Texans: Team is relying on individual advisors, not a committee

[Toro]

Getty Images

In response to the report that the Texans have formed a five-person advisory committee to assist the formal search committee in its effort to find a new G.M. and head coach, the Texans say that it’s not actually a committee.

“The word ‘committee’ is being misused,” a Texans spokesperson told PFT. “They are individual advisors.”

The advisors, per the team, are operating on a voluntary basis, with no contracts or compensation for their time.

For starters, it’s unclear why five persons with real credentials and impressive accomplishments would provide free services to a multi-billion-dollar company making a decision that will dramatically affect its viability in the coming years. The firm of Korn Ferry isn’t running the search for free; Tony Dungy, Jimmy Johnson, Andre Johnson, Rod Graves and Spurs general manager R.C. Buford shouldn’t be working for free, either, in my opinion (which is also free, and is worth every penny).

The fact that the five persons aren’t working as an actual committee changes things, too. A group of five that meets and confers develops a personality of its own, like a jury does. If the group never meets or confers, Texans owner Cal McNair ends up getting give five different threads of input from five different people, along with the input McNair receives from Korn Ferry and team president Jamey Rootes.

On one hand, it’s good that McNair has broadened the lens considerably to seek input from many different people before making a decision. On the other hand, it’s fair (based on many past NFL hiring decisions) to wonder whether McNair already knows what he want to do and ultimately plans to do it, with the broad base of input merely creating the impression that he didn’t simply make the decision he would have made if he’d made it without so many other people involved.

Frankly, with the five advisors not working as a committee, their input potentially becomes diluted, making it more likely that McNair ultimately will do what he would have done even without input, as he listens to the various opinions and eventually accepts the advice of the person whose advice best meshes with McNair’s predisposition.