HOUSTON -- Houston Texans executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby will handle general manager duties for the rest of the season, team owner Cal McNair said Wednesday.
"We will start a search for the head coach and a GM on a permanent basis," McNair said on the Texans' radio show. "And at that time, Jack [Easterby] will switch back to the job he had before, which is in football ops."
McNair, who fired head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien on Monday after the team got off to an 0-4 start, said he plans to go back to the way the franchise has been "structured traditionally," with the roles of head coach and general manager held by separate people. He said he has already started talking to a search firm and plans to hire the general manager before the head coach to "use [the GM's] expertise to find the right head coach."
Romeo Crennel, who had served as the team's associate head coach, was named the interim head coach on Monday.
The Texans chairman and CEO also told the Houston Chronicle he plans to wait until after the season to make the hires, saying, "We're going to do this the right way."
The plan is to "cast a broad net," McNair said, and "we have plenty of time to do that."