I was looking at his resume and it isn't particularly that great. He was a mediocre OC at duke. Gets a job with the patriots. Works his way up. He didn't really build their offense, but he didn't screw it up. You can't even give him credit for the one Matt Castle year since he wasn't the OC. He then gets the job with Penn state. Doesn't particularly have a great offense or a great record. I understand that was a difficult situation, but is it any worse than getting Baylor when Baylor was terrible? Compared to past college hires like Saban, Chip Kelly, and Harbaugh his resume doesn't stack up. I think what Briles did with Baylor was more impressive than what OB has done. Briles has built up two programs from pretty much the bottom. You could also make a good case a guy like Sumlin has a much better track record than OB. I don't know if either of those guys who wanted to or were viewed as NFL coaches. O'Brien might turn out to be great, but it seems to be really unfair how coaches move up the coaching ranks, and how coaches are perceived.
Coaches shouldn't be promoted based on wins and losses or whether they had a great offense as an OC. When BOB was at Duke, did he get the most out of the players there? Did he coach any of them up? What did he bring to the table that led Bellicheck to hire him and promote him, giving him play calling duties? Did he do anything unique as the OC for the Patriots? What about his ability to lead men? Does he get the most out of those he coaches? Do they fight for him on the field? Does he demand accountability? What about staff hires? Plenty of coaches can build a college program if they can recruit enough players to run a gimmick offense that wins games. That doesn't mean they have the qualities to succeed at the NFL level. There is a reason that BOB has been a hot commodity for 3 straight years and is highly praised by everyone who's been involved with him. None of that means he'll work out of course.
Jeff Fisher, Mike Tomlin, .... Don't really care about the resume. Give me a leader who can make critical decisions, hire the right people, and be a leader.
Eh. McNair hit on the coach being the CEO (at least regarding on field and coaching decisions) in the presser today and that's what I want in my head coach. Bill O'brien isn't going to magically make us a winner. We need a couple of good coordinators and a QB as well as just overall talent improvement. But I like what he brings as a leader and we'll see what kind of decision maker he is. If he is a good decision maker and lives up to this adaptable offense mantra that he is bringing with him, I think we did well in hiring him.
record doesnt mean all in coaching, you have to see the leadership and how he develops players, and if he makes them better.
He was the play caller with the Patriots from 2009-2010 and the OC/Playcaller in 2011. Those were all very prolific years and years of change in the style of offense. That was when they started using the hell out of tight end sets to make use of Gronk/Hernandez and had an extremely prolific year. Anyone coaching at Penn State during those two years could have gone 2 wins/3 wins and people would have barely batted an eye. He turned scrub walk-on Matt McGloin into a record breaking QB and recruited and developed true freshman Hackenberg into a great young QB. He's a fiery, ivy league educated, Patriots offense running, QB developing, intense guy with all the intangible/leadership qualities you want in a head coach. He was the "it" coach of this offseason, and we got him. McNair and co handled this fantastically. The "Mcnair move" would have been to hire Lovie Smith or Wiz, in other words boring retreats who are alright but who were fired for a reason. You'd be replacing Kubiak with black Kubiak and hat wearing Kubiak. Is he guaranteed to succeed? No, but he was the only one available with the potential to turn the Texans into at truly great franchise.
Using Duke as any sort of barometer is a joke. I was at Duke back when Roof/O'Brien were still coaching there. You know what kind of recruits Duke gets? It's like fielding a AAA team and making them play in the major leagues. Yes it's like coaching the Astros. It's that bad. Lately Cutcliffe has been able to improve his recruiting, primarily with QB's because he has the Manning pedigree in his back pocket, and he helps with the Manning summer QB camp too. But he's a college coach through and through. With the talent level Duke had, there's just no way to coach that up. The job Cutcliffe has done this year (almost beating A&M?) has been nothing short of incredible. Best year for Duke probably in the last 50. So for BOB's sake, I would advise to take everything that happens football-wise at our school and throw it out the window.
Some how guys like mike leech, art briles, and kevin sumlin were able to do it. When you can take 1 and 2 star guys and make them look great that is coaching.
Well, it's a reason he's been a wanted man around the NFL. Maybe it's something beyond what you're seeing. I wouldn't have minded having Lovie Smith, but I don't think Lovie would have took this job and they probably asked him first and he turned it down. I don't think the Texans options for coaches was as great as some may think.
Lovie was (rather cynically) a Rooney rule interview, Wade was an obligatory pat on the back interview. It was pretty obvious that they had their eyes set on O'Brien from the beginning. They didn't even wait to interview Wisenhunt.
And firing Kubiak early allowed them to get a jump on all the other teams. Not sure what the Titans are doing, taking the entire week to fire Munchack. Now they're very late to the interview party with most of the top candidates gone.
Of course they aren't going to wait to interview Whisenhunt - you risk losing a candidate you like and have no idea when he might be available. If they win tomorrow, they are delayed at least another week while coaches come off the board. They were willing to wait until this week and would have interviewed him had the Chargers not made the playoffs. And why the assumption that Lovie was a Rooney rule interview? Is it not possible that they interviewed both and just liked BOB better?
Rooney rule...??? Lol... Tampa and Detroit are much better jobs... Lovie probably wasn't even thinking about coming to Houston. I believe Lovie was their first choice.
Seriously who on this board knows anything at all. Raise your hand if you watched ONE Penn St. game in the past 2 years....I haven't. I hadn't heard a word out of his mouth before this week. All I know is that he is not a hoe hum idiot like Kubiak and that is enough for me.
McGloin was not a record breaking qb. He was a mediocre college qb. One my favorite hires last year was kelly whether it works or not he is doing something innovative. O'Brien just seems like any other coach. Of all the sports the NFL seems be the most conservative. You have guys in the other league like billy bean, morey, or brad stevens. Guys who really think outside the box.
I think BOB's resume is neither great nor bad. Fans shouldn't be overly excited nor disappointed. The chances of him surpassing Kubiak are extremely high. Addition by subtraction with a chance to multiply!
TAMPA is a better job? Lol? The vast majority of analysts over the past few weeks have all said that either Houston or Detroit were the best jobs, with most giving the nod to Houston. Lovie wasn't even in the league last year. He's a mediocre retread running an outdated scheme who is unfathomably awful dealing with the side of the ball outside of his specialty. He's the defensive Kubiak. Local sports and fan buzz would have been a lot more cautious and critical of a Lovie hire than O'Brien.
His passing stats jumped massively from 2011 to 2012 and in 2012 he broke Penn State's touchdown record, single season yards record, and single season completion record. I didn't mean national records if that's what you meant.
