Texans' Capers Ready To Begin Work

Monday, January 22nd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

HOUSTON (AP) â€” It's not easy to get the kind of experience that Dom Capers has on his resume: successfully building an NFL franchise from the ground up. That was a big reason the expansion Houston Texans made him their first head coach.

Capers, who took the Carolina Panthers from nothing to the playoffs in two years, officially signed a six-year contract with the Texans on Sunday.

``We've visited with a number of qualified coaches that we think the world of and any one of those coaches could have coached this team and done a wonderful job,'' owner Bob McNair said. ``But the only one that had the kind of background we were looking for was Dom and that made him stand out.

``He's been through the process before with Carolina and putting a staff together and starting an expansion team is different from stepping into an existing club. There's no way you can know how much extra work goes into a start-up unless you've been there.''

Capers, who has been defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars the past two seasons, will have plenty of time to put his experience to work. The Texans don't begin play until 2002.

``When you have a second opportunity, the experience of the first one you take and use that to your advantage,'' Capers said. ``Hopefully, you're much better prepared for the pitfalls you faced through your first experience.''

Capers will earn $300,000 this year, then begins a five-year contract worth $9.5 million.

Capers, 50, led the Panthers to the NFL title game in their second year in 1996 and earned NFL Coach of the Year honors. In Carolina's first year, his team won seven games, the most ever for an expansion team.

He was fired after the 1998 season when the Panthers slipped to 4-12. Coach Tom Coughlin of Jacksonville, also an expansion team, then hired him.

``This has been a positive experience for me to be in Jacksonville and to study both franchises,'' Capers said. ``Obviously, the first four years, Tom and I were compared almost every day. You come in and it becomes a competitive thing.

``I think a lot of people were surprised when I came here as the defensive coordinator but I had a tremendous amount of respect for Tom and the Jaguars. You know what you have to go through.''

Capers agreed in principle to coach the Texans late Friday but final details of the contract delayed his signing until Sunday.

Capers began his coaching career in 1972 at Kent State, where he was a graduate assistant for three seasons. He then had assistant coaching jobs at Washington, Hawaii, San Jose State, California, Tennessee and Ohio State.

In 1984, he joined Jim Mora's staff with Philadelphia and Baltimore of the USFL. In 1986, he followed Mora to the NFL with New Orleans. In 1992, Capers went to the Steelers as defensive coordinator, then to Carolina in 1995.

Texans general manager Charley Casserly, former general manager of the Washington Redskins, has had an eye on Capers for a while.

``If I'd taken another job that needed a head coach I probably would have offered him a head job a year ago if I'd been at another place,'' Casserly said.