Reports: Texans strike deal with O'Brien
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(SportsNetwork.com) - The Houston Texans wasted little time in finding a new head coach, reaching an agreement with Bill O'Brien Tuesday night according to multiple reports.
ESPN first revealed the news, which both NFL.com and the Houston Chronicle later confirmed. O'Brien, a former offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots who has spent the last two seasons as the head coach of the beleaguered Penn State program, is expected to be officially introduced during a press conference scheduled for Thursday.
Several media outlets had stated in recent days that the Texans had targeted O'Brien as their preferred successor to Gary Kubiak, who was fired on Dec. 6 with the Texans in the midst of an eventual franchise-record 14-game losing streak.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The 44-year-old O'Brien will become the third full-time head coach in Texans history and takes over a team that won back-to-back AFC South titles under Kubiak in 2011 and 2012, but slumped to a league-worst 2-14 record during a disastrous 2013 campaign.
O'Brien spent five seasons as an assistant under Bill Belichick in New England, including the last four as offensive coordinator, before heading to Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. He guided the Nittany Lions to a 15-9 overall record amidst heavy NCAA sanctions in his two seasons in Happy Valley.
The Massachusetts native was a part of two AFC championship teams during his tenure in New England, serving as the quarterbacks coach for the 2007 squad that put together a 16-0 regular season and set an NFL record with 589 points, a mark that was broken by this year's Denver Broncos in last Sunday's finale.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Houston, which went 22-10 over the previous two seasons prior to this year's collapse, will have the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.