My bags were packed, and my stuff was stored for the summer. I was one night of sleep, one final exam and a taxi ride away from heading home to Houston following my sophomore year at Brown University. I was so pumped that all I wanted to do was put my head on the pillow and get through the next 12 hours.

Just as I was about to drift off ... ring.

Dadgum it. Who's calling now?

"Johnny, it's OB. When are we getting together on this Econ 111 stuff?" the caller asked.

All semester long, OB - or Bill O'Brien, as the soon-to-be new head coach of the Texans is known today - and I had been cranking out long nights of study in the Science Library at Brown for Economics 111, and now I was being asked about one more session.

Every ounce of my being said, "No way. I'm done with the books." But there was something about Bill that kept me from saying no.

"Uh, meet me there at 11, and we'll do what we can," I said.

We brushed up on supply, demand and standard deviation, mixed with a little bit of calculus. It was about 2:30 a.m. when we finally emerged from the cavern that was our study hovel. I asked him if he felt prepared, and he said like never before.

He then got a higher score than me. Well, at least that's the story he'd like for you to believe, but that's revisionist history after all these years. The truth was that he was going to stay there all night in that library chair studying if that's what it took to get the job done.

Not much has changed over the last 23 years; the job still gets done.

It will get done.

Acing an Economics 111 final exam is one thing; building a football team and restoring hope to a damaged football city is quite another. But if there's anyone you'd want in that foxhole, or better yet leading you out of the foxhole to do just that, it's Bill O'Brien.

During his senior year (1992), we traveled down to William & Mary and got hammered by the Tribe 51-7. Quite frankly, we weren't good. That was game three of the season, and we would finish that year 0-10. It was the only game for which we took a plane.

We thought Coach K (Brown coach Mickey Kwiathowski) was throwing us a bone by allowing us to get back to do what every college student does on a Saturday night - go out on the town. In East Providence, R.I., that meant heading to someone's apartment or to Oliver's, a local bar. It's not like living near Washington Avenue or in Midtown in Houston. Trust me on that.

Regardless, that Saturday we went to a friend's apartment. I was late arriving because, well, I'm from Houston. I had to get my boots and jeans on.

As soon as I walked in, I heard this booming voice saying, "Johnny."

I turned around, and of course it was Bill. Before I could get one word out of my mouth, he let loose.

"Johnny, I'm telling you we're going to be OK," he said. "Don't get down about that game today. We're going to kick some tail the rest of the year. OK?"

I believed him. So when he tells you the Texans are going to be OK, you're going to believe him, too. Trust me, the Texans are a wee bit better than we were in 1992.

I've heard so many analysts, fans and/or talking heads wonder aloud what is it about a man who was only 15-9 in his only two years as a head coach that makes him the right fit for the Texans. I flash back to all those hours spent in the weight room, the locker room and the library, and a million thoughts come racing to mind.

So I don't spend all night in a Twitter fight or talk for an hour on the topic. All I've said about Bill is, "You'll see."

He's not going to shower you with smiles and fist pumps and news conference quotes. That's not what a tough-minded Irish Catholic Bostonian does. But throw on the lights at Reliant Stadium, and you'll see, too.

That's my guy. He'll be your guy, too. Even if his Econ 111 recall is a little fuzzy.

John Harris played football at Lamar Consolidated High School and Brown University and coached high school football in Florida before returning to Houston to work for more than six years as a sports talk host on KGOW (1560 AM) and Yahoo Sports Radio. He co-owns and writes for the website TheSidelineView.com.