Daniel Calhoun "Cal" McNair (born October 24, 1961) is an American businessman and sports executive. He currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL).
Early life and education
McNair was born in Houston, Texas, on October 24, 1961, to Bob McNair and Janice McNair. He attended Spring Forest Middle School in Houston, where he played running back on the football team along with future NFL player Craig James. He then went to Cypress-Fairbanks High School. McNair earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a walk-on member of the Longhorns football team, and subsequently graduated from Rice University in 1995 with a Master's in Business Administration.
Business career
McNair became one of the first employees of his father's company, Cogen Technologies, in 1987. While working there, he worked in financial analysis and project management, supervising the construction of multiple power stations in the eastern United States. Currently, he is an executive for the Palmetto Trust Company and RCM Financial Services.
Texans front office
McNair has had a role with the Texans franchise since its creation, and played a role in selecting many of its coaches and general managers. He was named vice chairman of the team in 2008, and chief operating officer in 2012. McNair assumed more responsibility after his father was diagnosed with cancer in 2013, and was promoted to chairman in July 2018. Then, after Bob McNair died in November 2018, Cal McNair took over the franchise's day-to-day operations. He was officially made chief executive officer in January 2019.
During McNair's early tenure as Texans CEO, the team employed Jack Easterby, who was originally hired in April 2019 as the Texans' executive vice president of team development before being promoted to executive vice president of football operations and serving as interim general manager. Sports Illustrated noted that Easterby seemed to have a strong influence on McNair, in part due to their shared religious faith, and interviewed Texans staffers, some of whom portrayed the CEO as bumbling or overly trusting. Since Easterby's hiring, there have been many high-profile departures of Texans employees, including those directly involved in football operations such as general manager Brian Gaine and head coach Bill O'Brien (the former fired after less than two years as GM), and those working for the franchise in other areas, such as J. J. Moses, Amy Palcic, and Jamey Rootes. In a December 2020 statement, Cal McNair took responsibility for each decision to fire employees. During the 2020 season, in which Houston went 4-12, McNair had several meetings with Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, during which Watson requested that his opinion on head coach and general manager candidates be taken into account. However, the Texans hired Nick Caserio as general manager without consulting Watson, and did not include his preferred head coach candidate, Eric Bieniemy, on their original interview list. McNair explained this by saying that the organization had been waiting for Caserio's list of head coach candidates, but admitted that Watson was "disappointed in the (lack of) communication during the hiring process" and apologized for doing and saying things which "created mistrust". Due to these events, Watson requested a trade from the Texans. After he sat out the entire 2021 NFL season because of sexual assault accusations made against him by multiple female massage therapists, Watson was eventually traded to the Cleveland Browns. The Texans faced lawsuits from many of these women alleging that the franchise had enabled its quarterback's behavior, which the McNairs chose to settle without admitting wrongdoing as a demonstration of their opposition to sexual misconduct. Easterby left the Texans in October 2022, a decision which the team characterized as mutual, and which was praised by members of both the organization and the Houston media.
In October 2021, Michael Silver of Bally Sports reported that in May of that year, McNair had referred to Covid-19 with the racially insensitive term "China virus" at a charity golf tournament benefitting the Houston Texans Foundation. McNair apologized for what he termed "an inappropriate choice of words."