Bill O’Brien ‘didn’t really enjoy being the general manager’ of the Houston Texans

Bill O’Brien spent six seasons as head coach of the Houston Texans, making four playoff appearances. He then takes on the role of general manager, which quickly backfires. In his seventh season with the franchise – and his first as general manager – the Texans started the season 0-4, leading to O’Brien’s firing.

Not surprisingly, O’Brien regrets taking on a front office role with the team. Now the head coach at Boston College, O’Brien is back where he feels he belongs: in a coaching role. He recently had the opportunity to tell everyone about his time as general manager of the Texans.

“It was a tough time in Houston,” O’Brien told Adam Breneman. “We were a good team, we made some organizational decisions to try to fill the GM role, we went after some guys, we couldn’t get them, at the end of the day, we went a full year really without GM and then there was a year where we just said, “We’ll make you the general manager.”

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It doesn’t appear that becoming general manager was O’Brien’s first choice, but he took a chance because things were tough in Houston. Even though it didn’t pay off, it taught O’Brien where his strengths lie and what he values ​​most.

“I didn’t really like being general manager,” O’Brien continued. “I didn’t like negotiating contracts. In some ways, I lost relationships with some of the guys I coached because I didn’t like it. In my opinion, very few guys in the history of football can do that – and they are the greatest of the greatest. I feel like I’m a good coach, I know how to coach, but I’m not good at those things. I can evaluate talent, I know how to evaluate talent, but I shouldn’t be negotiating contracts and things like that. So in the end, it was a mistake on my part. I really wish I hadn’t done that to be really honest with you.

As a talent evaluator and head coach focused on the on-field product, O’Brien is expected to succeed at the college football level with Boston College. Of course, he’ll have to “negotiate” when it comes to recruiting, but staying on top of name, image and likeness as well as the current state of recruiting might suit the former head coach and general manager better Texans.

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