Alabama’s offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian took over as a vacant Texas coach earlier this month, which left a gap in the Crimson Tide coaching staff for the 2021 college football season. This vacancy is close to being filled . The Athletic reported just before the game started College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday that Bill O’Brien, a former Houston Texans and Penn State Nittany Lions coach, is due to be named as Sarkisian’s successor later this week.
Taking office would mark O’Brien’s return to college backstage for the first time since 2013, when he ended the second of his two seasons as a coach at Penn State. The Lions of Nittany finished fourth in the Big Ten in total attack in both seasons, and in the top three in attacking passes. He won the Paul “Bear” Bryant and Maxwell Coach of the Year award after an 8-4 campaign in the first season since Joe Paterno left.
This, of course, will come in handy in Alabama’s pass-happy attack that has evolved since coach Nick Saban hired Lane Kiffin to run the unit before the 2014 season. O’Brien has a lot of college football experience. He made stops as a technical assistant at Brown, Georgia Tech, Maryland and Duke from 1993-2006.
It was reported last week that O’Brien was in Tuscaloosa with the Alabama technical team. Former New York Jets coach Adam Gase was also a candidate for the job. O’Brien was fired by the Texans after a 0-4 at the start of the 2020 NFL season.