Kubiak Is Texans’ Pick

The Houston Texans will hire Denver offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak to take over the worst team in the league and help decide what to do with the first pick in the draft.

Bob McNair, owner of the Texans, said during a news conference Sunday that the hiring won’t be completed until later in the week. The Texans couldn’t negotiate a contract with Kubiak until the Broncos were eliminated from the playoffs.

McNair’s announcement came about an hour after Denver lost to Pittsburgh, 34-17, in the AFC championship game.

“Hopefully we’ll have him down here by the middle of the week and he will then be assembling a staff,” McNair said.

There had been speculation for weeks that Kubiak would become the Texans’ second coach, replacing Dom Capers.

Capers was fired a day after Houston finished the season 2-14. He had led the team since its inception four seasons ago.

It will be Kubiak’s first head coaching job at any level. He spent the last 11 years with Mike Shanahan in Denver, helping the Broncos win the Super Bowl in 1998 and 1999.

“To lose him is going to be tough,” quarterback Jake Plummer said. “He really helped me step up in my career. We’ll miss him, but at the same time you’re excited for him. He deserves it, and he’s a great football coach.”

McNair said the improvements Plummer made under Kubiak’s tutelage were a big draw.

The Texans formally interviewed four offensive coordinators and six total candidates, but Kubiak was the front-runner from the beginning. It certainly didn’t hurt that he played in Denver for Dan Reeves, who is working for Houston as a consultant to McNair.

McNair said he chose Kubiak because he wants to revive Houston’s offense, which ranked 30th in the league and managed only 253.3 yards per game in 2005.

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The Buffalo Bills were close to hiring Dick Jauron as coach, and the former coach of the Chicago Bears was in town Sunday to finalize the deal, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Jauron confirmed to the AP that he was in Buffalo but declined to comment, referring questions to the team. The Bills would say only that they scheduled a news conference for today.

Jauron was 35-46 in five seasons at Chicago and was the NFL coach of the year in 2001 after the Bears finished 13-3.

Jauron spent the last two seasons as defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions and finished last season as the team’s interim coach after Steve Mariucci was fired in late November.

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Former Buffalo coach Mike Mularkey agreed to become offensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins.

Mularkey replaces Scott Linehan, who resigned Thursday to become coach of the St. Louis Rams.

Mularkey becomes the Dolphins’ fourth offensive coordinator since May 2004, and the seventh since Gary Stevens was fired after the 1997 season.

The Bills were 9-7 in 2004 and 5-11 this season under Mularkey.