Chip Kelly is returning to the Big Ten, but not to Ohio State.
Northwestern has hired the former Ohio State offensive coordinator as its new offensive coordinator, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Kelly, who helped lead Ohio State to a national championship in 2024 as the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator, left Ohio State after one season to become the Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive coordinator, but was fired by the Raiders after just 11 games.
When South Florida hired current Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline as its new head coach earlier this month, there was immediate speculation that Kelly could return to Ohio State as OC. His landing at Northwestern, however, suggests a reunion with the Buckeyes was never in the cards. Kelly also reportedly interviewed for Georgia Tech and North Carolina’s offensive coordinator vacancies, per On3’s Pete Nakos.
It’s still expected that Ryan Day will hire an experienced offensive coordinator to call plays for the Buckeyes in 2026. For the rest of the current season, Day is taking over play calling for the College Football Playoff, though Hartline will remain on staff as wide receivers coach through the end of Ohio State’s CFP run.
For Northwestern, though, landing Kelly is a splashy hire as the Wildcats look to elevate an offense that ranked just 14th of 18 Big Ten teams with 23.4 points per game this season.
Before his one-year stints with the Raiders and Buckeyes, Kelly was the head coach at UCLA from 2018-23. He was previously the head coach of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers in 2016 and Philadelphia Eagles from 2013-15. Kelly was previously the head coach (2009-12) and offensive coordinator (2007-08) at Oregon, where he became known as one of college football’s most innovative offensive minds. Before that, Kelly was a longtime assistant at New Hampshire – his alma mater – where he coached Day during his own playing career.
Kelly replaces Zach Lujan, Northwestern’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the past two years, whose contract is not being renewed.
Both of Ohio State’s coordinators from its 2024 national championship team have now already changed jobs twice in less than a year. Jim Knowles, who left Ohio State after last season to become the new defensive coordinator at Penn State, became the new defensive coordinator at Tennessee earlier this month; new Penn State head coach Matt Campbell reportedly hired D’Anton Lynn away from USC on Monday to be Penn State’s new DC.
