Kubiak has stayed true to his roots

Coach draws on Denver lessons in Houston

By Clay Latimer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Tony Dejak / Associated Press

Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak talks with his players during their 27-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns. The Texans, who have a league-high 17 players on injured reserve, are 6-7 after starting the season 2-0.

The Rocky / 2004

As Broncos offensive coordinator, Gary Kubiak, left, learned from coach Mike Shanahan. As a player, he backed up quarterback John Elway. "Mike worked my tail off. What I learned came from Mike Shanahan," Kubiak said.

Getty Images / 1989

Gary Kubiak, left and John Elway.

In the old neighborhood, it felt like 1975 again.

Gary Kubiak was back in town, dropping by his parents' small frame home on the north side after so many adventures in so many places, checking out nearby St. Pius High School after so many years, stepping onto a football field near Reliant Stadium, in the shadow of the Astrodome, where he once worked as a Houston Oilers ball boy.

It was a storybook moment - that winter day in 2006 when Kubiak returned to his hometown to coach the Houston Texans, determined to replicate the success he experienced as a Broncos player and coach for two decades.

Or at least it was meant to be.

Nearly two years later, with a game against the Broncos on Thursday night (6:15, KWGN-Ch. 2, NFL Network), Kubiak finds himself deep in the heart of another ragged season, his young team beset by losses, injuries and turnovers.

After starting training camp with big ambitions - “It's time we made the next step,” owner Bob McNair said - and the regular season with two victories, the Texans have lost seven of 11 games since, a familiar story for frustrated fans still waiting for the 2002 expansion franchise's first winning season.

But despite having a league- high 17 players on injured reserve and quarterback Matt Schaub stuck on the sideline because of a shoulder injury, the Texans (6-7) still rolled over Tampa Bay on Sunday - a gritty performance that impressed Broncos coach Mike Shanahan.

“You can see it. They have a lot of fight, a lot of character. They keep finding ways to compete,” Shanahan said.

In fact, as Shanahan's right-hand man for 11 years and John Elway's backup for nine seasons, Kubiak long ago learned how to seize a big moment and turn it to his advantage - a moment such as facing his former boss in prime time.

“It will be pretty emotional for me because I spent so many years and wonderful times with Mike,” Kubiak said of facing the Broncos at Reliant Stadium. “Not just with Mike, but with Bobby Turner and Rick Dennison and Mike (Heimerdinger) and Mr. B (Pat Bowlen). My life was right there for 23 years, as a player and coach. That's where I raised my kids.

“I look forward to it. But Mike's a heckuva guy to compete against because I think he's the best in the business.”

Different world

Broncos fans remember Kubiak as the ultimate backup - the good soldier who stood on the sideline all those years, wearing a baseball cap and carrying a clipboard; or as Shanahan's assistant, a down-home offensive coordinator with a gift for detail, getting along with players and knowing how to attack a defense, much like Shanahan himself.

“Mike worked my tail off. What I learned came from Mike Shanahan,” he said. “The discipline and the way he pushed my butt through many long nights.”

But Kubiak, 46, walked into a different world when he stepped off a plane in Houston in January 2006 - holding a one-way ticket. After inheriting a team with a league- worst 2-14 record, he quickly moved to remake the Texans in the Broncos' image.

Kubiak chose defensive lineman Mario Williams over legendary Texas quarterback Vince Young - who grew up three miles from Reliant Stadium - and Southern California running back Reggie Bush, the Heisman Trophy winner, with the first pick in 2006, one of the most controversial moves in draft history.

“I hope I don't ever get the first pick again,” Kubiak said.

After finishing his first season 6-10, Kubiak severed ties with quarterback Dave Carr - the embattled face of the franchise - and gambled the club's future on Schaub, an Atlanta Falcons backup.

Two weeks into the season, the Texans seemed poised to make a quantum leap, the playoffs no longer a pipe dream after they went 2-0 for the first time.

Coming up next were the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts, the team the Texans had beaten the previous Christmas Eve, a victory Kubiak celebrated by running off the field with a fist thrust into the air.

But the good times ended that weekend. Ahman Green, Jacoby Jones and Steve McKinney went down with injuries, joining standout receiver Andre Johnson and running back Ron Dayne, already on the sideline with ailments.

