The Houston Texans will hire Denver offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak to take over the worst team in the league and help decide what to do with the first pick in the draft.

Texans owner Bob McNair said during a news conference yesterday that the hiring won't be completed until later in the week because the Texans could not negotiate a contract with Kubiak until the Broncos were eliminated from the playoffs.

McNair's announcement came about an hour after Denver lost to Pittsburgh in the AFC championship game.

"Hopefully we'll have him down here by the middle of the week and he will then be assembling a staff," McNair said.

There's been speculation for weeks that Kubiak would become the Texans' second coach, replacing Dom Capers.

Capers was fired a day after Houston finished its season 2-14. He had led the team since its inception four seasons ago.

Houston won four games in its first season, five in 2003 and seven last season before its 2005 meltdown.

Kubiak has been a highly regarded coaching prospect for several years, but this will be his first head coaching job at any level. He spent the last 11 years with Mike Shanahan in Denver, helping the team to back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1998 and 1999.

BILLS

SOURCE SAYS JAURON WILL BE HEAD COACH

Buffalo was close to hiring Dick Jauron as head coach, and the former Chicago Bears coach was in Buffalo, N.Y., yesterday to finalize the deal, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

Reached on his cell phone, Jauron confirmed to the AP that he was in Buffalo but declined to comment, referring questions to the team.

A person with direct knowledge of the decision told the AP that Jauron arrived to finish up some contract details. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the official announcement had not yet been made.

Bills spokesman Scott Berchtold declined comment except to say that the team has scheduled a news conference today.

Jauron went 35-46 in five seasons with the Bears and was the NFL Coach of the Year in 2001, after a 13-3 finish.

Jauron spent the past two years as the Lions defensive coordinator and finished last season as the team's interim coach after Steve Mariucci was fired in late November.

DOLPHINS

MULARKEY TO GUIDE TEAM'S OFFENSE

Former Buffalo Bills coach Mike Mularkey is headed home to his native South Florida.

Barely a week after quitting as coach of the Bills, Mularkey agreed yesterday to become offensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins.

The 44-year-old Mularkey grew up in Fort Lauderdale, then played at the University of Florida. He was offered the Dolphins' job when he met Friday with coach Nick Saban.

Scott Linehan, Saban's offensive coordinator last season, departed Thursday to become head coach at St. Louis.

Mularkey becomes the Dolphins' fourth offensive coordinator since May 2004, and the seventh since Gary Stevens was fired after the 1997 season.