(SportsRadio 610) -- The Texans have become a living, breathing Spiderman-pointing meme.
What’s old, is new again. Bill O’Brien with a side of Jack Easterby has become Nick Caserio, with a side of Jack Easterby likely still in place.
What do Texans fans and The Who have in common? They both said They Won’t Get Fooled Again … but Texans fans, apparently, did.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Or as Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson put it in a late-night tweet after it was reported the Texans had a deal in place to make Caserio the next general manager: “Some things never change”
OBLIGATORY AND CRUCIAL DISCLAIMER: Caserio deserves a chance to prove things will, in fact, be different as Patriots South entrenches itself at NRG Stadium yet again.
SPOILER ALERT: It won’t happen.
And the reason the new czar won’t get that chance is not so much because of his resume, which can be interpreted any number of ways, given the relative all-encompassing power his former Patriots boss Bill Belichick had with the Patriots.
It’s because of how Caserio’s hiring came about.
It had all the markings of Easterby wagging the dog, convincing Texans CEO Cal McNair to make the search for a new regime look open-minded and all-encompassing, but in reality simply putting on a show.
It all came across as a well-orchestrated sham – the hiring of a search firm, the building of a committee of advisers, the interviewing of candidates from every corner of the league.
Duped. Hoodwinked. Led astray.
Many Texans fans must feel that way today, if for no reason than common sense. After all, while it is quite possible Caserio definitively impressed McNair more than any other candidate, it seems much more likely his hiring was preordained.
If the search truly was unbiased and fresh, would McNair have landed on Caserio?
Consider:
Watson just this week said the Texans needed a culture change and, “too many people think they have this power.”
Yet Caserio is an extension of the Patriots Way that brought former coach Bill O’Brien and the Easterby-Caserio relationship has all the markings of being a similar two-headed monster like the previous regime.
Caserio even often uses the same catchphrases and terms that Easterby often does: Serve. Be the best he can be. Tough, smart, dependable.
McNair went out of his way to say the decision to hire a new coach and GM was going to be his and his alone, even very publicly announcing the hiring of the search firm Korn-Ferry.
Yet while interviewees for the GM job Matt Bazirgan, Trent Kirchner, Omar Khan, Louis Riddick and Scott Cohen all were recommended by Korn Ferry, Caserio was not. Hmmm.
McNair equally very publicly announced a search committee of highly respected NFL and sports power brokers who he said would assist and influence the search.
Yet the committee never met and by many accounts proved to be a committee in McNair’s view only. When asked about interviewing Spurs GM R.C. Buford, who was on the committee, a Spurs spokesman said, “We have enough on our plates … Will let the Texans tell their story on their current and future organizational plans.”
Super Bowl winning coach Tony Dungy even said, “No. Don’t start the rumor … all of a sudden it became, you’re on a committee … I’m not picking the person, all I’m doing is giving Mr. McNair a formula.”
McNair also said Easterby would not be a part of the interviewing or hiring process.
Yet SportsRadio 610’s John McClain reported on Chron.com that Easterby flew to New England with Cal McNair to pick up Caserio and bring him to Houston for his official interview.
Meet the new boss. Then again, no need. You know him already. Or more precisely, you know them.