State College, PA
It is being reported that current Penn State University head coach Bill O’Brien will return to the NFL and become the new Houston Texans head coach. O’Brien took over the Nittany Lions after the Jerry Sandusky scandal that ultimately caused legendary football head coach Joe Paterno to step down from a position he held for 46 years.
O’Brien will be inheriting a team that shocked the NFL this year by having the worst record in the league after two straight seasons of winning the AFC South division. The Texans under O’Brien will have either the number one or two overall pick come the NFL draft in May and have a pretty solid defensive players that need to get their motivation back to play hard. Coach O’Brien has experience in the NFL as he worked his way up from an assistant position to a position coach to ultimately the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots where after that he took the aforementioned Penn State job.
Where despite the scandals and sanctions that were on going with the college, in two years O’Brien had a respectable 15-9 record despite not being bowl eligible and limited number of scholarships as well. After his first season he was interviewed by the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles, however it didn’t seem like a match so he returned to State College where he had another good season and it seems like there’s something in Houston that he found appealing and couldn’t say no to.
All and all, this will be an interesting move as the one and only NFL coaching vacancy is likely full already with more to happen likely after tomorrow’s games being played after teams with coaches on the hot seat will begin to smolder. Will Coach O’Brien turn the Texans into a power house again? We will see next season.