The New England Patriots have hired former Penn State head coach and current Alabama offensive coordinator [autotag]Bill O’Brien[/autotag], ESPN reported.
The teams agreed to a deal Tuesday for O’Brien to become their next offensive coordinator, a position he held for the 2011 season.
O’Brien has spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama, and he coached Bryce Young to a Heisman Trophy in 2021 in his first year with the team. He now returns to the NFL where he began his career as a coaching assistant over 15 years ago.
In that first stint in New England, O’Brien quickly became a notable name on Bill Belichick’s staff as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. He spent three years (2009-11) in that role before departing for head-coaching positions with Penn State (2012-13) and the Houston Texans (2014-20).
Most notably with Penn State, O’Brien took the job after the overhauling the program and school underwent following the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Penn State wasn’t a job many people were clamoring for but O’Brien took it and kick-started a turnaround that [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] continues with today.
As for New England, Belichick didn’t name an official offensive coordinator for the Patriots in 2022, leaning on Matt Patricia as the primary play-caller after he spent an entire career as a defensive play-caller and head coach in the NFL.
The lack of offensive clarity resulted in the Patriots having one of the worst-ranked offenses in the NFL. Now he is set to work with another former Alabama quarterback, Mac Jones, as he hopes to help turn the Patriots back into a force in the AFC East.
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