Why did Chip Kelly leave UCLA for Ohio State?

On January 21, 2025By Littum

Ohio State football coach Ryan Day made a coaching hire in the offseason when it hired former UCLA coach Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator.

It was an interesting move for Kelly, who decided he’d rather be the offensive coordinator at Ohio State than the head coach at UCLAa position he held from 2018-23.

Day and Kelly have history, which made the move make sense as Kelly was Day’s offensive coordinator when Day was New Hampshire’s quarterback from 1998-2001. Day was also the quarterbacks coach for Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers when Kelly was an NFL head coach.

Day’s first coaching job as New Hampshire’s tight ends coach in 2002 was also under Kelly’s attack.

Kelly, who won three Pac-12 championships and led Oregon to the 2011 national championship, is among the most experienced offensive heads in all of college football.

Here’s why Kelly left UCLA for Ohio State ahead of the 2024-25 season:

Why did Chip Kelly leave UCLA for Ohio State?

Kelly explained his decision to move from UCLA head coach to assistant at Ohio State in his first spring with Buckeyes in March.

Kelly, who had not been an assistant offensive coordinator at Oregon in 2008, coached UCLA’s quarterbacks for Bruins‘ LA Bowl matchup with Boise State after Ryan Gunderson left to be the offensive coordinator at Oregon State.

He said being a position coach rekindled his love for football.

“I actually coached the quarterbacks for the bowl game and I just started thinking like I hadn’t actually coached a position since 2008,” Kelly told reporters at his introductory news conference. “I think my wife noticed that she said, ‘I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time.’ And to me, the best part of football is football. And then you have to do football and not do some of the things that are involved in the head coaching contract.”

Kelly then said he began looking into possible opportunities to become an assistant coach again.

“So I started researching, ‘Is there an opportunity?'” Kelly said. “And it would have been the right place to go somewhere and just train a position again and be back with that group.”

Kelly has been the head coach at Oregon and UCLA, and also the NFL’s Eagles and 49ers since his last stint as an assistant.

Of course, it would have taken one of the best assistant roles in college football to likely lure Kelly away from UCLA, which Ohio State provided. It’s unclear what some of the head coaching things were that turned Kelly away from the Bruins, but with the current age of college football in terms of recruiting, name, image and likeness and also leading UCLA into a new conference, it took probably a toll in Kelly’s time.

Kelly said being a head coach in the current era of college football requires being a “CEO.”

“I just want to be happy. And I’m really happy to coach the position,” Kelly said. “Really happy to be in this place. It would have taken a special place for me to leave UCLA because I love those players and I love that coaching staff, but being here with Ryan, had a great relationship, I’ve known Ryan since he was a little kid. So I think a lot of things fell into place that way.”

Kelly took the job previously held by Bill O’Brien in the offseason, but O’Brien never coached the Buckeyes as he turned around and took the head coaching position at Boston College, leaving the option open for Kelly.

“Sometimes I do a lot of things other people don’t,” Kelly said with a laugh. “I don’t know if it’s right or wrong.”

Chip Kelly contract

According to USA TODAY assistant coaches salary databaseKelly is the eighth-highest paid assistant in college football, making $2 million this year.

He can also earn up to $940,000 in bonuses.

Chip Kelly acquisition

Ohio State paid UCLA $1.5 million to hire him as offensive coordinator, according to USA TODAY’s salary database. Ohio State also paid an unspecified amount to reduce the tax impact on Kelly.

Kelly signed a contract extension with the Bruins in 2023 that would have paid him $6.1 million in 2024.