Kyle Shanahan has coached wide receivers and quarterbacks for the Texans since joining the team in 2006.
The Texans officially have named Alex Gibbs as their assistant head coach/offense and promoted Kyle Shanahan to offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.
Shanahan, at 28 years, 26 days old, becomes the youngest coordinator in the NFL. The next-youngest is New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who is 31 years old. Shanahan replaces Mike Sherman, who left the Texans to become the head coach at Texas A&M University following the season.
Shanahan worked with the Texans quarterbacks in 2007. Matt Schaub and Sage Rosenfels both had career years under Shanahan's guidance. Houston quarterbacks set a team record with 3,925 yards through the air and 24 touchdown passes on the season.
"He has proven not only to the quarterbacks who worked with him this past season, but to the whole offense that his knowledge is far beyond his years," Schaub said. "Age doesn't really matter when you know football as well as he does."
Schaub, who was acquired during the offseason from Atlanta, became the second Texans quarterback to throw for 2,000 yards in a season as he finished the year with 2,241 yards and set a personal best with nine touchdown passes.
"In the past 10 years, football has changed so much as far as how to be successful, how to score points, how to be successful and how to be a good football team," Schaub said. "I think Kyle really knows the next steps this offense needs to take. I think he's willing to put in the hard work and the effort to get that done."
Rosenfels became the first Texans signal caller to throw for four touchdowns in a game when he tossed four in the fourth quarter vs. Tennessee (10/21/07). He is second all-time in franchise history with 15 touchdown passes in a season. Houston and the New York Jets were the only teams in the NFL to have a pair of quarterbacks each throw for 1,500 yards last season.
Gibbs joins the Texans following a three-year stint (2004-06) with the Atlanta Falcons. He served as the assistant head coach/offensive line in 2004 then was a consultant to head coach Jim Mora from 2005-06.
A veteran of 23 NFL seasons, Gibbs is viewed as one of the best position coaches in NFL history. With Gibbs as the offensive line coach in 2004, the Falcons led the league in rushing with 2,672 yards. The rushing attack was stronger in 2006 as Atlanta rushed for 2,939 yards, which is the highest season total on the ground since 1984.
During Gibbs' three seasons in Atlanta, the team led the NFL in rushing with 8,157 yards. The second-highest total was the Denver Broncos with 7,024 yards. Atlanta was the only team over that three-year period to record a rushing average above five yards at 5.1 yards per carry.
Gibbs worked with Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, who served as the offensive coordinator in Denver, from 1995-03. During that span together in the Mile High City, the Broncos led the NFL with 20,150 rushing yards and ranked second in total offense with 54,167.
