Chip Kelly leaving UCLA for offensive coordinator position at Ohio State
The UCLA Bruins football team suddenly find themselves without a head coach as Chip Kelly announced his plans to leave for the offensive coordinator position at Ohio State University, according to CBS Sports.
Kelly led the Bruins for six seasons in which they went 35-34 and made three bowl games, winning the LA Bowl in 2023.
"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," said UCLA's Alice and Nahum Lainer Family Director of Athletics Martin Jarmond in a statement released by the university.
The statement said that a national search for the program's next head coach is already underway.
"It is imperative that we support our student-athletes and put them in the best position to succeed," Jarmond said. "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."
During his final season at the helm, the Bruins went 8-5, making Kelly the fourth head coach in the program's lengthy history to win eight or more games in three straight seasons.
What was arguably Kelly's best season came in 2022, when he led the team to a 9-4 record and fifth place finish in the Pac-12. The team averaged 503.6 yards of total offense per game, which is a program record.
He coached notable players who are currently on NFL rosters like Zach Charbonnet, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Joshua Kelley, Demetric Felton, Devin Asiasi and Greg Dulcich during his tenure as the Bruins head coach.
UCLA is set to join the Big Ten in 2024, making Ohio State one of their new divisional rivals.
In joining the Buckeyes, Kelly reunites with longtime friend Ryan Day. The two have a lengthy history dating back to Day's playing days at the University of New Hampshire where Kelly was offensive coordinator at the time. He then joined the program as a tight end coach in 2002.
When Kelly left the University of Oregon to join the NFL in 2013 and take over the Philadelphia Eagles, he brought Day onto his staff as quarterbacks coach in 2015. The following season, after Kelly was let go and hired as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Day was again hired to the same position.