In another dark turn, Texans defensive tackle Cedric Killings lay motionless on the turf for several minutes after colliding with a Colts player on a kickoff.

As doctors worked on Killings, Kubiak stood nearby, quiet and shaken, only 24 hours after seeing his son, Klint - a Colorado State safety - collapse before a game at the University of Houston with internal bleeding and low blood pressure.

Although the Texans nearly overcame a 17-point deficit against the Colts with a spirited fourth-quarter rally, they won only one of their next six games - a squeaker against winless Miami - after the 2-0 start.

An offense built around Schaub, Johnson and Green has spent the equivalent of two full games on the field together, and a season that started with high hopes began to crumble, with critics pointing to bungled calls, blown assignments and a league-high 31 turnovers.

Despite it all, the young Texans were 5-5 and still poised to make a real run at a playoff spot before losing at Cleveland.

“Our team is learning to win,” Kubiak said. “We've just got to keep plugging. We've got some good young players; we're just going to have to continue to add to it for the long haul to be successful. But the work that's being done here is damn good work. I think we're headed in the right direction.

“I know what that experience of (winning a Super Bowl) feels like. To wake up every day in my hometown and have that same feeling some day is what drives me.”

Going home

Kubiak is a Texan to his marrow. Fishing, country music and grilling a T-bone in the backyard rank among his favorite things, though well behind football, which was his passion as a boy in the Heights, a 15-minute drive from his Texans office.

In some ways, Kubiak hasn't wandered far from his roots.

His peewee coach called him when he returned to town, 30 years after his last game. His mother phoned to chew him out after she learned he had ripped into Schaub at practice. He routinely drops by his parents' home, which is within punting distance of the YMCA where he spent endless hours.

“I've seen my folks more in the last 11/2 years than in the last 23,” he said. “They're right down the road. It's been special. My dad is sick; he has Parkinson's really bad. I get a good day a week to stop by and spend some time with him. Those things were gone for a while. So that's been a blessing - along with the job.”

Kubiak met his future wife, Rhonda, who lived four miles away, in ninth grade at St. Pius. They were married in June 1983, 21/2 weeks before he left for Broncos training camp.

“All our boys were born here. I made sure of that. They have Houston, Texas, birth certificates. Now we're finally home,” Rhonda said when her husband was hired.

Kubiak still has deep roots in Colorado. Two of his sons play football at Colorado State.

“I can't get (them) to come home,” he said.

Kubiak regularly talks with Shanahan, whose son, Kyle, is the Texans quarterback coach.

“I've got big pieces of Mike all around me,” he said.

And he keeps in touch with Elway.

“When I played, he used to give me guff about the way I threw the football,” Kubiak said, referring to his tendency to elevate his nonthrowing hand.

“I was looking in USA Today about a month ago and it had a picture of his kid (Jack Elway, with his left arm raised). I called him and said, 'Hey, that's one thing you learned from me.' “

Tough decisions

But idle hours are rare for Kubiak, who immersed himself in building his team as soon he signed a five-year contract for $10 million - hiring a coaching staff, evaluating every player on the roster, grading college players for the upcoming draft.

Yet the tone for an unusual season was set in his first news conference, when he addressed a question that was being asked by football fans across the country: Would he use the first pick in the draft on Young or Bush?

The selection of Young or Bush would have made the Texans the buzz of the NFL - and of Houston, where empty seats had become routine at games.

But Kubiak, determined to build a strong defense and committed at the time to Carr, rolled the dice with Williams, a soft-spoken defensive end, a move that drew boos and hoots from fans.

Only now does the selection look smart, but even when the criticism was at its peak, some skeptics praised Kubiak for the “Texan-like” way he stuck to his guns.

Carr was a different matter. After hiring Kubiak, the Texans paid the quarterback an $8 million bonus that extended his contract through 2008, partly because McNair believed in what Kubiak could do for Carr.

Kubiak's interview with the club included a video presentation offering specific ideas to improve the offense and the quarterback. As the 2006 season wound down, though, it was clear Kubiak had lost faith in the quarterback he originally had supported.

