Texans New Coach Is Close

How Bill O'Brien won over the Houston Texans: Tom Brady fight only helped new coach in waiting

The Houston Texans are closing in on landing the No. 1 target of their head coaching search: Penn State University coach Bill O'Brien. CultureMap was the first news outlet anywhere to report that O'Brien was the Texans' top choice to be the team's new coach back on Dec. 18.

A source close to the search tells CultureMap that Texans owner Bob McNair started leaning toward O'Brien early in the search and never let the prospect of having to possibly pay a $6.7 million buyout to Penn State to land the former Bill Belichick disciple faze him.

"McNair loves O'Brien's toughness," the source says.

Bob McNair started leaning toward O'Brien early in the search and never let the prospect of having to pay a big buyout faze him.

Now, ESPN's NFL insiders Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter are reporting that the Texans and O'Brien are working on getting a contract done. If the deal is agreed to, McNair's move of firing Gary Kubiak with three games left in the regular season will have paid off with a highly-sought-after replacement — arguably the most impressive head coaching candidate available.

The early start — a source tells CultureMap that the Texans contacted coaches through back channels to determine who would be legitimately interested in the head job in the probability it opened up even before Kubiak was fired — gave McNair and Texans general manager Rick Smith a jump on the other teams that hoped to court O'Brien.

McNair's long desired a tougher, more mentally strong team. He cited that as a priority after the Texans blew a golden opportunity to be the AFC's No. 1 seed late in the 2012 season. That desire in no small part fueled the big money Ed Reed free agent signing last offseason.

The Texans also interviewed former Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith and their own interim head coach Wade Phillips. They'll likely do one more interview before making their choice official. But O'Brien holds a huge edge. A toughness edge.

The 44-year-old O'Brien's uncompromising intensity can be seen in the way he stood up to all-world quarterback Tom Brady in a sideline screaming match that's turned into something of a famous YouTube clip. Several coaches tried to separate O'Brien from the New England Patriots golden boy and eventually Belichick himself had to step in.

O'Brien's displayed even more guts in leading a Penn State program mired in the abyss of the unprecedented Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal to back-to-back winning seasons.

It's easy to see why O'Brien would want the Texans job. This 2-13 team has a superstar player on defense in J.J. Watt and two superstar weapons on offense in tailback Arian Foster and veteran receiver Andre Johnson. Not to mention the likely No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Houston is primed for a Kansas City Chiefs type turnaround.

And it looks like the Texans' No. 1 coaching target will be the man entrusted with doing it.

Penn State coach Bill O'Brien has emerged as the Houston Texans' No. 1 coaching target.

unspecified

O'Brien Talks Tough

Tough new sheriff: Bill O'Brien sounds like the anti Kubiak, vows to be hard on Texans players

Photo by Rob Carr Getty Images

Bill O'Brien admits he missed the NFL.

Bill O'Brien certainly hasn't walked timidly into his new job as the head coach/franchise savior of the Houston Texans.

With large posters of J.J. Watt and Andre Johnson flanking him on either side of an elaborate press conference stage, O'Brien didn't pay homage as much as he demanded a new standard.

"To me it's about accountability," O'Brien said. "It's about demanding. It's about putting together a fast, physical football team."

In other words, Mr. Nice Guy went out the window with former Texans coach Gary Kubiak. O'Brien mentioned "accountability" and "demanding" several times in his introductory press conference Friday afternoon at Reliant Stadium. And you can bet the chorus sounded like sweet music to Texans owner Bob McNair.

CultureMap was the first news outlet anywhere to report that O'Brien was the Texans' top choice to be the team's new coach way back on Dec. 18. This was a McNair driven pick from the beginning and it is the 44-year-old O'Brien's toughness that drew the owner to the former Penn State coach and Bill Belichick assistant.

"To me it's about accountability. It's about demanding."

And McNair himself certainly talked tough on introduction day.

"I'm ready to kick 2013 the hell out the door," McNair said. "Not acceptable. Not what we're going to do in the future."

McNair went on to talk about O'Brien having shown he's willing to make the hard decisions — something he clearly felt was lacking as the Texans spiraled from Super Bowl schemers into a 2-14 death march in 2013.

"Some coaches who have been players still think of themselves as players rather than the head of an organization," McNair said. "And have trouble making difficult decisions."

Kubiak, of course, played quarterback for the Denver Broncos. As for an inability to make tough calls? Just look at how long Kubiak stuck with a flat-lined Matt Schaub and how he kept trying to go back to Schaub even after the Case Keenum call was made.

O'Brien noted that "there are a lot of good football players on this team." He also declined to take any pressure off himself and describe this makeover of a team with the worst record in the NFL as a rebuilding job.

"There are a lot of pieces in place here," he said. "It's all about hard work . . . Quick turnaround, rebuilding are labels. I'm not into all that."

Tom Brady Tough?

All in all, it's an impressive opening performance for a first-time NFL head coach. O'Brien knows how to command the stage. Texans general manager Rick Smith talked about the new coach's "charisma."

O'Brien even makes sure to work in the obligatory Texas joke about the cowboy life.

"Right after this, I'm going to go out and buy my first pair of cowboy boots," he said.

It's already becoming clear there will be one cowboy in charge of these Texans. One who happens to be a hard-nosed Northeast guy who's probably still most famous for getting into a sideline screaming match with New England Patriots golden boy quarterback Tom Brady.

"I'm ready to kick 2013 the hell out the door."

O'Brien downplayed the incident, but it's clearly helped burnish his taskmaster image.

"You know it's a competitive sports," O'Brien said. "Tom Brady's a great friend. These things happen. The thing that people don't understand is that 30 seconds after it was over, we were sitting together and going over pictures (of game action)."

The Texans players are clearly intrigued by O'Brien. Veteran center Chris Myers sat amongst the press at the stadium and listened to the new head man.

There will be a lot more change coming to the stadium. Smith hinted at as much when he noted how the Texans needed a coach who can guide young players.

It's hard to imagine O'Brien tip toeing around that change. He plans to meet with all the remaining Texans coaches Saturday (as with any head coaching change, it's unlikely many of the current assistants will be kept by O'Brien). He'll tackle the quarterback question later, though it's clear Keenum is still in the picture.

Almost every new NFL head coach sounds good on introduction day. Especially when the team brings out a marching band for the occasion. But O'Brien sounds tough and no nonsense.

Just what Bob McNair wanted. This is his call. His makeover. His tough guy.

Bill O'Brien will not call the Houston Texans a rebuilding team.

Photo by Scott Halleran Getty Images

Bill O'Brien will not call the Houston Texans a rebuilding team.

unspecified