Former Penn State coach Bill O’Brien is being considered for the offensive coordinator job at Alabama, according to a report this morning from Bruce Feldman.
SOURCE: Two of the coaches Nick Saban is considering for Alabama’s soon to be vacant offensive coordinator role: former Jets head coach Adam Gase and former Texans/Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 4, 2021
Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian is leaving to become the new head coach at Texas, leaving that position open with the Crimson Tide.
Reports circulated Sunday that O’Brien was in Tuscaloosa, so this news today from Feldman is not unexpected.
O’Brien reportedly was still on campus today, according to this excellent story from Football Scoop that has lots of good information. From the story:
But O’Brien is a close confidante of legendary New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and Belichick is perhaps Saban’s closest friend in the coaching profession. O’Brien also drew praise as a play-caller prior to his work as a head coach, guiding the Tom Brady-led Patriots offense as coordinator in 2011. O’Brien was on Belichick’s Patriots staff for five years.
O’Brien arrived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Sunday and has remained in the Tide’s football complex today meeting with Saban and other Tide staffers, multiple sources told FootballScoop.
O’Brien left Penn State after the 2013 season to become head coach of the Houston Texans. He held that job until getting fired earlier this season after an 0-4 start.
O’Brien would make sense for the Alabama coordinator job, given that he has a lot of experience as a playcaller in both college and the NFL. He was the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator prior to becoming PSU’s head coach in 2012.
Alabama coach Nick Saban has never shied away from having big-name coaches and/or personalities on his staff, with his previous two offensive coordinators being Lane Kiffin and Sarkisian, bother former prominent head coaches at USC.
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