The Texans made three coaching moves on Wednesday, re-signing assistant head coach/offense Alex Gibbs, promoting assistant defensive backs coach Ray Rhodes to senior defensive assistant and promoting defensive assistant Robert Saleh to assistant linebackers coach.
Gibbs and Rhodes, who have a combined 52 seasons of NFL coaching experience, were two of the team's biggest personnel acquisitions last offseason. Keeping Gibbs out of retirement represents a big victory for head coach Gary Kubiak and the Texans, who improved their yards-per-carry average from 3.8 to 4.3 in Gibbs' first year on the job. Gibbs will continue to implement his vaunted zone blocking scheme and mentor young coordinator Kyle Shanahan. He'll also have the chance to coach with his son, David Gibbs, whom the Texans signed to coach defensive backs earlier this offseason.
Rhodes, a former NFL Coach of the Year, will take on increased responsibilities in Frank Bush's first year as a defensive coordinator. Rhodes has nine seasons of experience as an NFL defensive coordinator and five as a head coach.
Saleh began his NFL career as a coaching intern with the Texans in 2005 and spent the next three seasons as a defensive quality control coach. He has worked closely with linebackers coach Johnny Holland and former defensive coordinator Richard Smith in previous seasons.
