Five potential Miami football candidates with head coaching experience

Bill O’Brien

Bill O’Brien was a collegiate assistant for 13 years before being hired as an offensive assistant with the New England Patriots in 2007. O’Brien rose up through the Patriots coaching staff before becoming the offensive coordinator in 2011. The first head coaching job for O’Brien was at Penn State in 2012.

O’Brien stayed with the Nittany Lions for two seasons before being hired by the Houston Texans in 2014. Penn State was 15-9 in two seasons under O’Brien. O’Brien led Penn State back from scandal to respectability. Houston went 9-7 in each of the first three seasons with O’Brien as their head coach.

The Texans won their first of four division titles in five years in his second season in 2015. After a 4-12 season in 2017, Houston went 11-5 and 10-6 the next two seasons. Houston won playoff games in 2015 and 2017. After an 0-4 start in 2020, O’Brien was fired. The Texans were 52-48 under O’Brien.

Nick Saban hired O’Brien as offensive coordinator to replace Steve Sarkisian who left to take the head coaching job at Texas to replace Herman. O’Brien becomes part of the Bill Belichick and Nick Saban coaching trees. Learning from the two best coaches in football and being a former college and NFL coach gives O’Brien an ideal resume.