While the Houston Texans are amid their search for the sixth full-time coach in team history, the third such coach in the franchise has found a new gig.
According to Jordy McElroy from the Patriots Wire, the New England Patriots are hiring former Texans coach Bill O’Brien as their new offensive coordinator.
There was a growing belief that the Patriots would move quickly on a decision after the team recently announced they would begin their search for a new offensive coordinator. Josh McDaniels was the last man to officially hold the title before leaving in 2022 for the head coaching job with the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Patriots never officially named a successor and went with former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia instead as their new offensive play-caller. Disaster struck the offense that season, and the team quickly turned the page back to O’Brien, who spent last season as the offensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
O’Brien has been with Alabama since 2021. The Texans fired O’Brien after an 0-4 start to the 2020 season, and he was also dismissed as the team’s general manager, a role he had officially held since January of that year.
On Nov. 25, 2019, when the Texans were preparing for the Patriots on Week 13 on Sunday Night Football at NRG Stadium, O’Brien told reporters what he had learned from Bill Belichick that he carried throughout his coaching career.
“I mean, it’s hard to say one thing over the other,” said O’Brien. “I think when I was there, I was appreciative of the opportunity to be there. I was very appreciative of the opportunity to learn in the team meetings or in the staff meetings, or to coach the players that I was able to coach or to work with the coaches I was able to work with. So, I learned a lot. I learned a lot about game planning and personnel and strategy. That was a very important time for me in my coaching career. It was probably a play where I learned the most.”
O’Brien will have a chance to learn more as he returns to where he held a variety of assistant roles from 2007-11.
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