Bill OBrien came to Houston with intentions to make his mark as the new head coach of the Houston Texans. The first order of business came with the dismissal of all but one of the 2013 Texans coaching staff heading into the 2014 season, and bringing in his own coaches was in the plans from the start.
OBrien said this of the type of coaches he is looking for,
Well put together a staff of great teachers, demanding coaches. Coaches that hold their players accountable for good play. Well put together a staff of coaches who have a passion for football, that are good family men, that understand its important to go home. I think thats important and well have a really good staff of guys here to coach for the Houston Texans.
To this point there are three names coming to Houston with OBrien and one hold over from the 2013 Texans staff.
Stan Hixon
Hixon was one of the first ones known that would be coming with OBrien to Houston. Hixon was hired by OBrien in 2012 when he arrived at Penn State and coached wide receivers and was the assistant head coach for the Nitanny Lions. Hixon has spent time in the NFL with the Washington Redskins (2004-2010) and the Buffalo Bills (2010-2012), he also won a national championship with the LSU Tigers in 2003 when he was the assistant head coach and wide receiver coach under Nick Saban.
He has been praised for helping developing Nittany Lions wide receiver Allen Robinson who was the 2012 and 2013 Big Ten Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year, both seasons with Hixon as his position coach. 33 years of coaching experience and this will be his third stop working with OBrien, Georgia Tech was the first stop with the new Texans head coach.
It appears he will replace former wide receiver coach Larry Kirksey in the same position for the 2014 season.
John Butler
Butler was hired by OBrien in 2012 as Penn States secondary coach in 2011 and was promoted the next season to defensive coordinator. Also in 2012, Butler along with his defensive coordinator duties, he helped with the special teams units.
With 19 seasons in coaching he has coached linebackers and special teams at South Carolina (2011), Minnesota (2007-2010) and spent time at Harvard (2003-2006), Texas State (2001-2002) Midwestern State (1999-2000) and was a graduate assistant at the University of Texas during the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
Bulter has been described to us as an intense coach from our talks with Penn State insiders.
Charles London
London was hired by OBrien in 2012 when the new staff was put into place at Penn State. London coached running backs at Penn State and helped oversee the special teams units for the Nitanny Lions.
He has spent time in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans (2011) as the offensive assistant/quality control coach, a scout for the Philadelphia Eagles (2010) and an offensive assistant with the Chicago Bears (2007-2009). He first crossed paths with OBrien at Duke when he was the running backs coach (2006) and graduate assistant (2004-2005), while OBrien was as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
London looks to be in place to take over the running back coaching position for the 2014 season.
Rumored to Be Joining OBrien
Brian Ferentz
Currently the offensive line coach at the University of Iowa, Ferentz worked with OBrien in New England (2009-2011). Ferentz started in New England as a scouting assitant, and then moved to offensive coaching assistant and then was promoted to the tight end coach in 2011. In 2011, Ferentz coached Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski who set NFL records for tight ends for the Patriots.
He left New England to join his father Kirk at the University of Iowa to coach offensive line.
Ferentz would be coaching the offensive line according to Alex Marvez from Fox Sports and they may already have a deal in place.
George Godsey
The current tight end coach at New England, and played quarterback at Georgia Tech when OBrien was the offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech. Godsey started his coaching career at Central Florida as a graduate assistant (2004), quarterbacks coach (2005-2008) and running backs coach (2009-2010). He arrived in New England in 2011 as an offensive assistant and became the teams tight end coach in 2012. OBrien was the offensive coordinator in 2011 when Godsey was an offensive assistant.
Signs have been pointing to Godsey possibly being the new offensive coordinator under OBrien.