Maryland Coaching Rumors: Would Bill O’Brien leave Texans for Terps?
Is Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien contemplating making a move back to the college game?
Next: Greatest College Football Players Born in Each State
Bill O’Brien is 3-5 in his second season with the Houston Texans entering the Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals but could be sitting on the hot seat with a 12-12 record midway through his second year and not showing enough signs of progress.
He has to know what he’s done thus far with the Texans isn’t good enough, even though they’re one game behind first place in the dreadful AFC South, and he could be fired if the Texans finish with a losing record and miss the playoffs.
Should that happen it sounds like O’Brien is planning for his future and has a fall back plan to go back to college.
According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, O’Brien is “very intrigued by the opening at the University of Maryland, according to several sources close to the school, and his interest in the job is not lost on the school’s primary boosters.”
O’Brien previously served as the running backs coach at Maryland from 2003-2004. His only experience as a college head coach came in his brief two-year stint as the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions when he replaced Joe Paterno for the 2012 season after the ugly Jerry Sandusky scandal rocked Happy Valley and went 15-9 and showed the ability to tutor freshman quarterback Christian Hackenberg.
More from Saturday Blitz
- Michigan State vs. Maryland: Location, time, prediction, and more
- ACC Power Rankings: Can #4 FSU overthrow Clemson at Death Valley East?
- Most heartwarming social media reactions to Nick Chubb’s injury
- Ranking college football’s top 10 quarterbacks after Week 3
- Things are going to get much darker for the Houston Cougars
His ties to the northeast would seem like an advantage on the recruiting trail and with enough financial backing this job could help the Terps compete in the tough Big Ten East division with Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan and Penn State with upgraded facilities.
However, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle refutes La Canfora’s report and says O’Brien has no interest in the Maryland job.
So depending on who you believe from the national insider or the guy embedded with the program, it continues conflicting reports with the coaching job at Maryland.
It was reported on Friday that Alabama offensive coordinator and former USC and Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin interviewed with the school to only have that report shot down the next day when it was reported Maryland hasn’t talked to Kiffin and has no plans to talk to him.
Next: Top 30 College Mascots of All-Time
Maryland is one of 11 FBS head coach openings and the coaching carousel is bound to be an exciting one with openings at programs like USC, Virginia Tech, Miami and South Carolina.