HOUSTON – The Texans promoted James Liipfert to executive director of player personnel from assistant director of personnel/director of college scouting.
The Texans added the title of executive vice president to general manager Nick Caserio.
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They officially named former Minnesota Vikings scout Chris Blanco as assistant director of player personnel. This is his second stint with the Texans where he was a pro scout. He was a starting cornerback at Darmouth and earned a law degree from Iowa where he worked as a recruiting assistant for the football team.
Liipfert previously worked for the Patriots for the past nine years, spending three years as a national scout before being hired as the Texans’ director of college scouting.
Initially hired by New England as a scouting assistant in 2009, Liipfert was an area scout for the Patriots for five years.
He was hired after finishing up a college football career at Georgia Tech, where he was a three-year letterman at linebacker and on special teams after walking on and earning a scholarship.
The Georgia native was an all-state selection in high school where he played fullback and linebacker. He was named Region Player of the Year.
Mozique McCurtis and John Ritcher were promoted to co-college scouting directors from their previous title of national scout.
Brad Matthews was named national scout.
The Texans named running backs coach Danny Barrett, who originally joined the Texans five years ago as part of coach Bill O’Brien’s coaching staff, assistant head coach.
Barrett is the position coach for Pro Bowl alternate running back Dameon Pierce.
A former Central Florida and University of Buffalo interim head coach, CFL quarterback and Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach, Central Florida running backs coach and Miami Dolphins running backs coach, Barrett, 61, formed a strong relationship with Pierce in his first NFL season.
Pierce frequently credited his work with Barrett for his fast transition to the NFL.
The Texans hired William Burnham as assistant special teams coordinator, replacing Sean Baker.
Burnham previously coached special teams at Kansas State and Virginia Tech.
Four months ago, the Texans hired Joe Vernon as special advisor to football operations. He was previously an attorney at Miller Canfield in Michigan.
Marc Lewis was promoted to director of applied sports science.
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.