Romeo Crennel

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Romeo Crennel
Romeo Crennel 2005 (cropped) .jpg
born June 18, 1947 in Lynchburg , Virginia
Career information
Active : [[NFL |]]
Undrafted in 1970
College : Western Kentucky University
Teams

as an assistant coach

as head coach

* Interim trainer

Career statistics
Play as an NFL coach     95
G / V (NFL)     32:63 (33.7%)
Coaching stats at pro-football-reference.com
Career highlights and awards

as an assistant coach

Romeo Crennel (* 18th June 1947 in Lynchburg , Virginia ) is an American American football trainer. He is currently (2021) Senior Advisor of Football Performance for the Houston Texans in the NFL . Prior to that, he spent many years as an assistant coach with many different teams in the NFL and universities, and as head coach of the Cleveland Browns , the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Houston Texans on an interim basis.

Early years

Crennel first attended Central High School in Amherst , Virginia, before moving to Fort Knox High School on the Fort Knox Military Base in Kentucky . There he was active in the football and athletics team of his school. In the football team, he was primarily used as a defensive lineman . In his senior year at the school, he was elected his team's MVP . After graduating from high school, he moved to Western Kentucky University to continue playing football. After being talked about in his first year as a walk-on , he received a scholarship in his second year. From 1966 to 1969 he was a regular for his university, first as a defensive lineman, later as an offensive lineman . That year, Crennel was voted his team's MVP again. After graduating from college, Crennel hoped to be selected in the 1970 NFL Draft . After that was denied him, he decided to pursue a career as a coach.

Career as a coach

Early years of assistance

His first position as an assistant trainer was at his old university, where he became a graduate assistant in 1970. In 1971 he was coach of the defensive line and remained so until 1975. During this time he won the Ohio Valley Conference four times with his university . Crennel then moved to Texas Tech University , where he was a defensive assistant from 1975 to 1977. He worked for the first time under Bill Parcells , who was defensive coordinator at the university at the time. This was followed by brief positions at the University of Mississippi as a trainer for the defensive backs and at the Georgia Institute of Technology as a trainer for the offensive line.

Early assistantships in the NFL

In 1981 Crennel was first coach in the NFL. First he got a job with the New York Giants as Special Teams and Defensive Assistant Coach under the now new Head Coach Bill Parcells. In 1983 he was promoted to coach of the special teams, which he remained until 1989 before he was the coach of the defensive line. He held this position under Defensive Coordinator Bill Belichick . During the time with the New York Giants he was able to win with the team Super Bowl XXI and Super Bowl XXV . In 1993 he moved to the New England Patriots with Head Coach Bill Parcells and stayed there until 1996, before he changed teams again with Parcells, this time to the New York Jets . After the 1999 season , Parcells declared his temporary career end and Crennel moved to the Cleveland Browns , where he held the position of defensive coordinator for the first time. After only one season he was released there, however, and so he was defensive coordinator with the New England Patriots in 2001, where Bill Belichick was now head coach. In the following years he was able to win with the team Super Bowl XXXVI , Super Bowl XXXVIII and Super Bowl XXXIX . He was also named NFL Assistant Coach of the Year.

Head Coach of the Cleveland Browns

After his extremely successful time with the Patriots, Crennel was introduced as the new head coach of the Cleveland Browns for the 2005 season . However, he was not able to convince there in the first few years. In his first year there were 6 wins against 10 defeats, in his second year there were even 4 wins and 12 defeats. In the 2007 season , the Browns were able to increase their balance sheet significantly and won 10 of their games, but just missed the playoffs . After he was only able to win four games the following year, he was sacked as head coach of the Browns.

Coach with the Kansas City Chiefs

After Crennel subsequently suspended the 2009 season for hip surgery, he was appointed Defensive Coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2010. However, after head coach Todd Haley was dismissed from the club three game days before the end of the 2011 season , Crennel was able to lead the team to two wins from the last three games as interim coach. He was then introduced as permanent head coach of the Chiefs for the 2012 season . That year he won only 2 of 16 games with his team and was dismissed as head coach after just one season.

Coach with the Houston Texans

For the 2014 season, Crennel moved to the Houston Texans , where he was defensive coordinator under Bill O'Brien . Over the next three years, he formed the Texans defense around superstar JJ Watt into the best defense in the league in the 2016 season . Crennel was then promoted by O'Brien to assistant head coach, a position he held in the following years, partly parallel to his job as defensive coordinator. In the years under O'Brien, the Texans were able to win the AFC South four times and thus reach the playoffs. After losing the first four games of the season in the 2020 season, O'Brien was sacked as head coach of the Texans. As a result, Crennel took over the team on an interim basis until the end of the season and won 4 games with them, although there were also 8 defeats. Still, Crennel was the first African-American head coach in Texan history and the oldest head coach in NFL history. However , he did not remain head coach for the 2021 season ; with David Culley a new head coach was committed. Crennel remained on the coaching staff as Senior Advisor for Football Performance.

Career statistics as a head coach

team season Regular season Postseason
Victories Defeats draw Wins% placement Victories Defeats Wins% Result
Browns 2005 6th 10 0 37.5% 3rd in the AFC North - - - -
Browns 2006 4th 12th 0 25.0% 4th in the AFC North - - - -
Browns 2007 10 6th 0 62.5% 2nd in the AFC North - - - -
Browns 2008 4th 12th 0 25.0% 4th in the AFC North - - - -
Browns overall 24 40 0 37.5% 0 0 0.0%
Chiefs * 2011 2 1 0 66.7% 4th in the AFC West - - - -
Chiefs 2012 2 14th 0 12.5% 4th in the AFC West - - - -
Chiefs overall 4th 15th 0 21.1% 0 0 0.0%
Texans * 2020 4th 8th 0 33.3% 3rd in the AFC South - - - -
Texans overall 4th 8th 0 33.3% 0 0 0.0%
Entire career 32 63 0 33.7% 0 0 0.0%
Source: pro-football-reference.com

* - Interim trainer

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Romeo Crennel: Path to NFL runs through Knox. Accessed March 16, 2021 .
  2. ↑ a b Mr. Romeo Crennel. Retrieved March 16, 2021 .
  3. ^ A b c d Official Site of the Houston Texans. Retrieved March 16, 2021 (American English).
  4. ^ Former Red Raider Assistant Named Cleveland Browns Head Coach. Accessed March 16, 2021 .
  5. ↑ Browns can Crennel; Cowher doesn't want job. December 29, 2008, accessed March 16, 2021 .
  6. ↑ The Associated Press: Crennel Latest Ex-Patriot To Join the Chiefs' Staff (Published 2010) . In: The New York Times . January 14, 2010, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed March 16, 2021]).
  7. ^ Report: Kansas City Chiefs Fire Romeo Crennel, but Keep Scott Pioli. In: FanSided. December 31, 2012, accessed March 16, 2021 (American English).
  8. ↑ Crennel inks three-year deal as Texans DC. January 20, 2014, accessed March 16, 2021 .
  9. ^ Texans fire Bill O'Brien as general manager, head coach. Retrieved March 16, 2021 (American English).
  10. ↑ Oldest NFL coach ever: Texans' Romeo Crennel will break record in Week 5 that has stood for nearly 55 years. Accessed March 16, 2021 .
  11. ↑ Houston Texans Announce 2021 Assistant Coaching Staff. Retrieved March 16, 2021 (American English).
  12. ↑ Romeo Crennel Stats on pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
personal data
SURNAME Crennel, Romeo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American football coach
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Lynchburg , Virginia , United States