Current Houston Coach and GM Hot Seat Rankings

Leadership positions in team sports can encapsulate the best of times and the worst of times, sometimes at the same time. First, to the good, the jobs of head coach (or manager, in baseball’s case) and general manager in pro sports generally pay really, really well, and if you love leading men, there’s no better job.

Now, to the bad, the concept of job security is almost a punchline. Even the best coaches and general managers are always looking over their shoulder. One bad season, or even one bad stretch within a season, and you’re all of a sudden wondering if you have to move your kids to another city, and another school district to make new friends.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and heavy is the head that wears the crown. These guys sign up for the pressure that comes with these seven and eight figure salaries. It’s always fun to do a heat check on the seats of the various folks in leadership positions with our Houston teams. So, let’s do it! As of the halfway point of the calendar year, here are the hot seat ratings on the coaches and GMs of our big three teams in town, in ascending order of temperature:

6. DeMECO RYANS, Texans head coach

DeMeco Ryans might have the coldest seat of any employee of any company in town, let alone the coldest seat of a sports management figure. The McNairs love him, he is the architect of the best defense in football, and, even though his team has hit its head on the ceiling the last three seasons, more people around the NFL see it as a matter of time for a Ryans-coached team to break through than see Ryans as some sort of choker.

RYANS SEAT TEMPERATURE: -5.6 degrees

5. NICK CASERIO, Texans general manager

Caserio has some similarly positive things going for him as Ryans does, namely the McNairs really like him, too, and he’s done a more than adequate job of rebuilding a franchise that was in shambles when he arrived in 2021. He’s put together one of the most talented rosters in the league. So why the temperature delay between Caserio and Ryans? Well, because, it’s been Caserio’s job to build an adequate running game and offensive line, and he’s not done that. If this team runs the football this season, and C.J. Stroud regains his form, Caserio flips to a negative temperature, like Ryans.

CASERIO SEAT TEMPERATURE: 36.3 degrees

4. IME UDOKA, Rockets head coach

Udoka’s seat temperature was probably a negative temperature, just like Ryans is now, after the 2024-25 season, after the Rockets went from 41-41 to the 2-seed in the West. However, the 2025-26 season, despite an identical won-loss record, exposed some warts with Udoka, namely his inability to cobble together a cohesive offense and penchant for blaming his players for the team’s failures. His job status is still very safe, but it’s much more rickety now than it was a year ago.

UDOKA SEAT TEMPERATURE: 58.2 degrees

3. RAFAEL STONE, Rockets general manager

While the Rockets’ head coach is relatively safe, things need to be heating up on the GM Stone. The decision to essentially roll without a point guard in 2025-26 after Fred Vanvleet’s injury essentially falls on him, and the fact of the matter is that San Antonio has sailed past the Rockets in the HOV lane of title contention. Sure, it’s not Stone’s fault that the Spurs won the lottery for Victor Wembanyama, but the Q-rating on the Rockets among fans right now is pretty low for a team that won 52 games and has a future Hall of Famer as its best player.

STONE SEAT TEMPERATURE: 82.1 degrees

2. JOE ESPADA, Astros manager

Espada and Dana Brown are both operating in the last season of their contracts, which is less than ideal for either guy’s job security. If I had to pick one to get fired, period, it would be Brown. If I had to pick one to get fired imminently, it would be Espada, only because general managers rarely get fired in season. So Brown’s seat, to me, is overall hotter, in terms of losing his job at some point. In other words, I think you can make more excuses for Espada, eventually, than Brown….

ESPADA SEAT TEMPERATURE: 92.3 degrees