Former Bucs head coach expected to join the Texans staff
By Adam Patrick
There has been a lot of success experienced by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the last few months and it has resulted in them earning a trip to the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history.
Before this season, however, the Bucs experienced multiple years of struggles and disappointment. Prior to this season, Tampa hadn’t even appeared in the playoffs since 2007.
During their 12-year stretch without a postseason berth, the Bucs went through four different head coaches. Some provided Tampa with a little bit of hope, but none of them could get the team back to being a consistent contender.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach expected to return to NFL
During their playoff drought, Lovie Smith was the head coach of the Bucs for two seasons from 2014 to 2015. Tampa only won 25 percent of their games under Smith, which is one of the main reasons why he only lasted two years with the team.
After struggling to turn the Bucs back into a winning franchise, Smith accepted an offer to become the new head coach at the University of Illinois in 2016. Illinois didn’t do much with him leading the way either and this past season, he was fired by the school after the team only managed to win two of their first seven games.
Smith hasn’t coached in the NFL since he was let go by the Bucs in 2016. But now, it sounds like the former Tampa head coach could be returning to the league in the near future.
On Wednesday, the Houston Texans hired David Culley to be their new head coach. Reportedly, Culley is expected to add Smith to the Texans’ coaching staff as the team’s defensive coordinator.
During his time as the head coach of the Chicago Bears, Smith’s teams were known for their defensive excellence. However, the same could not be said for the Bucs when he was their head coach in 2014 and 2015.
His defenses at Illinois weren’t outstanding either. During his five years with the school, the team finished with a ranking of 91st or worse in points allowed per game four times.
So despite the defensive success Chicago experienced under Smith, recent history suggests there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about him turning Houston’s defense into one of the NFL’s best units next season.