With DeSean Watson saying that he hopes to be coached by O'Brien the rest of his career, it would be very difficult for the Texans to ignore Watson's wishes. With what the Texans gave up to draft Watson, and in light of Watson's very good showing as a rookie, wouldn't it be absurd of them to make a coaching change?
Mitch, in some ways I do agree with you, but I don’t know if it would be absurd. Albert Breer has a weekly column, and among other things he touched on this very subject this week.
It’s seeming less and less likely that the Texans’ football hierarchy will return intact in 2018. That’s the final year of coach Bill O’Brien’s deal, and it’s hard to imagine the team would go into it with that unresolved and the relationship between coaching and scouting what it is now. If he’s available, there’s little question that O’Brien would vault to the top of many teams’ lists.
So apparently there is some problems between O’Brien and the scouting department, and I have read somewhere else that it is in fact between O’Brien and their general manager, Rick Smith. I simply don’t know if you try to keep your quarterback happy or your scouting department. I mean, obviously a young stud quarterback is extremely important to any team, but if your scouting department does not function the way it should, chances are your team won’t be successful.
Of course, when Watson, J.J. Watt and edge rusher Whitney Mercilus returns from injury next year, I think the Texans is an obvious Super Bowl-contender, so they might simply agree to give it one last shot before going separate ways when O’Brien’s contract expires after the season.
Finally, I would like to echo what Ohcrap75 wrote earlier in this thread which is how O’Brien took an almost impossible job at Penn State, and he managed to lead them through the worst years in the history of the school while being more successful on and off the field than anyone could imagine. It is obviously debatable, but to me, those two years is the best coaching job ever, or at least in the years I have followed the sport. Honestly, I am not sure what being a great college coach says about him being a NFL coach but his job at Penn State must speak volume in some ways, also regarding working in the NFL.
