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Tag: Wade Phillips

  • Mike Vrabel Hired As Assistant Coach Of Houston Texans

    Mike Vrabel is probably remembered by most people as a member of the outstanding defense that was present on the New England Patriots for several years, which earned him 3 Super Bowl rings.

    He has since retired, and has continued to work with the defense from the sideline as an assistant coach.

    Vrabel has spent the past three seasons as an assistant to Urban Meyer, operating as the linebackers coach where the former NFL player had played his college football.

    He recently got the same job when it was offered to him by the Houston Texans. While Ohio State is a great football program, anyone is likely to choose a job in the NFL over one in college, due to the talent that he gets to coach, and the exposure that he gets while in the NFL.

    Vrabel becomes the second defensive coach to leave the Buckeyes in recent weeks. The past couple of weeks have seen a lot of coaches being hired and fired, and the head coach of the Houston Texans was also hired recently when Bill O’Brien was given the job.

    The Texans quickly became one of the worst teams in the 2013 season, and are in need of some serious help as they enter the 2014 season. Mike Vrabel should have a bit of an edge when helping the team prepare for the Patriots since he is still familiar with Bill Belichick as a coach, although the Patriots are also still one of the best teams in the league.

    With Vrabel being hired and brought into the program, the two of them are already familiar with one another and should be able to work well together. Texans coach Bill O’Brien was an assistant with the Patriots during Vrabel’s playing days and competed against Vrabel’s Buckeyes as Penn State’s coach the past two years.

    Just after getting to Houston, O’Brien fired Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and most of the team’s position coaches, wanting to rebuild the team from the ground up.

    Mike Vrabel, after playing in the NFL for 14-seasons, will make his return to the field in 2014, and look to have success with the Houston Texans.

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  • Wade Phillips Fired by Houston Texans

    As the Houston Texans are in the process of making some very drastic changes, it’s been reported that Wade Phillips has been let go as the team’s defensive coordinator. The 66-year old quickly took to Twitter to thank owner Bob McNair, the players and the Texan fans.

    “Thanks to McNair family and great Texan fans and most all our players,” he wrote. “It was wonderful being home. I wish the best to all.”

    It was rumored that Phillips wanted to be the Texan’s head coach ever since since taking over the role for the last three games of the season, but it just didn’t work out, as it seems McNair wanted to start completely fresh, and who could blame him after the team had an extremely disappointing season of 2-14.

    In a separate Tweet, Phillips said that he wouldn’t be renewing the suite that he kept for Texan home games for obvious reasons, and some might say that his message had a tinge of sarcasm, as he wrote the following: “To Texan suite sales–I am sorry, but because of recent changes I will not renew my purchase of a suite. Hope u understand. Wade Phillips.” Which is surely to generate at least a chuckle from supporters of the Texas native.

    However, there’s still a good chance that Phillips can end up someplace else, either as defensive coordinator or as head coach, since he had pretty decent runs as coach with teams like the Buffalo Bills. He also coached the Dallas Cowboys pretty successfully, but failed to take the team to the playoffs.

    On Friday Jan. 3, the Texans named former New England Patriots offensive coordinator, Bill O’Brien as the team’s head coach. When he asked about who would be starting at quarterback next year, Phillips said is was way too early to make that call.

    “Just getting her yesterday, we’ve already started some of these discussions but they are very preliminary,” he said. “In every position we want a good team guy. We want a guy that is a hard worker, physically tough and mentally tough.”

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