On Monday the Texans hired Cedric Smith to be the team's new strength and conditioning coach.
New strength and conditioning coach Cedric Smith brings a unique perspective to his job with the Texans: He spent seven years in the NFL as a player, and he's been in the league the last nine years as a coach.
Smith was officially hired Monday in Houston, and he's happy to be a Texan.
"I'm extremely excited to be here," Smith said from his team office. "Knowing Gary Kubiak, knowing Rick Smith from being in Denver, I look at it as a great opportunity to be part of something special here, with a team up-and-coming and on the cusp of winning a championship."
Smith spent the past three seasons as the Chiefs' strength and conditioning coach after spending six years in Denver as an assistant in strength and conditioning with the Broncos. His familiarity with Smith, Kubiak and their system of doing things is something he appreciates.
{QUOTE}"To me it is a natural fit, having a chance to work with great personalities and good people that you know," Smith said. "After having a chance to work around them and understanding their mindset, it's just a natural fit."
Smith went right to work implementing his plan for the players, and he did so in between various meetings on Monday. He explained his philosophy in a fairly simple manner.
"As much as we can do to create better football players, stronger, faster, whatever is needed to create better football players," Smith said. "We want to create a great mindset and a great physical base to build from."
Before Smith joined the Broncos in 2001, he was a fitness manager and consultant with Gold's Gym in Phoenix for two years. Prior to that, he played seven seasons in the NFL as a fullback with the Cardinals, Redskins, Saints and Vikings.
A native of Enterprise, Ala., Smith's best NFL campaign was in 1994 with Washington, when he played in 14 games (eight starts), and averaged 4.8 yards a carry while catching 15 passes for 118 yards (7.9 avg.). Smith scored four career touchdowns in the NFL.
He played collegiately at the University of Florida, starting at fullback for three years and clearing the way for Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith. He graduated from Florida with a degree in Health Sciences and was a three-time Academic All-SEC selection.
Also Monday, the Texans promoted Perry Carter to assistant defensive backs coach. Carter, 38, heads into his fifth season on the Texans staff. He spent the last four seasons as a defensive assistant, working primarily with the defensive backs. Carter originally joined the Texans staff during training camp in 2006 as part of the NFL's Minority Coaching Fellowship program and was hired in a full-time capacity that season.
Carter began his coaching career in 2004 as the secondary coach at Texas A&M-Commerce. After a year in private business, he returned to coaching in 2006 as the defensive backs/defensive assistant coach for the Hamburg Sea Devils of NFL Europa.
Carter was a four-year letterman at Southern Mississippi from 1990-94 and was drafted in the fourth round of the 1994 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. Carter played for Kansas City in 1995 and Oakland from 1996-98. He also played five seasons in the Canadian Football League with the Edmonton Eskimos (2000-01), Montreal Alouettes (2002) and British Columbia Lions (2003-04).
