Bill O'Brien Will Be a Surprise Contender for Coach of the Year in 2015

He'll be a national star after his stellar appearance on Hard Knocks, but Houston Texans second-year head coach Bill O'Brien will end the season in the spotlight because of his coaching ability.

O'Brien will be a surprise contender for Coach of the Year because of what the Texans don't have talent-wise—at least, on the offensive end.

With journeyman Brian Hoyer and career backup Ryan Mallett competing for the starting quarterback job and star running back Arian Foster out for an extended period of time after a serious groin injury, the Texans might have a tough time scoring enough points to win a baseball game—let alone a football one.

But O'Brien won't accept that as an excuse for another nonplayoff season.

According to Sports Insights, BetOnline and 5Dimes both place O'Brien with a +2,500 money line, or 25-1 odds, to win Coach of the Year, both putting him tied for the 18th-best. In other words, the boys in Las Vegas don't think O'Brien has a shot.

"This place has no respect in the league, just so you guys are all aware of that. This organization is 96-126, 30 games below .500," O'Brien said to his assistant coaches during Tuesday's episode of Hard Knocks. "Turn your TV off. Nobody talks about the Houston Texans, because no one thinks we're going to win."

O'Brien is championing the "us against the world" mantra. He's used to excelling in tough situations with low expectations.

He was hired in 2012 to take over a Penn State program that was buried with NCAA sanctions and national ridicule after the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

O'Brien took that team to an 8-4 record and earned three National Coach of the Year awards.

Last year, he placed second in NFL Coach of the Year voting after transforming the Texans from a team with a 2-14 record that was the worst in the league to one with a 9-7 record, one win shy of a postseason appearance.

The record jump won't be as large this year, unless O'Brien goes all 1972 Miami Dolphins on us, but this coaching job might be more impressive, considering what he has to work with.

He'll shock some folks to become a strong contender for the award on the strength of his defense.

Led by two-time Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt's 20.5 sacks, the Texans turned in the seventh-lowest points-per-game average in the league last season (19.2).

They figure to be better this season with the additions of former New England Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork, first-round selection Kevin Johnson at cornerback, former Denver Broncos safety Rahim Moore and second-round pick Benardrick McKinney at linebacker—not to mention the return of key contributors Brian Cushing and Jadeveon Clowney.

Defense wins championships, but that doesn't mean O'Brien won't score points.

He's a Bill Belichick disciple. He coached under Belichick's offensive staff with the Patriots from 2007 to 2011 before he took the head-coaching job at Penn State.

In New England, he got a front-row view of both Hoyer and Mallett, who were competing for a spot to back up Tom Brady, when he was the offensive coordinator. Despite their deficiencies, O'Brien liked both players' talents, and when he took the Texans head-coaching gig in 2014, he sought out his hidden gems.

He acquired Mallett via trade from his old stomping grounds prior to the start of the 2014 season, while Hoyer signed a two-year deal with the Texans in March after they traded former starter Ryan Fitzpatrick to the New York Jets.

Mallett and Hoyer will use the preseason to show they can be the guy.

If he can get solid consistency from one of the quarterbacks and contributions from a running-back-by-committee system until Foster returns, the Texans could be looking at the playoffs, which would surely be enough to put O'Brien deep into the conversation for Coach of the Year.