Bill O’Brien interviews with Patriots
Former Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien could soon be back in the NFL, and he could assume the role he held before he was hired by Penn State.
O’Brien, currently offensive coordinator at Alabama, sat down with the New England Patriots to talk about the open offensive coordinator position. O’Brien has long been the easy subject of various workout rumors in recent years since returning to college play at Alabama, but this could be the gig that will bring him back to the NFL if all goes well.
O’Brien is still seen by NFL reporters as the favorite to land the offensive coordinator job with the Patriots, as we previously mentioned and currently reiterated by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, via Twitter.
The #Patriots interviewed #Bama OC Bill O’Brien today for their OC vacancy, sources say. He is considered one of the best candidates.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 19, 2023
O’Brien was not the last person to interview for the job with New England, however. As Rapoport noted, it’s believed the Patriots will be done with interviews soon.
The #Patriots haven’t finished interviewing. But they might be by tomorrow…. https://t.co/PzQjXqrQQi
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 19, 2023
O’Brien was hired by Penn State to be the head coach of the football program as Joe Paterno’s successor (after interim head coach Tom Bradley) in 2012. He had previously spent the 2011 season in as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator, a role he held for one season after serving as the team’s quarterback coach from 2009 to 2010 and two other staff roles the previous two seasons. Penn State was O’Brien’s first head coaching position in his career.
In two seasons as Penn State head coach, O’Brien racked up back-to-back winning seasons despite the program hammered by NCAA sanctions following the Jerry Sandusky scandal. O’Brien went 15-9 as Penn State’s head coach. After the 2013 season, O’Brien accepted a job offer to become the head coach of the Houston Texans. O’Brien spent six seasons as Texans coach, where he was 52-48 overall but only 2-4 in the playoffs. He was fired after an 0-4 start to the 2020 season.
In 2021, O’Brien joined Alabama’s coaching staff under head coach Nick Saban, filling the role of offensive coordinator after Steve Sarkisian left to become head coach. from Texas.
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