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NFL: McNair press briefing

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(Opening statement) “Good evening. Thanks for coming out. As you know, we’ve been conducting our search for a head coach and now that Denver is out of the competition, I’ll be visiting with Gary Kubiak and hopefully we’ll have him down here probably by the middle of the week. He will then be assembling a staff. That’ll be the first order of business for him. And then after that, his staff along with our scouts will start evaluating our personnel. And that in turn will lead into determining priorities for the draft. So we’ve got almost three months for that whole process to take place. I look forward to getting Gary down here and I will probably be talking with him tonight or in the morning. I’ll give him some time to settle in after the game, and then we’ll be ready to move ahead.”

(on why he chose Kubiak) “I think the biggest challenge we have is from the standpoint of putting together an effective offense. We’ve had difficulty with that process in the past. Gary Kubiak is a person who played quarterback in the NFL. He has coached quarterbacks, he’s been an offensive coordinator. He has worked with young quarterbacks and been very successful. He worked with John Elway and of course, he’s a Hall of Famer. Then of course, they acquired Jake Plummer and they’ve made great strides in improving the performance of Jake Plummer and I think Gary’s responsible for that. I think that will fit in quite well with our team and allow us to make the most progress.”

(on Kubiak’s Houston roots) “I think that’s just a plus. I think the first thing is to get a (candidate) that you’re confident is a coach that’s qualified. Then in addition to that the fact that he went to high school here in Houston at St. Pius and then on to Texas A&M. He was a star there. He also coached running backs at A&M. His family lives here and his wife’s family lives here. I think all those are tremendous plusses and I think that had a lot to do with his desire to be with the Texans as opposed some other team. He’s been approached over the years by other teams to go elsewhere and I think this is where he wanted to be.”

(on where negotiations stand) “We could not engage in any negotiations until their season was complete and their season is just complete now. So I think that speaks for itself. We’ll get together this week and get all that wrapped up.”

(on if Kubiak is the only remaining candidate) “Yes.”

(on the timetable) “Well, he wanted to have time to take care of his affairs in Denver, talk to the players and say goodbye to the team he’s worked with for a long time. At this point in time, a day or two is not going to make that much difference. That was his call and I was happy to abide by that.”

(on at what point he knew Kubiak was his man) “We interviewed seven or eight different people. After we had completed the interview process, we sat back and reviewed all the candidates for two or three days and determined that he really was the right fit. There were a number of very highly qualified candidates that we spoke to. We were very impressed. There’s not one of them that we were not impressed with. They were all very impressive and did an outstanding job. Any number of them, I think could have performed well for us as a head coach, but I think Gary was the guy that stood out. And I think the hometown credentials, in this particular case, is an added plus for him.”

(on the difference between this interview with Kubiak and the one five years ago) “I think number one, he was so much better prepared. As you know, these interviews we conducted were quite extensive. They lasted quite a period of time. We had each of the coaches review with us some of our film and tell us about what they saw about our team. And then they reviewed some of their film, told us what they were doing with their team and changes that were made maybe during the game with the different defenses or offenses. So it really gave you a chance to see how they think. He was very impressive. He has a complete understanding of offense and in order to do that, you have to understand the defenses, too. He was very impressive in that regard. He was very confident, very self-assured. After we had visited before, my comment to him was he needed a little more experience. He said, ‘You were right back then, but I can just tell you, I’m ready now.’ And I felt that he is.”

(on the waiting period) “It makes it difficult when some of the candidates that you’re interested in are still playing. So we were able to interview Gary, but then after that we were not in position to have further discussions with him. So that makes it difficult because he’s busy preparing his team for the playoffs, so he’s not in the position to start talking to candidates for his staff. It’s a little frustrating in that regard because your hands are tied. But he’ll be in the position now to go full-speed ahead. He’s a great offensive mind so I think he really wants to get a strong defensive coordinator. He feels there are number of them that are available and hopefully we’ll be able to secure the one that he wants. Those decisions are going to be Gary’s. He’s going to be able to select his staff and we stand ready to help him in any way. I’ll help him, Charley Casserly will help him, but we’re really here to help Gary put his staff together. It’s his decision.” notas_de_prensa_archivo