Morgantown, West Virginia – While there will be many outstanding potential replacements out there if/when Neal Brown is fired by West Virginia, one stands out as a particularly great choice for the Mountaineers.
Bill O’Brien, who is in his second year as offensive coordinator at Alabama, is just the proven, experienced head coach that could fix the mess in Morgantown immediately.
O’Brien, 52, led the Penn State Nittany Lions during the 2012-2013 to an 8-4 season and won the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Coach of the Year Award. After two seasons at Penn State, O’Brien was hired as the head coach of the Houston Texans in the NFL, where he spent six seasons. During the six seasons, the Texans went to the playoffs and won the AFC South four times.
After he was fired by the Texans after an 0-4 start to the 2020 season, Nick Saban hired him to be the new offensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide. With a wealth of experience and an outstanding reputation in coaching circles, O’Brien will be a can’t-miss potential head coaching candidate for a school looking for a replacement.
While it is my hope that Neal Brown finds a way to turn things around at West Virginia, the Mountaineers face an uphill battle for the remainder of the season. West Virginia is favored in only one remaining game, tomorrow night’s game at Virginia Tech, and Brown is currently the odds-on favorite to be the next head coach fired, according to multiple betting websites.
If the Mountaineers lose to Virginia Tech, or go on an extended losing streak this season, the pressure to replace Brown will grow more and more intense, and West Virginia’s director of athletics Shane Lyons, whose own job security could come into question, would be wise to get on the phone and find a way to make Bill O’Brien the next head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers.
