Rick Dennison (Denver Post file photo)

If Rick Dennison is hired by the Houston Texans as their offensive coordinator, as expected, it will end his long association with the Broncos — perhaps longer than anyone else on the football side of the team during Pat Bowlen's tenure as owner.

Dennison, who played tight end and stand-up defensive end at Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins and then tight end at Colorado State, played linebacker from 1982-90 for the Broncos. He has been an assistant coach for the team for 15 years. That is 24 years with the Broncos, covering five of the six Super Bowls the team has played in — two as a coach, three as a player.

The Broncos have had plenty of 1,000-yard rushers in Dennison's time as their offensive

line coach, and Detron Smith went to the Pro Bowl as a special-teams coverage player in Dennison's time as a special-teams coach.

The Broncos want Dennison to stay, but the opportunity with the Texans would put him in control of their running game and give him more play-calling influence.

Coach Josh McDaniels calls the plays for the Broncos and Mike McCoy carries the title of offensive coordinator. Dennison, who interviewed to replace Mike Shanahan before McDaniels was hired as Shanahan's successor, has been looking at a future in Denver limited to being the offensive line coach.

Texans coach Gary Kubiak and Dennison were teammates with the Broncos. They coached together on Shanahan's Denver staff for 11 seasons. And the Texans run an offense Dennison is familiar with; it's similar to what the Broncos ran when Shanahan was their coach.

Kubiak tried to hire Dennison in 2006 when he took the Houston job, but Shanahan didn't give the Texans permission to talk to Dennison.

Shanahan, now the coach of the Washington Redskins, tried to hire Dennison last week. But the job with the Redskins would be a lateral move, so the Broncos didn't grant the Redskins permission to interview Dennison.

This time the Texans are offering Dennison a promotion to go with a supervisory title.

If they lose Dennison, the Broncos will be without a guy who has served the franchise well for almost a quarter century. He a guy whose departure would create an opening on the Denver staff difficult to fill.

Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com