Alabama Football: What Nick Saban is getting in Bill O’Brien

Alabama Football: Most, but not all, Crimson Tide fans are pleased Saban has chosen Bill O’Brien as the next OC. What the Tide gets with an O’Brien offense.

Editor’s Note: This post was written before any official confirmation of hiring has been released by the Alabama Crimson Tide. We are presuming it is a done deal based on Chris Lowe of ESPN having been told by sources. Lowe is well-connected with the Alabama football staff. A formal announcement should happen sometime Thursday.

Nick Saban has his man and that should be enough for Alabama football fans. For many, though not all it is. The hire of Bill O’Brien is getting many reviews, along with some vocal detractors.

Disagreement with the GOAT is not common but it is not rare. Many Crimson Tide fans were not impressed with the hiring of Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian. Those of us skeptical about the Kiffin hire were mostly wrong and totally wrong about bringing Sarkiasian back as OC.

Bill O’Brien has plenty of bona fides from a long coaching career. He has been an offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech, Duke and New England. He was also the quarterback coach at the three teams. He has nine seasons of head coaching experience at Penn State and with the Houston Texans.  During a most difficult time for the Nittany Lions, O’Brien was 15-9 in two seasons, before leaving for the NFL Texans.

His record in Houston was 52-48. Under O’Brien in 2019, the Texans were 11-5, followed by 10-6 in the 2019 season. In 2020, O’Brien’s responsibility was expanded to include the General manager role. He was fired after four winless, 2020 games.

What excites most Alabama football fans is O’Brien’s professional relationship with Bill Belichick and the three seasons O’Brien spent as the player-caller and QB coach for the Patriots. In the third of those three seasons, he was also the New England Offensive Coordinator.

Though his reputation was tainted by failure as a head coach, the Patriots’ offense was masterfully built by Charlie Weis. In his second stint with the Patriots in the 2000-2005 seasons, Weis installed a sophisticated and complicated offense. Players needed more than physical skills to thrive in the Patriot’s offense that dominated the NFL for many seasons. They also have to quickly make multiple pre-snap and after-snap decisions.

With the right personnel, what became Bill Belichick’s offense was nearly unstoppable. Many coaches help shape it after Charlie Weis, including Brian Daboll and Bill O’Brien.

What O’Brien will do in Tuscaloosa is take all those concepts, complete with the required complexity and tailor them to two things. Foremost, all Crimson Tide offenses must conform to Nick Saban’s overall team philosophies. Second, offensive goals must match the talents of the Tide’s offensive roster. Alabama football fans will want O’Brien to not abandon the strengths of Sark’s ‘motion’ offense that repeatedly created mismatches for the defense.

Nick Saban kind of tipped his hand on Wednesday. When asked about O’Brien, Saban said he would “do a great job with our players here.”

Alabama football fans will want one more thing from Bill O’Brien. They will expect another National Championship.