Ohio State announced Friday night that it has hired former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly as its next offensive coordinator.
The Buckeyes moved quickly after Bill O’Brien’s brief tenure at Ohio State ended once he took the head coaching spot at Boston College.
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“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,” UCLA athletics director Martin Jarmond stated in a release.
Now, UCLA has started “a national search” for its next head coach, according to a release.
“It is imperative that we support our student-athletes and put them in the best position to succeed,” Jarmond stated. “UCLA is a special place, and we are confident we will find a leader for our football program who develops young men on and off the field and embodies our True Bruin Values.”
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Kelly arrives at Ohio State with a long history alongside Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. The two spent time together when Day was quarterback at New Hampshire and Kelly was offensive coordinator, then the duo coached together in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015 and San Francisco 49ers in 2016.
Day stated the Buckeyes are “extremely excited” for Kelly’s arrival, according to Tony Gerdeman of Buckeye Huddle.
“We are extremely excited to have Chip and his wife, Jill, joining our program,” Day stated via Gerdeman. “His experience as a head coach at Oregon, UCLA and in the NFL will bring immediate value to our entire team. I am really looking forward to reconnecting with Chip, introducing him to our staff and team and chasing a championship together. I would also like to wish coach Bill O’Brien and his family well as he takes over at Boston College.”
Now, Day and Kelly will coach together at Ohio State where the former has been head coach for the past five seasons.
Kelly will bring to the Buckeyes a wealth of football knowledge he’s accumulated from over 30 years of coaching. He has been head coach at both the college and NFL levels.
Kelly’s first head coaching job came at Oregon from 2009-12. There, he earned the first of back-to-back Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year honors in his first season after leading the Ducks to a 10-3 record and Rose Bowl appearance in 2009.
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Before Kelly got to Oregon, he spent the previous 13 years at New Hampshire which is his alma mater.
After four seasons with the Ducks, Kelly made the jump to head coach of the Eagles in 2013. He’d spend three years there before becoming head coach of the 49ers where he and Day coaching quarterbacks.
Kelly was named Maxwell Club NFL Coach of the Year upon leading the Eagles to an NFC East Division championship in 2013, becoming the second head coach in league history to win a division title in his first NFL season.
Kelly first started his coaching career at Columbia University in 1990 when he coached defensive backs and special teams. Among his additional stops early in his career came at New Hampshire as running backs coach in 1992 and as defensive coordinator at Johns Hopkins in 1993.
