Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien recently agreed to interview with the Houston Texans. Apparently O’Brien is the number one guy on the shortlist for the Texans. According to a report, the AFC South team is interested in making O’Brien their next head coach.
Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com reported via Twitter that talks between the Texans and O’Brien have intensified and the Texans “hope to make him the next coach in Houston.” The report by ESPN.com says the two sides are already working on a deal.
This should not come as much of a surprise, of course. O’Brien has seemed destined to take a coaching job in the NFL at some point. It was just a matter of which job would be the one that lures him away from the work he has been doing in State College over the past two seasons.
O’Brien has the mentality to coach at the NFL level, and Houston looks as though it could be a good project for him if he does in fact leave Penn State to coach the Texans.
We will have to wait and see what happens here, but it might be wise for Penn State athletics director David Joyner should start reviewing his short list of potential replacements just in case he needs to make some calls. It was previously reported that Penn State may already have a couple of options checking in if the position does become available. That includes two names out of Tennessee with Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin and Tennessee Titans head coach and Penn State alum Mike Munchak.
O’Brien is still the coach for now, and he has made some coaching staff changes this offseason that would suggest he has a plan for 2014, but a chance to coach in the NFL only comes along every so often.