Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; August 10, 2023 Bill O’Brien, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the New England Patriots, keeps an eye on quarterback Mac Jones, 10, and the offense during the pregame warm-up at Gillette Stadium before their game against the Houston Texans. Required Credit: USA TODAY Sports/Eric Canha
There is a new offensive coordinator apparently on the Ohio State Buckeyes.
After an agonizing season in which Ohio State lost to the eventual national champion Michigan Wolverines in three straight games and managed just three points in a Cotton Bowl setback to the Missouri Tigers, head coach Ryan Day pledged to relinquish his position as offensive playcaller and bolster the offensive staff.
The announcement that Ohio State will appoint former college and NFL head coach Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator was made public on Thursday night by ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
O’Brien has served as Bill Belichick’s offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots for the past two seasons, as Thamel points out.
O’Brien was hired as Duke’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2005 and 2006, having previously worked as a position coach at Brown, Georgia Tech, and Maryland in the 1990s and early 2000s. Subsequently, in 2007, he was employed by Belichick and the Patriots, initially as an offensive assistant. He later held positions as a quarterback coach, receivers coach, and offensive coordinator by 2011.
After Joe Paterno was fired in 2012, O’Brien became the Penn State Nittany Lions’ head coach. He won Big Ten Coach of the Year and guided the team to an 8-4 record while facing harsh NCAA fines.
O’Brien left Penn State after two seasons to become the head coach of the Houston Texans. He stayed in that role until the franchise fired him in the middle of the 2020 campaign. In Houston, O’Brien finished 52–48 and led the franchise to four postseason appearances.
Alabama chose O’Brien to take Steve Sarkisian’s place as offensive coordinator when he resigned in 2021 to take a job as head coach of the Texas Longhorns. The Crimson Tide defeated the Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship after making it that far.
After two years in Tuscaloosa, quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy, but O’Brien returned to the Patriots because of criticism he received while at Alabama over the team’s lack of success.
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