One of the more interesting parts of the David Culley era hardly had anything to do with the Houston Texans coach.
While Culley was the Texans’ fourth full-time coach in franchise history, he wasn’t the only decision-maker on the headsets. General manager Nick Caserio was on the Texans’ headsets since the first preseason game.
The situation may have been odd for Houston sports fans. However, Caserio was also on the headsets when he was with the New England Patriots as their director of player personnel.
The intriguing aspect that a new coach will have to deal with is whether or not they want to have their general manager on the game day headsets. Ostensibly, no other general manager does this in the NFL. John Lynch of the San Francisco 49ers in a suite taking in the game. Similarly, Rick Smith and Charley Casserly were not on headsets when they were in the Texans’ front office.
Caserio sticking to the concept of being on headsets could drive away prospective candidates, including those with former Patriots ties. Maybe they only tolerated Caserio on the headsets in New England because Bill Belichick had the final say. Caserio may have too much influence, which leads to a different dynamic.
As the Texans work their way through candidates, having the general manager on the headsets may be a factor they have to consider when becoming Houston’s fifth full-time coach in franchise history.