Penn State Football: Former Head Coach Bill O’Brien Formally Announced As Alabama Offensive Coordinator

Former Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien was officially named Alabama’s offensive coordinator on Thursday night. The move had been previously reported but had not yet been announced by the Crimson Tide program.

“We are pleased and happy to be able to add Bill O’Brien to our coaching staff,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said in a press release.

“He has a wealth of experience as both an offensive coordinator and head coach in the NFL and college. Bill is one of the brightest offensive minds in football, an outstanding teacher and excellent recruiter. He will strengthen our coaching staff and give our players the best possible chance to be successful.”

O’Brien enters the collegiate ranks after six years as the Houston Texans head coach where O’Brien saw up and down success during his tenure.

Locally O’Brien needs little in the way of an introduction, coaching Penn State during the 2012 and 2013 seasons before taking the aforementioned job in Houston. O’Brien and the Nittany Lions went 15-9 overall during that span and is largely credited with the success with laying the initial foundation for much of the success of current head coach James Franklin and his staff.

“I am honored and excited to join Coach Saban’s staff at The University of Alabama,” O’Brien said. “I have an incredible amount of admiration for the rich football tradition at this University and the success Coach Saban has had during his time in Tuscaloosa. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to work with some of the best football players in the country, while helping to continue the success this program has enjoyed for many years.”

O’Brien is something of a unique trivia piece as well, the first former (non-interim) Penn State football head coach to find himself on a different collegiate sideline after coaching at Penn State since the 1940s when Hugo Bezdek would eventually end up coaching at Delaware Vally for one season in 1949.