Penn State to Welcome Back Bill O'Brien — as Ohio State's Offensive Coordinator

The former Penn State head coach joins the Buckeyes' staff. Ohio State visits Beaver Stadium on Nov. 2

Former Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien, who helped prevent the program from collapsing under the weight of NCAA sanctions, will return to Beaver Stadium in November with the Nittany Lions' biggest rival. Ohio State coach Ryan Day on Friday announced O'Brien as his new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The move sets up a remarkable return in November, when the Buckeyes visit Beaver Stadium.

O'Brien went 15-9 in two seasons at Penn State during the most acute years of the sanctions that limited the program's scholarships and barred it from bowl eligibility. O'Brien won three national coach-of-the-year awards for leading the Nittany Lions to an 8-4 record in 2012. That team is memorialized on Penn State's Ring of Honor at Beaver Stadium.

In 2012, O'Brien guided the Nittany Lions to a 16-10 victory over Wisconsin at Beaver Stadium. Afterward, he gave the infamous "bunch of fighters" interview to ESPN. On New Year's Eve, O'Brien left to become the head coach of the Houston Texans.

 O'Brien spent seven seasons as the head coach in Houston, worked as Nick Saban's offensive coordinator in Alabama for two years and returned to the New England Patriots in 2023 for a second stint as offensive coordinator. With the coaching change there, O'Brien was a free agent. Ohio State coach Ryan Day then swooped in with a remarkable offer.

O'Brien remains a legend at Penn State and has returned on occasion. In 2018, Penn State coach James Franklin invited O'Brien to deliver the keynote speech at a football clinic. While there, O'Brien called Penn State "football heaven."

“I just told the high school coaches, I said relative to college football, this is football heaven,” O’Brien told reporters during the April 2018 event. "You come through this building, you see the lettermen wall, you see the guys coming out of meetings, all the changes that James [Franklin] has made in the building are incredible. … This is what it’s all about. I have great memories here.”

“There was a time when the sanctions first came out that they said this program would never come back," O'Brien later added, according to Ben Jones of Statecollege.com. "There were people that said this program would basically be a Division II, a Division I-AA program, whatever the word is for that now. We all looked at each other that were here and looked at this wall and look at the All-Americans and knew like that was never going to happen. … We had the right people in place to bridge that gap to where they are now.”

In joining Day's staff at Ohio State, O'Brien made Nov. 2, 2024, an even bigger date on Penn State's schedule. The Buckeyes visit Beaver Stadium for what already is a key point on the calendar. O'Brien's return (his last game at Beaver Stadium was Nov. 23, 2013, against Nebraska) weights the game even further.

Moreover, Franklin and O'Brien will coach against each other for the first time. Twenty years ago, they worked together on the same Maryland staff; Franklin coached wide receivers, and O'Brien coached running backs. In November, they'll be on opposite sides of Beaver Stadium.

What a 20-year loop. In 2004, they coached together at Maryland. In November, Bill O’Brien returns to Beaver Stadium with Ohio State to face James Franklin and Penn State. pic.twitter.com/FkZ3HpAUqy

— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) January 19, 2024

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.