Houston Texans: The organization fires head coach Lovie Smith after one season

Houston, Texas — Lovie Smith was fired as head coach of the Houston Texans Sunday night after just one season in which the team went 3-13-1.

It is the second straight season that Texas has fired a coach after just one year. They parted ways with David Cooley this past January after he went 4-13 in his only season.

The organization put out a statement on Twitter from Director General Nick Caserio thanking Smith for his “contributions.”

The Texans had the worst record in the league for most of the season, but they’ve won two of their last three games, culminating in Sunday’s victory over the Colts that cost the team the No. 1 pick overall in next year’s draft.

A 32-31 win over Indianapolis gave Chicago the top pick and left Houston with the second-place pick in the April draft.

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Smith was promoted to head coach after serving as the team’s defensive coordinator for one season. The 2022 season was his twelfth as head coach, and he has a 92-100-1 record in his career, including nine seasons with the Bears and two with Tampa Bay.

“We are grateful for his leadership and character, and wish him all the best moving forward,” said McNair. “While we understand that results have not been what we had hoped, we are committed to building a program that delivers long-term and sustainable success. Our fans and our city deserve a team to be proud of. I will be working alongside Nick Caserio throughout this process and I am confident we will find the right leader for our football team.” .

His firing would hand Texas a fourth head coach in as many years. Cooley was hired after head coach Bill O’Brien was fired after losing his first four games of 2020 in his seventh season in Houston.

This is the second time Texas has fired a coach after just one year. Dom Capers was the team’s first coach and spent four seasons at the helm before leaving. Jary Kubik took over, and was fired in his eighth season.

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This season was Houston’s third with a losing record after the team won 4-12 in 2020. That season came after they had won the AFC South the previous two seasons.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.