Ohio State football program hires Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator

The Ohio State football program moved fast because they knew they had to. They knew that Bill O’Brien was about to leave before ever coaching for the Buckeyes, so they had to have contingency plans. Ryan Day was very smart to start talking to other candidates as soon as that Boston College job came open.

Day decided to make the best possible hire that he could to replace O’Brien. In fact, I like this hire more than I like the initial O’Brien pick. Day decided to hire Chip Kelly as the new offensive coordinator. Kelly steps away from being the head coach at UCLA to work for his former employee and his former player.

The Ohio State football program hits a grand slam with Chip Kelly hire

For not having much time to decide on an offensive coordinator, this is the best possible hire for the Buckeyes. This is a hand-in-glove fit considering most of what Day knows came from Kelly in the first place. They should be in lockstep on the playbook. Kelly also has experience at both the NFL and collegiate levels and has had success at both levels.

Hiring Kelly should also make the new offensive recruits feel better, specifically new transfer recruit Julian Sayin. Sayin came to Ohio State in large part because of O’Brien being on staff. This is a really good option if O’Brien is going to leave, so Sayin should still feel comfortable being a Buckeye and battling for the starting job in 2025.

As far as the 2024 season is concerned, I expect the offense to be much better than what it was a season ago. In addition to all of the weapons the Buckeyes were able to retain, they added a good quarterback, an excellent running back, and a good offensive lineman. Kelly joining the fray makes the effectiveness of all of those players much better.

Offensive line coach Justin Frye also used to work for Kelly, so maybe he can get the most out of Frye. This is a great hire for the Ohio State football program and I’m very excited to see the offense in the Spring.