Former Penn State football head coach Bill O’Brien has been fired by the Houston Texans.

The team confirmed the news with an announcement from Chairman and CEO Cal McNair Monday.

O’Brien was hired as Houston’s head coach in 2014 after spending two seasons with Penn State. He also became the Texans’ general manager in January 2020. O’Brien enjoyed four trips to the playoffs during his tenure in Houston, but the Texans are now off to an 0-4 start this season.

Before earning his first NFL head coaching job in Houston, O’Brien spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons as the Nittany Lions’ head coach. He was hired in January 2012 and helped manage the program through the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the NCAA’s sanctions that followed.

Penn State finished with an 8-4 record during O’Brien’s first season in 2012, and a 7-5 mark in 2013 in his second and final campaign with the Nittany Lions. After that historic 2012 season, O’Brien was selected as the Big Ten Coach of the Year and the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Coach of the Year.

While he only has those two stops under his belt as a head coach, O’Brien enjoyed success as an offensive assistant coach with the New England Patriots for several years, before becoming the offensive coordinator in 2011. He’s also been an offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech and Duke, among other assistant positions.