Houston Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair alluded to the interview process the club has to go through in order to find their sixth full-time coach in team history.
“The league has done a great deal of work to establish an equitable and inclusive head coach hiring process, which we fully support,” McNair said. “The structured process allows us to begin the head coaching interviews virtually this week, and we can begin interviewing candidates in person after the wild-card games.”
McNair noted there was a “strong list of potential head coach candidates,” and that he and general manager Nick Caserio would be “excited to work with them.”
Here is the timeline the Texans have to work with as mandated by the league when they request interviews with coaching candidates.
Jan. 10-11 — virtual interviews
Beginning at 8:00 a.m. (local time of the employer club) on the thir dday following the conclusion of the Employer Club’s regular season game (Tuesday for Saturday games/Wednesday for Sunday games), virtual interviews for open Head Coach positions can be conducted with coaches whose clubs are not participates in the postseason or whose teams have Wild Card byes.
The wild-card games are Jan. 14-16.
Jan. 17 — in-person or virtual interviews
“Beginning at 8:00 a.m., (local time of the employer club) on the Tuesday following Wild Card games through the conclusion of Divisional games on January 22, in-person and/or virtual interviews may be conducted with head coach candidates whose teams played on Wild Card Monday.”
The divisional round is Jan. 21-22.
Jan. 18 — in-person or virtual interviews
“Beginning at 8:00 a.m., (local time of the employer club) on the Wednesday following Wild Card games through the conclusion of Divisional games on January 22, in-person and/or virtual interviews may be conducted with head coach candidates whose teams played on Wild Card Monday.”
The divisional round is Jan. 21-22.
Jan. 23 — in-person and virutal interviews for coordinators
“In-person and/or virtual interviews with coaches whose teams own a Wild Card game may begin for coordinator positions through January 28, the Saturday prior to Conference Championship games. A request for a coordinator position must be approved if it is not a “shared” position, and/or if the requesting club does not have an assistant head coach in charge fo the side fo the ball of the coordinator position (i.e., assistant head coach-offense for an offensive coordinator position.) All other interviews with coaches whose teams are still participating in the playoffs are prohibited until January 30.”
The AFC and NFC Championship Games are Jan. 29.
Jan. 30 — second in-person or virtual interviews from Super Bowl coaching staffs
“Assistant coaches whose clubs are participating in the Super Bowl who previously interviewed for another club’s head coach position may have a second in-person or virtual interview with such club no later than February, the Sunday prior to the Super Bowl.”
Super Bowl LVII is Feb. 12.
Feb. 13 — Resume second interviews with Super Bowl assistant coaches
“Second interviews with assistant coaches whose teams were participating in the Super Bowl may resume.”
