Adam Schefter reports that the Texans have signed HC Bill O’Brien and new GM Brian Gaine to five-year contracts.
The Texans have already confirmed the news in statements released by owner Bob McNair.
“Our committee was unanimous in praise for Brian Gaine and we are all aligned in our philosophy on how to continue to build our roster and win a championship,“ said McNair. “Brian is an incredibly smart, hardworking individual that understands the importance of good communication. We couldn’t be more excited about naming him our new general manager.”
“Bill O’Brien has been a tremendous leader for us these last four years and we believe in his vision for the team moving forward,” said McNair. “Bill is a terrific teacher that the players respect. We have a lot of trust in him to build a unified, championship culture and we’re thrilled to have him as our head coach into the future.”
Recent reports mentioned that Houston was negotiating with both O’Brien and Gaine and it appears as though they were able to strike similar deals with both of them.
The Texans made the decision to open the search for a new GM shortly after executive VP Rick Smith decided to take an extended leave of absence from the team in order to take care of his wife during her cancer treatments.
Smith has said that nothing has changed in regards to his position and he fully intends on returning to Houston at some point. However, McNair admitted that it’s possible Smith may not return to the team at a later point in time.
“Rick needs to take care of his family,” McNair said, via John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. “Hopefully, they’ll get good results this year. Some people have raised the question if Rick comes back at the end of a year, he’s going to have undue influence on the G.M. That’s not the case at all.
“Rick might not want to come back. We don’t know what Rick might do. That’s something we’ll discuss a year from now. The only concern is to take care of his family, and we’re not going beyond that.”
O’Brien, 48, was hired by the Texans back in 2014 after spending a few years at Penn State. O’Brien had one year remaining on his five-year contract.
Since taking the job with Houston, O’Brien has led them to a record of 31-32 (49.2 percent) to go along with two playoff appearances.
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