Chip Kelly Leaves Ohio State for the Raiders

Chip Kelly’s new role in the NFL as offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders marks his return, just one season after occupying the offensive coordinator position for the Ohio State (OSU) football program. The timing is just right for the 2024 season, as national championships for Ohio State would have some successful finish under Kelly’s watch. The team averaged 35.7 points per game and ranked 12 nationally in scoring offense for the division last season. That said, it means that Kelly’s exit marks the third assistant to leave Ohio State this off-season. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles went to Penn State, and offensive line coach Justin Frye signed with the Arizona Cardinals. Kelly’s sudden departure leaves a lot of speculation as to who might be running the Buckeyes’ offense and what lasting impact Kelly’s brief tenure with the program will have.

Kelly’s Journey to the Ohio State Buckeyes

Chip Kelly’s arrival at OSU back in February 2024 was newsworthy in and of itself. He resigned as head coach at UCLA to become the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, replacing Bill O’Brien, who was with the team all of a hot second before becoming head coach at Boston College. Most thought this was kind of an odd move, taking a coordinator job after being the head man. Kelly’s bond with Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was the ultimate driving factor here, going back to their days at the University of New Hampshire, where Kelly was the offensive coordinator under Day. Then they coached together in the NFL: Kelly was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 2013 to 2015 and worked alongside Day with the San Francisco 49ers in 2016.

Kelly was 35-34 in six years at UCLA, but no team ever finished higher than a tie for second in the Pac-12 South. Even as the Kelly programs were largely mediocre, however, Kelly’s pro-style offenses were often elite, consistently churning out NFL-caliber running backs like Zach Charbonnet and Joshua Kelley. But the nature of his exit from UCLA did come with a bit of scrutiny, putting the program in a bind with their looming transition into the Big Ten. For Kelly, though, the move to Ohio State was believed to be what his career needed to get revitalized as he brought some serious offensive flair to a highly profiled program.

Impact at Ohio State

Kelly had a quite strong single season at Ohio State. With play-calling duties turned over to Ryan Day, he instituted a system that greatly upgraded the Buckeyes’ offensive production. The team’s scoring average was more than five points per game higher than last season. Quarterback Will Howard set the school record by completing 73 percent of his passes. Kelly offense has always been run-first, which spoke volumes into his calling card as a coach-one that really fit quite well with Ohio State’s gifted roster headed by the likes of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins. This is big to get through to Ohio State via an extended College Football Playoff to that national championship game.

Of course, there were some potholes along the way. One was a subpar recruiting class, but that was somewhat offset by Ohio State’s excellent recruiting infrastructure under Day. One factor in favor of continuity, Kelly had an existing relationship with Frye, the offensive line coach, because the two had worked together at UCLA. That took another hit this year, when Frye left for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals.

Contract and Buyout Details

Kelly signed a three-year deal with Ohio State back in February of 2024. It includes a base salary of $2 million for 2024, which ramps up to $2.1 million in 2025, and $2.2 million in 2026. He would also qualify for performance bonuses depending on up to 47% of that base salary given the team’s performance. Thanks to Ohio State’s national championship, Kelly banked $700,000 in bonuses for the 2024 season. Kelly paid Ohio State a $350,000 buyout to leave for an assistant coaching job in the league. That’s much smaller than the $1.32 million owed by Jim Knowles when he left for Penn State under similar circumstances.

Ohio State Seeking New Offensive Coordinator

This marks the third consecutive year Ohio State finds itself in pursuit of an offensive coordinator-a situation that, by no means, has lent itself to program stability. Ryan Day, in 2024 calling plays on his own for the first time in his head coaching career in a fashion that is consistent with Kelly, must now find the player that extends the success for the 2024 unit into the future in some form or fashion. Those might include some recognizable names, such as Kevin Wilson, the offensive coordinator for the Buckeyes from 2017-2022, and current OSU wide receivers coach Brian Hartline. Having just been relieved of his duties by Tulsa, Wilson brings experience aplenty to the table in an effort to steady the ship, while the in-house candidate Hartline certainly knows the program and its players inside and out.

Not that Ohio State’s offense won’t still be a destination for would-be coordinators with talent like superstar wide receiver Jeremiah Smith on the roster, but recent championship success and resources lifted by being in the Big Ten allow Ohio State to attract high-caliber candidates. The only question will be how recruits and players view a position that has turned over so frequently. In that regard, this next hire becomes crucial in terms of maintaining momentum.

Kelly’s NFL Return

Kelly has returned to the NFL, this time with the Las Vegas Raiders-his first stint in the league since serving as the head coach of the Eagles and 49ers. His NFL career was a bit of a mixed bag, having had early success with the Eagles, leading that team to a 10-6 record in his first year, while terribly failing on his last stop with the 49ers, leading that team to a 2-14 mark in 2016. Kelly’s decision to join the LV Raiders as offensive coordinator reflects his ongoing interest in NFL opportunities; he interviewed for several NFL coordinator positions before joining Ohio State. His experience and knowledge on offense should be invaluable to the Raiders, who are looking to rework an offense under newly hired head coach Pete Carroll.

Conclusion

Chip Kelly’s brief but successful tenure at Ohio State leaves behind a complicated legacy. His knowledge on offense took the Buckeyes to championship success, but the manner of his departure underlines how hard it is to guarantee stability within such a high-pressure program. With Ohio State now in need of a new offensive coordinator, a search has kicked off for that leader who would build on what Kelly has created, add more continuity toward the ultimate goal: sustained excellence. For Kelly, this return to the NFL represents a new chapter in his career, which had been followed by analysts and lovers of football with bated breath. Setting up one of the most intriguing story-lines going into the 2025 season will be how well Ohio State adapts to this latest coaching change.