Penn State Head Coach Bill O’Brien told the media this past summer that he was not offered a job in the NFL by any team last off-season. Despite all the speculation about him leaving PSU, O’Brien said he’s committed to Happy Valley. So Bill O’Brien, or B.O.B. as he’s colloquially known, said he wasn’t offered a head NFL job following his 8-4 debut at his alma mater, but no one believes that.
He could have left for the NFL if he wanted. And now after a 7-5 follow up in his sophomore season leading the Nittany Lions college football program, he’s currently finalizing the Houston Texans.
CBS Sports said on Thursday he was tied to the Houston Texans opening and reportedly agreed to interview with Houston.
Now Chris Mortensen of ESPN reports that the two sides are “working on a deal.” Mort tweeted Saturday that the Texans and O’Brien would “intensify talks” in the coming days, but the ESPN report states that O’Brien has “emerged as the overwhelming favorite” for the Texans job and “the two sides are working to get a deal in place within the next week.”
It’s not surprising that B.O.B. has kept his flirting with the NFL, or at least he NFL flirting with him a secret. All football coaches are guarded about that. As they should be. And Bill O’Brien is from the Bill Belichick school, so he’s even more guarded and closed off than most. Reporting this story moving forward, good luck getting any information from him on what he wants to do. He plays it close to the vest on everything
Watch the signature moment of this classic Bill O’Brien halftime interview from the Illini game this year:
Or the Bill O’Brien conference call with the Big Ten league media previewing the Michigan game in October.
Almost as awesome as 2012 Big Ten Media Day, when Bill O’Brien answered my question about Silas Redd by simply saying:
“No.”
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS Catch him Tuesdays talking Illini and Northwestern for KOZN 1620 The Zone, Fridays talking Chicago Bears for WAOR 95.7 The Fan