DeMeco Ryans wants to build a team that embodies his vision for a successful football program, one that mirrors his hard-hitting style as a retired Pro Bowl linebacker.
As Ryans makes his regular-season head coaching debut Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, he’s looking for his team to display these qualities: smart, tough, aggressive and resourceful.
Ryans wants to be an agent of change, and hopes to engineer a turnaround for a franchise with a combined record of 11-38-1 over the past three seasons. There has been no stability in the head coach’s office with four in the past four years: Bill O’Brien, David Culley, Lovie Smith and, now, Ryans. Ryans has a long runway, the total support of the organization and the Texans’ locker room.
“He’s taking it personally, I feel like,” said Texans Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil, the highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL.. “I think it’s very important to him. He wants to change the program around. I think we all want to change the program around. When he came in, the things he speaks about, we believe in, and we want to get things done with him.”
As the architect of the San Francisco 49ers’ top-ranked defense last season, a coaching performance that earned him NFL Assistant Coach of the Year honors, Ryans emerged as one of the most sought after coaching candidates this past hiring cycle.
Now, Ryans wants to build a winner from the ground up, forming a sturdy foundation and a high standard. It’s a stout test for the overhauled Texans on Sunday against the Ravens, a playoff squad headlined by quarterback Lamar Jackson, wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and standout linebackers Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen.
It has to start somewhere, and the Ryans era begins on the road in Baltimore.
“I want to see our team go out and play with effort, precision, and physicality,” Ryans said,. “I want to see us play clean football. I want to see us play together. All 11 guys playing together, all 11 guys being on the same page and playing as hard as we can play. It’s going to be a physical game, so I want to see our team be the most physical team on Sunday. We know we’re going to have to bring it because we’re going against a really tough opponent.”.
As a player, Ryans was a two-time Pro Bowl selection. He earned team captain status immediately. And he emerged as the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. To his teammate, he was simply ‘Cap,’ and he earned their respect.
Now, Ryans is back in Houston determined to turn things around and build a winner after three consecutive losing seasons prior to his arrival.
“This is a special place to me,” Ryans said. “Being back here, coaching for the Houston Texans, it’s a special place. A special opportunity, but I never let that get ahead of me, and I never lose sight of I’m tasked with the job of leading these young men, leading this locker room into a different era.
“The past is the past. I had great memories here. Great friendships, great relationships, great teammates along the way, but it’s a new day in Houston Texans football, and I’m happy to lead the charge of the new way and create a new path for the Texans.”
New York Jets coach Robert Saleh isn’t the least bit surprised by the meteoric rise of new Texans coach DeMeco Ryans from a star linebacker into an ultra-professional coach who thrives as a leader of men and a consummate teacher.
Saleh was on the Texans’ coaching staff when Ryans was playing in Houston as a defensive standout. Then, Saleh worked with the former Alabama consensus All-American with the San Francisco 49ers when Ryan was a quality control and linebackers coach before ascending to defensive coordinator when Saleh became a head coach with the Jets.
“DeMeco is awesome,” Saleh said. “He’s going to do great. This is a really cool opportunity for him. Captain ‘Meco: phenomenal, family man, obviously relatable. As a former player, he has that empathy and relatability. He’s very, very smart. He’s always trying to learn. I think that’s what you appreciate the most out of him.”
Ryans has always had a thirst for knowledge and is never complacent in wanting to improve.
That’s what stands out to Saleh as Ryans has made a smooth transition from playing the game as an instinctive linebacker into a coach who communicates on a deep level with his players.
“Former players, most of the time, it’s an adjustment,” Saleh said. “You have to learn a way to teach it. The natural instinct is you want to teach it the way you did it, but not everybody is like you. DeMeco was an All-Pro football player. He remade himself into a teacher and learned all the ways that guys can play the game To implement what he learned to maximize all the guys around him, that’s what makes him special.”
Like Saleh, Ryans will call the defensive plays.
And he’ll be the primary game manager, making the important decisions. He feels well-prepared for the task at hand.
“One thing that definitely came true is that you can’t do it all alone,” Ryans said. “You have to have great help and you have to learn how to delegate and trust the people around you, and that’s one thing that’s rang true to me as a head coach. It’s a lot of work, but I love it. I love coming to work every day, and I’m really appreciative of all the help that I have around me.
“Won’t worry about individual accolades, but we’re going to be successful when everyone plays together as one single unit. I just want to see us go out and play complementary football, all three phases in sync, being where we are supposed to be, being accountable, being trustworthy to each other, and playing with that enthusiasm and fire that I truly believe in that ignites a team.”
Long ago, Ryans began on this path to become an NFL head coach. It’s a message he received from his grandmother who put the idea on his mind. Ultimately, that became a goal and now it’s a reality for Ryans as he leads the Texans against the Ravens and Super Bowl winning coach John Harbaugh.
“My grandmother told me before she passed, ‘You’re going to be a head coach one day,’” Ryans said. “I remember that day of talking to her and it always kind of stuck with me that she told me that. I never knew when and where, how it would happen, but that did put the head coaching gig on my radar when she told me that.
“And it’s come true, so I’m just thankful to be in this position, and, again, I always just go back to the reason why I coach: It’s just to help these young men be successful in their football careers and also off the field. Their roles as husbands, fathers, as men in the community, I just want to help these young guys be successful, and that’s why I coach. That drives me every single day to make sure these men are their best at what they do.”
Aaron Wilson is a contributor to Sports Talk 790.
Photo: Wesley Hitt / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images