NEW OHIO STATE OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BILL O’BRIEN HAS TRACK RECORD OF ELEVATING COLLEGE QUARTERBACK PLAY
Since the conclusion of his first stint with the New England Patriots as an assistant coach from 2007 through 2011, new Ohio State offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has coached three college quarterbacks at his two stops at the NCAA level.
Two of those signal-callers—Penn State’s Matt McGloin and Christian Hackenberg—saw the best years of their respective careers under O’Brien, each under a unique set of circumstances.
The last of them, Alabama’s Bryce Young, had one of the best careers in the history of his prestigious school under O’Brien.
If O’Brien can elevate Ohio State’s quarterback play in a similar way this season, it will go a long way toward the team’s ambitions of avenging three straight losses to Michigan, winning the Big Ten, and winning a national title.
O’Brien cut his teeth at Georgia Tech in the late 1990s and early aughts, working his way up the ranks as a graduate assistant and running backs coach.
His first two years as both a quarterbacks coach and an offensive coordinator in 2001 and 2002 with the Yellow Jackets bore mixed results in terms of play from his signal-caller.
In his second season starting, George Godsey saw a career-high in yards and completion percentage under O’Brien but threw five fewer touchdowns with five more interceptions than the year before with fewer yards per attempt.
A.J. Suggs followed Godsey and started one season, completing 57.3% of his throws for 2,242 yards with 12 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
As O’Brien left to be running backs coach at Maryland following the season, Suggs was replaced as Georgia Tech’s starter by Reggie Ball.
Duke served as O’Brien’s other OC/QB coaching stop from 2005–06 before he hit the NFL ranks. The Blue Devils went a combined 1-22 in years two and three of Ted Roof’s doomed four-year head coaching tenure.
With the awful situation around them, O’Brien’s starting quarterbacks completed 51.3% of their passes with just 5.7 yards per attempt.
When O’Brien returned to the collegiate ranks as a head coach six years later, he walked into what was arguably a worse situation at Penn State.
The Nittany Lions would be hit with harsh NCAA sanctions—some of which were later rescinded—in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal during the summer of 2012, O’Brien’s first year at the helm.
McGloin, entering his third year as Penn State’s starting quarterback, still had far and away the best season of his career in his final campaign.
