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Now the enemy.
After one season with the New England Patriots, former Nittany Lion head coach Bill O’Brien is back in college football and it’s with a team on the Penn State schedule in 2024: the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Sources: Ohio State is set to hire longtime NFL head coach Bill O’Brien as the school’s new offensive coordinator. O’Brien served last season as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator in 2023 and has been the head coach at the Texans and in the Big Ten at Penn State. pic.twitter.com/19e2iXv6oe
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 19, 2024
O’Brien spent seven seasons as the Houston Texans head coach before spending the 2021 and 2022 seasons as Alabama’s offensive coordinator. With the Crimson Tide, O’Brien helped Bryce Young win the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore and eventually get drafted No. 1 overall by the Carolina Panthers in the 2023 NFL Draft. He made the jump back to the NFL ranks to serve as the New England Patriots offensive coordinator, but with Bill Belichick and Jerod Mayo in, O’Brien is coming back to the college game.
Obviously for Penn State fans, this is a weird one. It’s not everyday your former head coach becomes an assistant coach at your direct competition. I’ll always love and cherish the moments with BOB, but the idea of seeing him come into Beaver Stadium with scarlet and grey next season...gross.
Oddly enough, the college football world does *not* seem to love this hire for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State has hired Ross Bjork and Bill O’Brien in the last 48 hours. Are we sure they aren’t a danger to themselves and others?
— Bunkie Perkins (@BunkiePerkins) January 19, 2024
“Why does everything on offense seem so hard?”
— Landon Beamon (@LandonBeamon11) January 19, 2024
This was the common question asked during the Bill O’Brien era with a future #1 overall draft pick at QB.
Ohio State fans are going to be in inconsistent hell all season, especially in big games. https://t.co/bbG1ke6xup pic.twitter.com/7xXFA54u9j
Quinshon Judkins realizing he went from Lane Kiffin to Bill O’Brien in the span of a week (no takesies-backsies) pic.twitter.com/aP6Hqie35g
— Marshall Andrzejewski (@MarshallAndrzej) January 19, 2024
Personally, I think O’Brien is a fine hire, though it certainly isn’t the sexy hire Ohio State fans might have been hoping for. More than anything though, I think he’s a weird fit with where this Ohio State offense was trending. Sure they get Emeka Egbuka back, but with Quinshon Judkins transferring, TreVeyon Henderson coming back, and Will Howard making the move from Kansas State, this offense seems like it’d be more of a run-focused spread attack. Not sure O’Brien totally fits with that.
Either way, imagine saying in January 2012 that Bill O’Brien and Larry Johnson Sr. would still be coaching with each other at a college program. Weird how life goes.
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By: Patrick Koerbler
Title: Report: Former Penn State Head Coach Bill O’Brien To Be Named Ohio State Offensive Coordinator
Sourced From: www.blackshoediaries.com/2024/1/19/24043832/report-former-penn-state-head-coach-bill-obrien-to-be-named-ohio-state-offensive-coordinator
Published Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2024 12:31:00 +0000
