Bill Kollar has 20 years of experience coaching in the NFL, including the last 19 as a defensive line coach.
The Texans have hired Bill Kollar as the assistant head coach/defensive line, the team announced Tuesday.
"I just thought it was a great opportunity to come down to be with an offense like they've got here," Kollar said. "It's always the same thing, you always want to get to the playoffs and hopefully end up making it to the Super Bowl. And I thought this would be a great opportunity."
{QUOTE}Kollar joins the Texans staff after spending the last three years coaching the defensive line in Buffalo. It wasn't easy for the Bills to let Kollar go, but they ultimately released him from his contract.
"Coach (Dick) Juaron had said when we first got there that he wouldn't hold anybody back if it was a move that you really wanted to make, and it was nice of him to give me that opportunity," Kollar said. "They had a squirt with the GM Russ Brandon and (Bills Owner) Ralph Wilson, and it went for quite a while. It wasn't like it was a one day deal. The Texans had been working on it for over a week, and it finally came to be the other day."
Kollar has 20 years of experience coaching in the NFL, including the last 19 as a defensive line coach. Prior to his stint with Buffalo, Kollar coached the line in St. Louis from 2001-05 and spent 11 years in Atlanta from 1990-2000.
He began his coaching career as a defensive assistant/special teams for Tampa Bay in 1984. He has made two Super Bowl appearances in his coaching career with the Falcons in 1998 and the Rams in 2001.
"I'm hoping the way I coach, I want the guys to play as hard as they can play," Kollar said. "I try to get the most out of the guys. So, that's what I'll be doing here is trying to get them to fly around the football."
Kollar, 56, spent a year as a graduate assistant at Illinois in 1985 following his year in Tampa Bay. He was promoted to defensive line/special teams coach for the Illini in 1986 and spent two years in that position. Kollar assumed the same role at Purdue from 1988-89 before returning to the NFL.
Kollar was an All-America defensive lineman at Montana State and earned the Most Valuable Player award at the 1974 Senior Bowl. He was selected in the first round (23rd overall) of the 1974 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals and played eight seasons for Cincinnati and Tampa Bay.
