Culley already has his hands full considering Watson's trade request. Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
David Culley
You would like to give the Texans the benefit of the doubt on the hiring of David Culley as head coach. The Ravens assistant has worked for top minds like Andy Reid and John Harbaugh. But he is also a 65-year-old who has never called plays and seems like an out of nowhere hire.
Still, you would like to hope that it works out. But since Jack Easterby arrived on the scene and starting his bible-thumping and backstabbing, the Texans have traded Jadeveon Clowney for peanuts, overpaid on multiple contracts, made the horrid DeAndre Hopkins deal, lied to their quarterback who now wants a trade, hired a GM under suspicious circumstances and have generally become the joke of the league. If Watson is moved, it will look truly horrible if they are unable to get a Herchel Walker-type haul, and based on what we have seen so far from this group, they will probably give him away for nothing.
The hope is that Nick Caserio is the adult in the room, and that he and Culley will pull a big time deal and the team will start back on the road to mediocrity. Caserio is well respected around the league, and maybe he works out. His first coaching hire, however, has been met with a collective "huh?" Most surprising hires don't go so well. Remember Jim Tomsula?
However, there are some reasons to think it can work out. Yes, you have to dig pretty deep, but let's take a look:
1) You don't have to be a play caller to be a good coach. One only need to look at Culley's most recent boss, Harbaugh. The difference is everyone thought Harbaugh would be a great head coach and he was much younger, but he wasn't a play caller either. Neither was recent Eagles hire Nick Sirianni. Eric Bieniemy, everyone's favorite for the job, is not a play caller either. So there is no reason to hold that against him.
2) We've been begging for a coach and GM with a non-Patriots pedigree. So the Texans failed on that GM wise, but Culley is certainly a win in that regard. He was a part of two of the most successful non-Patriots coaching staffs, so if he can bring a little Chiefs and Ravens to the table, the Texans will be better for it.
3) Assistants will be the key. Tim Kelley will return as OC. He wasn't great last season, but his offense looked better than what Bill O'Brien ran (not saying much, I know). The run game was a disaster, but a better OL coach and better running backs could fix that. On the other side of the ball, Lovie Smith is an excellent hire. A very good DC who was not great as a head coach but has experience. That's exactly what a first-time head coach needs.
4) Culley seems to be respected and well liked. Let's face it, hardly anyone outside of Baltimore knows much about the man. He has not been considered a head coaching candidate, and seemed to be a lesser prospect than Ravens OC Greg Roman and DC Wink Martindale. It says a lot that he impressed the Texans more than some of the hotter names. Harbaugh raves about him, and others around the league sing his praises. Of course, many coaching hires are praised at the time and turn out to be Gus Bradley.
5) Winning back trust and delegating. The fan base is ready to revolt and wants Easterby's head. It's only going to get worse when the Watson trade happens, even if it turns out to be the right thing to do and a good haul for the Texans. Culley will have to manage that and get the franchise through the transition. If he can be a CEO-type coach who delegates responsibilities to his assistants and focuses on big picture and game management, the Texans could be just fine.
That's asking a lot. Maybe it will all be fine. Coaching hires are always a crap shoot. No one outside the Ravens knows what impact or responsibilities he had. Only the Texans know his plans and vision.
In the end, it's still a 65-year-old first time coach with no track record hired by a franchise that has made one bad move after another.
Hopefully this isn't another one.
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Mar 29, 2025, 10:03 pm
Houston spent time this week practicing an inbound play that coach Kelvin Sampson thought his team might need against Purdue.
Milos Uzan, the third option, ran it to perfection.
He tossed the ball to Joseph Tugler, who threw a bounce pass right back to Uzan, and the 6-foot-4 guard soared to the rim for an uncontested layup with 0.9 seconds left, giving the top-seeded Cougars a 62-60 victory — and a matchup with second-seeded Tennessee in Sunday's Elite Eight.
“Great execution at a time we needed that,” said Sampson, who is a win away from making his third Final Four and his second with Houston in five years. “You never know when you’re going to need it.”
The Cougars (33-4) made only one other basket over the final eight minutes, wasted a 10-point lead and then missed two more shots in the final 5 seconds. A replay review with 2.2 seconds left confirmed Houston would keep the ball when it rolled out of bounds after the second miss.
Uzan took over from there.
“I was trying to hit (L.J. Cryer) and then JoJo just made a great read,” Uzan said. “He was able to draw two (defenders) and he just made a great play to hit me back.”
Houston advanced to the Elite Eight for the third time in five years after falling in the Sweet 16 as a top seed in the previous two editions of March Madness. It will take the nation's longest winning streak, 16 games, into Sunday’s Midwest Region final.
The Cougars joined the other three No. 1 seeds in this year's Elite Eight and did it at Lucas Oil Stadium, where their 2021 tourney run ended with a loss in the Final Four to eventual national champion Baylor.
They haven't lost since Feb. 1.
Uzan scored 22 points and Emanuel Sharp had 17 as Houston survived an off night from leading scorer Cryer, who finished with five points on 2-of-13 shooting.
Houston still had to sweat out a half-court heave at the buzzer, but Braden Smith's shot was well off the mark.
Fletcher Loyer scored 16 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 14 and Smith, the Big Ten player of the year, added seven points and 15 assists for fourth-seeded Purdue (24-12). Smith assisted on all 11 second-half baskets for last year’s national runner-up, which played in front of a friendly crowd about an hour’s drive from its campus in West Lafayette.
“I thought we fought really hard and we dug down defensively to get those stops to come back,” Smith said. “We did everything we could and we just had a little miscommunication at the end and they converted. Props to them.”
Houston appeared on the verge of disaster when Kaufman-Renn scored on a dunk and then blocked Cryer’s shot with 1:17 to go, leading to Camden Heide’s 3 that tied the score at 60 with 35 seconds left.
Sampson called timeout to set up the final play, but Uzan missed a turnaround jumper and Tugler’s tip-in rolled off the rim and out of bounds. The Cougars got one more chance after the replay review.
Sharp's scoring flurry early in the second half finally gave Houston some separation after a back-and-forth first half. His 3-pointer at the 16:14 mark made it 40-32. After Purdue trimmed the deficit to four, Uzan made two 3s to give Houston a 10-point lead in a tough, physical game that set up a rare dramatic finish in this year's tourney.
“Smith was guarding the inbounder, so he had to take JoJo,” Sampson said. “That means there was no one there to take Milos. That's why you work on that stuff day after day.”
Takeaways
Purdue: Coach Matt Painter's Boilermakers stumbled into March Madness with six losses in their final nine games but proved themselves a worthy competitor by fighting their way into the Sweet 16 and nearly taking down a No. 1 seed.
Houston: The Cougars lead the nation in 3-point percentage and scoring defense, an enviable combination.
Scary fall
Houston guard Mylik Wilson gave the Cougars a brief scare with 13:23 left in the game. He leapt high into the air to grab a rebound and drew a foul on Kaufman-Renn.
As the play continued, Wilson was undercut and his body twisted around before he landed on his head. Wilson stayed down momentarily, rubbing his head, but eventually got up and remained in the game.