Former Texans head coach David Culley admitted last season that General Manager Nick Caserio regularly communicated with him during games. Caserio defended his involvement on game day, pointing out he also wore a headset while director of player personnel in New England.
“My philosophy and goal has always been to just provide information where necessary, be a resource and be as helpful as possible, whatever that constitution is,” Caserio said after firing Culley.
While Caserio mainly listened while wearing a headset with the Patriots, he actively participated in Houston.
Culley had no previous head coaching experience before last season. However, the Texans’ new head coach, Lovie Smith, has spent 16 years as a head coach with stints with the Bears, the Bucs and at the University of Illinois.
In an interview with Rich Eisen this week, Smith made it clear he doesn’t expect Caserio to participate in any discussions during games.
“People do it a lot of different ways,” Smith said on the Rich Eisen Show. “I’ve been the head football coach for a long period of time. I haven’t had the General Manager involved on gameday and don’t plan on it. Things were done differently at different places. We have a system that we’re pretty comfortable with here. Nick and I have talked about that. Nick’s going to be available to help in any way that we think he should. We feel pretty good about that.”