Texans 'in talks' with DC Lovie Smith for head-coaching job?

After Smith spent three years as a high school coach in the early 1980s, his first college coaching gig came in 1983 with Tulsa as its linebackers coach. Smith spent three more years as a linebackers coach with Tulsa, then had the same role for one season with Wisconsin, four years with Arizona State and one with Kentucky in 1992.

Smith's final years in the college game until recently came as the defensive backs coach with Tennessee in 1993 and 1994, and Ohio State in 1995. The 63-year-old's first NFL job of his career came as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' linebackers coach from 1996 to 2000, before he served as the then-St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

The Gladewater, Texas native was the head coach of the Chicago Bears from 2004 to 2012 and the Buccaneers in 2014 and 2015. With the Bears, Smith compiled an 81-63 regular-season record and 3-3 mark in the postseason, which included an NFC title in 2006.

Smith went 8-24 over his two years in Tampa Bay before moving back to the college ranks with Illinois as its head coach from 2016 to 2020 and going 17-39. Smith was the Texans defensive coordinator in 2021, a season in which the club went 4-13.