Ted S. Warren / Associated Press
While all the attention has been on the Super Bowl this week, a former NFL head coach was in the spotlight this morning. Chip Kelly, who was the head coach at UCLA, has decided to leave the program to take the offensive coordinator job at Ohio State.
The position was filled in January with a different former NFL head coach, Bill O’Brien, but sources have him as the top candidate to fill the newly vacant Boston College head job.
Kelly has gone 35-34 in six seasons in charge of the UCLA program and was under contract until 2027. After an 8-5 record in 2023, which ended with a 35-22 victory over Boise State in the Starco Brands LA Bowl, there was speculation that the writing may be on the wall for Kelly’s tenure to be coming to an end. No such firing occurred and it seemed as if Kelly was going to be the guy going into 2024.
In a shocking move this morning, Kelly resigned from the head coaching position of the newest Big 10 member UCLA to become the OC at another Big 10 school.
Why?
You have to think that Kelly felt the air-breathing down his neck and that this could be his last go around in California. UCLA has struggled to raise money on the NIL front and couldn’t compete financially with a lot of their toughest competition. Even more likely, it may have been because Ohio State’s Head Coach Ryan Day came calling.
Day and Kelly’s history goes way back, and if Kelly was going to step down to take on a non-head coaching job, it had to be the perfect fit. Ohio State is the perfect fit. A program on the brink of a National Championship every year, with high name recognition, large NIL Collectives, and the opportunity to work with a very close friend.
Day was the quarterbacks coach under Kelly when he was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, and then again when Kelly took over the 49ers. 7 years later, the tables have turned, and Day welcomes his mentor to Columbus. Way before all of this, when Kelly was the head coach at the University of New Hampshire, Day was his quarterback. Day’s first coaching job was at his alma mater under Kelly, as the TE’s coach. The two are very close, and there are a lot of similarities in the way they attack a defense.
For Ohio State, it feels like a match made in heaven. As fans grew tired of Ryan Day’s play-calling and lackluster offensive performances, Day finally relinquished his play-calling duties. Now, he gives it to one of his closest mentors and the guy he learned under.
Will this be the move that gets Ohio State over the hump? Can Kelly help get the Michigan ‘monkey’ off their back? Only time will tell, but Ohio State is surely trending in the right direction.
Comments