Chip Kelly leaving UCLA for OC job at Ohio State

It is not often you see a head coach leave his job to go be a coordinator at school in the same conference. Well, that is exactly what Chip Kelly is doing. Kelly informed UCLA that he will be leaving the program sources say.

Kelly is expected to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State under Ryan Day, whom he worked with when he was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Kelly is replacing former Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien, who was hired by the Buckeyes in mid-January to take over play-calling for Day. O'Brien is now expected to take the head coaching position at Boston College later this week.

Day and Kelly have a long history together dating back to 1999 when Kelly was the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire where Day played quarterback. Then in 2015, Kelly was the head coach of the Eagles and hired Day to become the quarterbacks coach. Then in 2016, Kelly made the move to the 49ers and brought Day along with him in the same position.

The New Hampshire native will take over play-calling for Day. He is stepping into a new offense with transfer quarterback Will Howard leading the way. Kelly is often been called a gifted play-caller and will be able to show off his ability in a high-powered offense.

Kelly took over at UCLA in late 2017 and in his career with the Bruins had a 35-34 record. In six seasons with the Bruins, Kelly had three bowl-eligible seasons but only participated in two bow games in 2022 and 2023. UCLA did not compete in its 2021 bowl game due to a high number of COVID-19-positive cases.

The former NFL coach never led the Bruins to a Pac-12 title game or brought home any Pac-12 championships. This news might not be so bad for Bruins fans but could be detrimental to the program with the upcoming move to the Big 10.

UCLA players will now have 30 days to decide if they want to enter the transfer portal or not.