Brien said on Monday. “I’m friends with him. If you don’t win a championship, it is what it is.”

Houston Texans football coach Bill O’Brien said Monday that he was saddened to learn about the departure of Houston Rockets head coach and personal friend Mike D’Antoni after four years at the helm.

O’Brien took the Texans job in 2014, while D’Antoni arrived in Houston two years later with the Rockets. In D’Antoni’s four seasons with the Rockets, he became the second-winningest coach in franchise history, and they won at least one playoff series in every season.

Speaking at his team’s media availability on Monday, O’Brien was asked about the choice by D’Antoni and the Rockets to part ways. He said:

It’s tough. Mike D’Antoni is a great coach. I’m friends with him. If you don’t win a championship, it is what it is. Mike is a great guy. He visited us up in Greenbrier [West Virginia], he has a place here. All the best to him.

In previous years, the Texans had held training camp in West Virginia, where D’Antoni lives in the NBA offseason.

O’Brien also has a friendship with former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, who appears to be on the list of candidates to replace D’Antoni in 2020. Per O’Brien, Van Gundy has referred to D’Antoni as one of the “smartest basketball coaches he’s ever been around.”

Now in his seventh season with the Texans, O’Brien is still searching for his first NFL championship of a non-division variety. The Texans are currently 0-1 after beginning their 2020 schedule with a 34-20 loss last Thursday at defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City.

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Lead photo by Mark Berman, Fox 26 Houston