Would you trust your NFL franchise to someone who's never been a head coach before -- on any level?
The Green Bay Packers did.
So did the New York Jets. The St. Louis Rams, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints fit that description, too.
Houston could join that group by the end of the week, followed eventually by Oakland.
The days of saying, "Not Marty Schottenheimer again," have been replaced by, "Who the heck is Mike McCarthy?"
Unlike the hiring class of 2004, when five of the eight coaches hired had previous head-coaching experience, NFL teams have gone out of their way to bring in fresh blood.
When the Texans officially hire Gary Kubiak as their next head coach, the number of first-time NFL coaches hired since the end of the 2005 season will jump to seven.
Only the Buffalo Bills (Dick Jauron) and Kansas City Chiefs (Herman Edwards) hired coaches who have been in charge before.
Three head coaches were hired last year, and all of them -- Miami's Nick Saban, San Francisco's Mike Nolan and Cleveland's Romeo Crennel -- were all first-time NFL head coaches.
Why the new trend?