Houston Texans contact Bill O’Brien of Penn State about HC vacancy

Nov 2, 2013; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Bill O

CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora is reporting the Houston Texans have contacted Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien as they are searching for their next head coach.

O’Brien has spent the past two seasons at Penn State, keeping alive a program that was all but pronounced dead before the start of the 2012 season. PSU was given a four-year bowl ban and scholarship reductions following NCAA sanctions from rules violations by previous coaching staff.

La Canfora wrote in the article:

"“At a time when many college coaches are opting to sign extensions to stay in their school — some of them ironclad, like Texas A&M and Kevin Sumlin, and others much more easily circumvented, like Baylor and Art Briles — O’Brien’s combination of pro and college experience, his work with quarterbacks and his willingness to make the jump, all make him attractive to NFL teams”"

As I sit here and think about it, O’Brien could be a very good head coach in the NFL. The past two seasons at Penn State, O’Brien went 8-4 and 7-5 with teams that had no business of finishing with that many wins.

He helped mold Matt McGloin into an NFL caliber quarterback as he’s now starting with the Oakland Raiders. Before his senior season at PSU, McGloin was all but written off as a college quarterback, much less an NFL QB by the former coaching staff at PSU.

There are a few teams besides the Texans who I’ve read could be interested in O’Brien to be their next head coach including the Minnesota Vikings and possibly the Washington Redskins.

I’m a big fan of what O’Brien has done at PSU, keeping together a program everyone around the country thought had no chance of surviving , much less gain 15 wins the past two seasons.

If the Texans were serious about O’Brien as a candidate as their next head coach, it would be a smart move to take a look. Remember he was the offensive coordinator for some very good seasons with the New England Patriots, and he has more than enough coaching experience to be a success in the NFL as the main guy.

Though the Texans really need to take their time with the decision of selecting their next head coach, if they are smart they will give O’Brien a very close look at becoming their next head coach.

O’Brien has proven he can get a team refocused and he’s proven he can win games at two levels of football. It seems he’s poised to become an NFL coach, even though he turned down some opportunities last year. The time, however, the situation has the feeling he’ll be coaching in the NFL and not with the Nittany Lions in 2014.