Reports say that Penn State will interview Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien for the school's head-coaching position on Thursday.

O'Brien became the Patriots' quarterbacks coach in 2009 and also began calling offensive plays that season. He officially received the coordinator title after the '10 season. He had joined New England's staff in 2007.

O'Brien has college assistant coaching experience, having served at ACC schools Georgia Tech, Duke and Maryland along with Brown from the Ivy League before advancing to the NFL.

"Bill does a good job,'' Belichick said. "He works hard, he's smart, he's got a lot of experience. He's done different things here in terms of working with the receivers, working with the quarterbacks. I think he's got a good understanding of what our system is, what our players can do, and he's put them in good position to do it.''