There are conflicting reports out that Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien has interest in the open vacancy at the University of Maryland.
The initial report of his interest in Maryland came out courtesy of CBS Sports and cited that sources close to Maryland were aware of O’Brien’s interest in returning to the college game.
O’Brien, who had a successful but brief college head-coaching stint with Penn State before taking the Texans job, coached previously at Maryland as an assistant and, according to sources close to the school, prominent Maryland alumnus Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour, and other key figures in the hiring process are aware of O’Brien’s interest. It is clear to many in the Texans organization that significant change is likely coming, with O’Brien and Smith not both remaining in the current roles in all likelihood, and owner Bob McNair has long championed Smith, creating an uneasy climate within the franchise.
With O’Brien having success at Penn State, and things going less than well in Houston currently, it wouldn’t be shocking at all for him to head back to college at some point. This all sounded good in theory until Houston media started weighing in on the rumors that BOB was looking around.
Bill O'Brien has no interest in the Maryland job despite a report to the contrary.
— John McClain (@McClain_on_NFL) November 15, 2015
If you listen to what someone has to say, then it is interest. Doesn’t mean you’re buying anything.
— PDS (@PatDStat) November 15, 2015
So many angles of OB and this Maryland story. School could be using his name to force another coach to hurry up and make a choice.
— PDS (@PatDStat) November 15, 2015
The truth on O’Brien’s interest is probably somewhere in the middle to be honest. With things going south in Houston these days he may be making sure he has a soft landing elsewhere or on the flip side Maryland could have reached out with legit interest.
Like most rumors of this kind, we won’t ever truly know who reached out to who and it could ultimately mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Maryland is one of many big jobs open and there will be plenty of names that surface for it.