UCLA Football: Unpacking Chip Kelly's Decision To Ditch Bruins For OSU OC Gig

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Former six-year UCLA Bruins football head coach Chip Kelly abandoned his longtime post pretty late into the recruiting window, in favor of a lesser role — albeit on a traditional football powerhouse.

Kelly is now the offensive coordinator for the Ohio State Buckeyes, serving under head coach Ryan Day.

On their podcast Sco-ing Long, former All-American Oregon Ducks running back-turned-Carolina Panthers Pro Bowler Jonathan Stewart and co-host Zachary Neel unpacked why Kelly opted for the new gig.

“Chip wasn’t happy there. They weren’t really happy with Chip,” Neel said. “It’s interesting. I mean, Chip, part of this thing is he hated recruiting. I mean, I think he wanted to get away from the transfer portal and recruiting. He wanted to go somewhere where he could just coach ball, and that’s all that’s all to do with Ohio State because they got a recruiting machine there.”

Kelly finished his run with an 8-5 2023 season run and a fairly meaningless Holiday Bowl victory, amidst some very dramatic starting quarterback turmoil that saw presumed eventual starter Dante Moore leave the club via the transfer portal in favor of Stewart’s Ducks.

“They get the best players in the nation and he could just drop X’s and O’s, which I think is very scary,” Neel continued. “I’m just very used to see what his aspirations are. Does he want to be a head coach again? Does it want to be an NFL coordinator? Is he just happy to be the Ohio State offensive coordinator for the next 15 years? Because I think that’s the scariest answer. If he’s just happy drawing up these plays for one of the best teams in the nation, that’s when Oregon fans have to be a little bit worried.

Neel’s co-host Stewart apparently shared Neel’s sentiment that Kelly wanted to move on and focus on the game itself.

“Yeah, I think he’s definitely just, you know, all about football,” Stewart said. “I remember when he came in, you know, the first time I actually had a conversation with him, we were standing in line at the training table. I got my two steaks and he comes up. He’s like, ‘Hey, there’s no reason why you’re not going to be a 1500 yard rusher this year.'”