College Football

Chip Kelly on leaving UCLA for Ohio State OC role: 'Just want to be happy'

Published Mar. 5, 2024 3:37 p.m. ET

Ahead of making the unprecedented decision to step down from a head-coaching gig at a power conference school to accept a coordinator job, Chip Kelly knew he wanted to scale back his coaching duties following UCLA's bowl game in December.

Kelly, who was named Ohio State's offensive coordinator in February, said he enjoyed coaching UCLA's quarterbacks so much ahead of the LA Bowl that he wanted to focus on coaching a specific position again.

"It started when we were preparing for our bowl game," Kelly said Tuesday as he spoke with reporters for the first time since making the move to Columbus. "Ryan Gunderson, who's a great quarterbacks coach, left to go to Oregon State as a coordinator, so he wasn't there. So I actually coached the quarterbacks for the bowl game.

"I had started to think, ‘I haven't actually coached a position since 2008.' I think my wife remarked, 'I haven't seen you this happy in a long time.' To me, the best part of football is football. So, you've got to do football and not do some of the things involved with what a head coach does."

His wife's remark, along with his stint working with UCLA's quarterbacks, seemed to serve as an impetus for why Kelly began to reconsider his coaching career. He said he began to think about his future in the weeks following UCLA's bowl win over Boise State, coming to the conclusion that he'd step down from his gig as a head coach for a role to coach a position again if the right opportunity came up.

"As a head coach, you sit in on position meetings, but you always get pulled out," Kelly said. "There's other things that are involved with being a head coach. I think it's more of a CEO operation right now. The job and the landscape of college football, as we all know, have changed."

Kelly also cited a John Lennon story for why he made the move, saying that as a boy, Lennon told a teacher of his that he just wanted to be "happy" when he grew up.

"I just want to be happy," Kelly said. "I'm really happy to be coaching a position. I'm really happy at this place. It'd take a really special place for me to leave UCLA."

Chip Kelly leaves UCLA to become Ohio State offensive coordinator

Kelly began to test the waters on becoming an offensive coordinator again in January, reportedly interviewing with at least a few NFL teams for their OC vacancies. Among other teams, he interviewed with the Las Vegas Raiders, Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks, but he wasn't able to land a gig.

The Ohio State offensive coordinator position opened up when Bill O'Brien, who had just started, left to become the head coach at Boston College. Ohio State swiftly moved to hire Kelly, allowing him to reunite with Ryan Day, whom he coached when Day was a college quarterback at New Hampshire. Day also worked on Kelly's staff when he was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.

"I love those players and I love that coaching staff," Kelly said of UCLA, where he went 35-34 during his six seasons. "But to be here with Ryan, who I have a great relationship with, I've known him since he was a little kid. So I think a lot of things just fell into place."

As Kelly is working under Day for the first time, the 60-year-old said he has fully embraced his new role at Ohio State.

"He makes me call him sir," Kelly jokingly said of Day. "He just said, ‘Can you do that Day 1?' And I was like, ‘Alright, Ry.'

"No, I certainly understand my role … and I actually kind of relish it.," Kelly added. "I really love the scheming part. I love the individual part. I love being in the meeting room with the quarterbacks and trying to game plan. But everything we do here is collaborative."