Oh, I have no doubt they're close - BOB/Easterby; BOB/Caserio. But BOB and Gaine were reportedly close, too - wasn't BOB heavily involved in his hiring? So... nothing is permanent. It might be a giant cluster. All I know is that the Texans haven't built a legitimate front office in more than 13 years so that has me excited. As does the thought that these guys will have an extremely high-standard and will hold BOB to it. Fingers are crossed.
Yes, despite the new narrative about Gaine being someone they settled for, Gaine was very close with OBrien and was the front runner all along. When they formed their search committee they interviewed Gaine (favorite from day one) Jimmy Raye III (Token interview) Gutenkurst (accepted the Packers job like an hour after meeting Texans officials) and then asked for permission on four guys who were in the playoffs that would all obviously be declined. McClain reported at the time that OBrien recommended Gaine for the job from day 1. Here are articles from the time: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/texans/article/Texans-to-hire-Brian-Gaine-as-GM-12489280.php On January 5th, 5 days(!) after Rick Smith stepped down https://www.profootballrumors.com/2018/01/brian-gaine-texans-gm-search Here was Rappaport announcing the hire and calling him the favorite all along: Saying they work well together: Here was Albert Breer (OBrien's top media source) the day after Smith stepped down: You'll also recall at the time that Bob McNair publicly said BEFORE they interviewed anyone that the new GM wouldn't be able to bring in his own personnel guys. That was a clear indication at the time that they wouldn't be getting a true outside GM.
Great pull. So they fired BOB's hand-picked guy. Might not've been his tip-top choice (again, I think McNair's failing health was an issue) - but he was the guy BOB wanted under whatever circumstances were present. And they fired him. Maybe at BOB's request because the relationship soured. But, more and more, I'm starting to think this was Easterby's influence. I mean, was Easterby even in New England with O'Brien? I don't think he was.
Why would the Patriots be in any hurry to help a conference rival? Also, they could be using his time to convince Caserio to stay.
The Pats aren't going to make this easy IMO. Hell they convinced McDaniels to back out of a head coaching gig.
Yeah he didn't overlap with Easterby in New England, but apparently it was in fact Obrien who pushed really hard to get Easterby and they've become extremely close in Houston. The connection may be Casserio in fact who is apparently very close to both men.
I would assume they have a window before they have to officially respond and in that timeframe they will offer him money or promotions to get him to stay. I'd say there's at least a 50/50 chance we will hear that he and the Patriots agree to a new deal that makes him the official GM with a raise.
Except that your timeline is off. Not saying Gaine wasn't the favorite but we were denied interviews by the Pats and Philly before we interviewed any other candidates.
crazy how bad they value this guy.. this guy would be a good get.. You can tell by the way the Patriots handle this guy
Yes but... they knew - or had to know - they were going to be denied access to still-active candidates. And, while, again, I think McNair's failing health may've been a factor - they could've merely waited for those teams to finish the postseason. It's not like they were needs in January for a GM.
Read the tweets and articles. Those requests were made with full knowledge that they would be declined. The teams were in the playoffs. Every reputable source said from the beginning (literally the day after Smith's resignation) that Gaine was the frontrunner. Rappaport, Breer and McClain were in agreement that Gaine was always the frontrunner. Edit: And to add, if getting Caserio was their dream that year they could have simply waited until the end of the playoffs and they wouldn't have been able to be refused. They had one serious interview and hired the guy.
Yeah; that's my guess, too. Caserio put the bug in BOB's ear about Easterby. It's very probable that the three of them conspired to make this happen. BUT! I can't imagine BOB had any grounds to march into Cal's office 17 months after signing off on Gaine and demanding they make a change. This almost certainly had to come from Easterby. How involved BOB was.... don't know.
Everyone overlooks that Gaine was not hired as a result of the previous GM being fired. Smith left the position for (perhaps temporary) personal reasons and the organization likely valued continuity in his replacement. Gaine was an obvious choice for that even if he may not have been otherwise. No one on this board knows the politics of that decision or now this one.
I don't disagree - I don't know anything about GM's and, in Houston in particular, we never can figure out if GMs or coaches are responsible for various players, etc. So I can't really evaluate either Gaine or this new guy, and don't really care one way or another about the hire. I hope you're right that it puts BOB on the hot seat, but his way of seemingly manipulatingly the organization and how everyone manages to gets blame for failures except him has me skeptical. The whole "only one losing season" thing seems to work as a defense for him, but doesn't seem so for the GMs, other coaches, etc who are getting fired around him. But I do think the "Patriots way" is highly overrated, so I'm hoping we're not relying on these people to make us the new Patriots. The Patriots way is based on two things: Belichick and Brady, and we have neither of those guys. We've learned that basically all the other players and coaches are interchangeable, and I imagine the front office personnel are the same (though again, no real clue). I'd rather try to build a Texans' unique identity than try to be a version of the Patriots missing the key ingredients. It's like a team trying to be the Warriors without Curry/Thompson or be the Spurs without Pop.
Gaine was an active candidate that year. Like I said, not saying Gaine wasn't their first choice but those requests were made/denied before we interviewed anyone else, not the other way around. And yes they could've waited if they really wanted to but there's risk in that as well, Gutekunst had already accepted another job and it could've been up to another month (which it ultimately was) before they could ask for permission again in hopes of it being granted. Even if not active, believe we still have to ask for permission just like we are waiting right now.
Three teams had a GM opening that season. Panthers, Packers and Texans. The Packers interviewed Jimmy Raye III, Martin Mayhew and Lake Dawson before hiring their own internal guy who had been the interim GM. They basically conducted a formality process before keeping the guy they had. The Packers interviewed two internal candidates and then did the same thing the Texans did, requesting interviews from playoff teams that got declined and then hired their own internal guy that had been the favorite all along. Gaine did not interview for any other jobs that offseason and the Bills weren't asked for permission by either the Panthers or the Packers. The Texans only formally interviewed Gaine and Jimmy Raye. That's it. They had a dinner with Brian Gutekunst but didn't do an interview. Literally every source tabbed him as the favorite within 24 hours of Rick Smith stepping down. They had not been formally rejected by the Patriots at that point and Breer and Rappaport were already saying Gaine was the favorite to get the job. As for waiting, you always have to ask permission to interview anyone that is under contract, but the teams can't deny it if it's a promotion UNLESS the are in the playoffs. McClay for example of Dallas didn't get denied permission, he just declined to interview.
All I’m saying is that the Texans requested and were denied interviews before we interviewed, had dinners, etc...with any other candidates, not the other way around as you posted earlier. As for why the Texans didn’t wait, you’re right in that teams cannot deny it after the season and it’s a promotion. But like you posted, there’s a chance (and a good once IMO) the Pats up the ante and he sticks around. Couple that with up to a month wait, very possible the Texans didn’t want to risk the wait and go with the sure thing. Believe Caserio had declined interviews in the past which makes things a little more dicey.
I don't think I said they got denied permission after the interviews. I said they knew full well they would be denied those interviews. They requested permission on Gaine when they did the others. What I did say is that all sources called Gaine the frontrunner before they were denied the other interviews. Before they interviewed Gaine. He was the presumptive hire before he was interviewed.
