Last last night word began to break the the Texans had made a decision on the candidate to fill the lone remaining head coaching opening in the NFL.
Ravens assistant head coach / wide receivers coach / passing game coordinator David Culley will be the new head coach of the Texans, according to multiple reports last night from NFL insiders like Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport.
Back in early October, the Texans decided to take the franchise in a new direction letting go of head coach Bill O'Brien after an 0-4 start to the year. Normally a move that early in the year would provide ample opportunity to get a head start on their search, however, O'Brien also acted as the general manager, so the organization filled that role first with the hire of Nick Caserio, who effectively hit reset on the head coaching search after being brought on.
After bringing in a number of candidates, and then finalists that included former Colts and Lions head coach Jim Caldwell, Culley rose to the top as the choice in Houston.
The Ravens assistant spent the past two seasons on Jim Harbaugh's staff, and has spent a total of 27 seasons in the NFL. He also had stops in college working with offensive skill players at Austin Peay, Vanderbilt, MTSU, Chattanooga, Southwestern Louisiana, UTEP, and Texas A&M before moving on to the NFL in the mid-90's.
Due to new incentives in place to encourage NFL teams to provide opportunities to minority candidates at the GM and head coaching positions, the Ravens will be rewarded with two third-round compensatory picks (2021 and 2022) as a reward of sorts for developing Culley.
Culley, who is 65, joins a small list of NFL minority head coaches that includes Brian Flores (Dolphins), Mike Tomlin (Steelers) and Ron Rivera (Washington Football Team) and he becomes the second minority head coach of this off season cycle, joining Robert Saleh (Jets).
One interesting nugget as the NFL coaching carousel comes to a close - every single one of the seven new head coaching hires is a first-time (permanent) NFL head coach, and Urban Meyer is the only new head coach who has any substantial previous college or NFL head coaching experience.
With their new head coach and GM in place, the focus for the Texans will turn the important question of star quarterback Deshaun Watson's future with the organization, which will be a major storyline of the off season.
And finally, because this is too great not to share, a photo from Culley's playing days at Vanderbilt has to be seen....
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest, and see some of the reactions of Culley's hiring below.