Bill O'Brien (American football)

William James O'Brien (born October 23, 1969), is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Boston College. Previously, he was the head coach of the Houston Texans from 2014 to 2020, and at Penn State from 2012 to 2013. Prior to Boston College, O'Brien was the offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama and for the New England Patriots. After the Patriots parted ways with longtime head coach Bill Belichick at the end of the 2023 season, O'Brien was not retained by the team. O'Brien began his coaching career in 1993 at Brown University before spending more than a decade coaching in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). He joined the New England Patriots in 2007, eventually serving as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator in 2011. In 2012, O'Brien was hired by Penn State to take over a program that had just endured a child sexual abuse scandal perpetrated by one of its former coaches. In his first season as head coach, O'Brien led the team to an 8–4 record and won ESPN's National Coach of the Year award. After the 2012 season, he garnered significant interest to return to the National Football League (NFL) as a head coach and interviewed with both the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cleveland Browns. However, O'Brien decided to stay at Penn State, citing that it would send a poor message to leave after just one season. After his second season, O'Brien left Penn State to become the head coach of the Texans. O'Brien's tenure with the Texans included a 51–31 Divisional Round loss to the eventual Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs team after leading 24–0 in the second quarter, and a controversial trade of star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals. In 2020, O'Brien was fired by the Texans, and was hired by Alabama to be offensive coordinator in 2021. In 2023, he was re-hired by the Patriots to be the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Following the season, O'Brien was hired by Boston College to be their head coach.