Why Did Texans Fire Lovie Smith? Sources Reveal Motivation

By all accounts, it appears Lovie Smith's old-school nature got the best of him.

The Houston Texans fired Lovie Smith on Sunday, following one of the worst seasons in franchise history.

And while the Texans have received plenty of backlash for firing their third coach in three seasons, sources revealed to TexansDaily.com that Smith's tenure with Houston was far from a smooth road.

Among the chief reasons for Smith’s dismissal and concerns expressed by sources about Smith’s management style - the 43-year coaching veteran was not receptive to suggestions and feedback regarding strategy, scheme, practice routines, nor the use of analytics and other data to inform decisions.

Communication within the building had also deteriorated dramatically.

“Lovie would meet with players, but he would never use any of our suggestions and ideas,” a Texans player said. “It was bad. We wanted to be heard, and he ignored what we had to say. It was very frustrating. Talking with him became a waste of our time.”

Moreover, Smith allegedly didn’t implement suggestions from staff and kept a close counsel instead of embracing an interactive approach with several departments and subprograms in the building.

Smith was hired after a coaching search a year ago that drifted between former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores former NFL quarterback Josh McCown, and Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who is once again a candidate for the job.

“Ultimately, Lovie was a bad hire,” a source said. “He’s a good man and a good coach. It was just a poor fit.”

Smith, 64, was also characterized as an old-school coach who was as advertised in terms of applying a hard-nosed and hard-working approach to the game but was unwilling to adapt his patented and outdated Tampa Cover 2 scheme despite its predictability.

So in essence, though the Texans have been far from the model franchise in terms of stability, it appears that Smith was not without fault in playing a role in his own demise.

Either way, Smith is now out, and Gannon, along with many other top candidates are vying for his position. 

And presumably, those candidates will be more amenable to the process.

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