“You bring in the system, the way of teaching,” he said. “But you have to adjust to your people and personnel. One of the great things Mike taught me was that sometimes you get some ideas that aren't right. And you have to let them go. It's easy to say as a coach, 'I'm going to make this work. I'm the one who made this decision.' But he always hounded us, 'Hey, if you make a mistake on a player, if you make a mistake in a game, let it go. Go on to the next one. That's part of the job.' “

Special opportunity

The Texans banked their future - and $7 million in guaranteed money - on Schaub, who started two games in three years with Atlanta.

Though impressed with Schaub's physical tools and background in the West Coast offense at the University of Virginia, Kubiak arranged to play a round of golf with the free agent to get a better feel for his personality. He was sold by his final putt.

“We think we have a good one,” Kubiak said.

Schaub threw a 77-yard scoring strike to Johnson in the opener against Kansas City and two more to Johnson the next week in Carolina.

During a 23-10 win against the New Orleans Saints on Nov. 18, he completed 21-of-33 passes for 293 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers.

Schaub left a game against Tennessee two weeks later with a dislocated shoulder - a snapshot of a season that has become an endurance test for Kubiak.

After leaving Texas A&M in 1983 to play for the Broncos, he experienced only two losing seasons in 23 years as a player and coach.

In Kubiak's final game as a player, the AFC Championship Game in January 1992 against the Buffalo Bills, Elway went down with an injury in the second half, the Bills leading 10-0.

Eager to seize his moment, Kubiak completed 11-of-12 passes for 136 yards in less than a quarter, rushed for 22 yards, led an 85-yard touchdown drive and nearly pulled out a win.

Before he entered the game with 12:40 remaining, he told Elway, “You've given me so many thrills. I'd like to give one to you.”

Now he's determined to do the same for Houston.

“I always wanted an opportunity to be a head coach, but I always liked the job I had,” he said. “I didn't want to be a head coach just to be a head coach. I wanted an opportunity that was special.

“I interviewed for (the Texans) job the first time it came around. I never dreamed the opportunity would come around again in my hometown. It's special.”

Kubiak file

After leaving Texas A&M in 1983 to play for the Broncos, Kubiak experienced only two losing seasons in 23 years as a player and coach.

Participated in six Super Bowls with the Broncos

and San Francisco 49ers. He lost three as a player and won three as a coach.

In nine seasons (1983 to 1991) with the Broncos, threw for 14 touchdowns and 1,920 yards while backing up Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway.

In 11 years as offensive coordinator, the Broncos amassed 66,501 yards and 465 touchdowns, most in the NFL during that span. Has coached 14 Broncos who made the Pro Bowl.

Attended Texas A&M, where he was selected All-Southwest Conference in 1982.

Began his coaching career in 1992-93 as the running backs coach at Texas A&M.

Started his NFL coaching career with the 49ers in 1994. As quarterbacks coach, he guided Hall of Famer Steve Young to his best season as pro. Young was named NFL Most Valuable Player for the second time.

Football family

Klint Kubiak, oldest son of Gary, led Colorado State in tackles as a sophomore, but his junior season ended in September, when he was hospitalized because of a bleeding ulcer

while the Rams were playing at the University

of Houston. The Regis High School graduate

redshirted this season and will return next season

with two years of eligibility remaining.

Klay is a CSU redshirt freshman quarterback.

Klein plays receiver for his high school team in Houston.

Player?s coach

Ten years ago, Broncos receiver Rod Smith struggled through a subpar game, dropping passes and missing assignments.Gary Kubiak, then a Broncos assistant, put an encouraging

note in his locker ? an example, Smith said, of Kubiak?s ability to relate to players. “I still have it, 10 years later,” Smith said.

“One of the things that makes Gary such a good coach is that he?s so (even keel). The ups and downs don?t get to him. I mean, he was a quarterback.”

Almost a Buffalo

When Rick Neuheisel left as coach at Colorado on Jan.

9, 1999, then-CU athletic director

Dick Tharp asked Kubiak to take over the program. When word leaked, Kubiak said there were 106 messages on his answering

machine from potential assistants. The morning after the Broncos beat the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game, Kubiak made public his decision to stay in the NFL, saying he

wanted to focus on winning the Super Bowl, which the Broncos did for the second time.