Ohio State to Hire Kelly as OC

From Hollywood to the Horseshoe, Chip Kelly is making an unusual career change.

According to various reports, the UCLA head coach is exiting stage left, leaving the Bruins to become the offensive coordinator for Ohio State. The Buckeyes needed an offensive coordinator after Boston College decided Friday to hire Bill O’Brien, who was with the New England Patriots last season, to replace Jeff Hafley.

Ohio State hired O’Brien to run the team’s offense last month, but Hafley, a former Ohio State assistant, left Boston College at the end of January to become the defensive coordinator in ‘Title Town’ for the Green Bay Packers.

Kelly has been at the helm as UCLA’s coach since 2018 and the Bruins are 35-34 in his tenure with the program. After three straight losing seasons through 2018-20, UCLA has posted at least eight wins in each of the past three seasons. The Bruins went 8-5 in 2023 and defeated Boise State in the LA Bowl. Shortly after the reports came out that Kelly was heading to Ohio State, UCLA announced that he had stepped down.

“I want to sincerely thank Chip for his service to UCLA Football and our student-athletes across the past six seasons and wish the best to him and his wife Jill moving forward,” Bruins athletic director Martin Jarmond said.

It’s a remarkable move, even if UCLA wasn’t going to be a part of the same conference as Ohio State in 2024. But Kelly’s departure from the Bruins comes as UCLA heads to the Big Ten along with Oregon, Washington and USC ahead of the upcoming football season.

Kelly has always been individualistic, however. And that has led to great football success. He took over for Mike Bellotti at Oregon after he was the Ducks’ offensive coordinator. From 2009-2012, Oregon went 46-7 and had an innovative offense that took the college football world by storm.

That success brought Kelly to the NFL. He was brought on board by the Philadelphia Eagles and the Eagles went on to win the NFL East in 2013. However, Kelly was shown the door just after three seasons in Philadelphia and spent just one tumultuous season as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in 2016.

It comes as no surprise to see why Kelly could want to leave UCLA for a coordinator job at a school in the same conference. Kelly’s name was mentioned as a surprising hot seat candidate at the conclusion of the 2023 season and he has a buyout that will drop significantly after the 2024 campaign.

UCLA also has to embark on a murders row schedule next year and enters the season without a top of the line recruiting class. The Bruins’ 2024 recruiting class ranks just 83rd in the country and when you count transfers along with recruits, UCLA only moves up to 69th in Rivals’ rankings.

After opening the 2024 season at Hawaii and at home against the Indiana Hoosiers, UCLA has a three-game stretch featuring games at LSU, at home vs. Oregon and at Penn State. UCLA also hosts Iowa and heads to Washington in November before home games against USC and Fresno State.

Kelly and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day have a relationship that goes way back. Day played football at the University of New Hampshire when Kelly was an assistant at the school and was Kelly’s quarterback coach in 2015 with the Eagles and 2016 with the 49ers.

Day made the move to bring in O’Brien in January as part of a massive offseason shakeup for the program. Ohio State has lost three straight games to defending national champion and arch rival Michigan and finished the 2023 season at 11-2 following a 14-3 Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri. Outside of star wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who sat out that game to prepare for the upcoming NFL draft in April, most of Ohio State’s top NFL-eligible talent made the decision to come back to Columbus. Players like RB TreVeyon Henderson, WR Emeka Egbuka and edge rushers Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau are all returning for next season.

Ohio State has also added players like former Ole Miss RB Quinshon Judkins, ex-Kansas State signal caller Will Howard and former Alabama DB Caleb Downs through the transfer portal. The Buckeyes have a strong case to be No. 1 prior to the kick off of the 2024 season.

The season will also begin without Day calling plays. Day had called plays ever since taking over for Urban Meyer, but eyed an experienced offensive coordinator to call plays in his stead in 2024. O’Brien, Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022, was set to be that guy until this week.

Now, it is Kelly. And it is not a stretch the imagination to say that Kelly will be working with the most collegiate offensive talent he has had since Oregon, or maybe even in his career.