McKenzie willing to listen to Texans

The Houston Texans have sent a fax to Packers general manager Ted Thompson, formally requesting permission to interview McKenzie for their vacant general manager’s position.

Texans owner Bob McNair is in Denver for the National Football League owners’ meetings, so nothing is expected to be scheduled between the Texans and McKenzie before Wednesday.

McKenzie, a former Knoxville Austin-East lineman and University of Tennessee linebacker, also said he had not been contacted by the Texans and no interview had been arranged, but his interest is obvious.

"Right now, I love working for the Packers," McKenzie said. "I’ll have to wait and see if they call me, wait and see what the next step is.

"I’m more than ready. If it is to be, it will be. Right now I am just flattered. If it happens, I’d be honored and would go in there with my hard hat and give it my best shot."

Less than a month ago, just after the April draft, the Packers extended McKenzie’s contract for two more years. McKenzie has worked with the Packers for 12 years and has been instrumental in finding and evaluating key free agents.

He does not have the type of personality to campaign for a job opening and had remained quiet on the subject until he fielded questions outside the locker room after the final practice of the Packers’ second May minicamp.

Going back to his time working under former general manager Ron Wolf, McKenzie has played a vital role in adding players like Santana Dotson and Andre Rison during the Packers’ run for the Super Bowl championship after the 1996 season.

His work at picking through the free-agent castaways to find help was never more evident than last season, when he brought in unknown Samkon Gado to help a depleted running back unit. Gado, who wasn’t even a starter at Liberty University, filled in adequately as the Packers’ primary ball carrier.

Wolf hired McKenzie in 1994 because he saw such potential.

"We felt like he would be something special; we hired him right away," Wolf said. "He turned out to be that. Now how he’s prospered from that point forward, I don’t know. But he has the gifts. But I knew him at the embryonic stages. I don’t know him now."

Wolf said he hadn’t kept in contact much with McKenzie since he retired as Packers GM but said he remembered McKenzie as a well-rounded member of the staff.

"He was a very good talent evaluator; he could negotiate quite well," Wolf said. "He understood how the salary cap worked; he understood how you had to play one side against the other in negotiation. He learned very easily and very quickly. He’s a bright person."

When McKenzie’s name began to circulate as a candidate for the Texans job about two weeks ago, Thompson was also complimentary of McKenzie’s abilities.

The Texans brought in their first candidate, Denver Broncos assistant general manager Rick Smith, for an interview on Friday. McNair said he would hire someone for the job who could work closely with coach Gary Kubiak, and McNair left the door open to the possibility that he could redefine the position somewhat to give the coach more say in personnel matters.

McKenzie doesn’t know Kubiak but that potential working relationship didn’t seem to send up any warning flags.

"I’ve heard a lot of good things about him," McKenzie said.

Former Packers coach Mike Sherman is on staff with the Texans now.

McKenzie has many factors to consider if an interview and offer materializes. He and his wife, June, a lawyer, have four school-age children. Longevity is rare in the NFL, yet the McKenzies have established themselves in this community and moving would be a big change.

"It would be tough," McKenzie said. "We love it here."

But McKenzie, a former 10th-round draft pick who had a seven-year playing career in the NFL as a linebacker, is also aware that African-Americans in such powerful positions are scarce. This could be the opportunity he has wanted for more than a decade.

"Yeah, I take pride in that," McKenzie said. "There’s a whole lot of stereotypes, labels for an ex-football player.

"My knowledge is there. I’m good at what I do. They’ll see that in the interview."