Ohio State football has a new offensive play-caller.

After hiring Bill O’Brien briefly before he took the head coaching job at Boston College, Ohio State coach Ryan Day hired Chip Kelly, the former UCLA and Oregon coach, to be the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2024.

Kelly will make his official Ohio State coaching debut Saturday when OSU takes on Akron. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Ohio Stadium and will be broadcast on CBS.

Here’s a look at why Kelly made the step to be OSU’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coacg.

More on Chip Kelly: Ryan Day and Chip Kelly are reunited at Ohio State. Here’s their relationship history

Why Chip Kelly wanted to be an Ohio State offensive coordinator

At Ohio State, Kelly is a coordinator and a position coach for the first time since 2008. But in his introductory press conference with the Buckeyes, Kelly admitted “sometimes I do a lot of things other people don’t do.”

“I just want to be happy, and I’m really happy coaching a position and really happy to be at this place,” Kelly said.

Kelly spent 19 seasons as a position coach and/or a coordinator before becoming the head coach at Oregon in 2009.

Chip Kelly’s UCLA record

After four years at Oregon, where he led the Ducks to 46 wins in 53 games, including a BCS Championship appearance in 2010, Kelly returned to college football in 2018 to coach UCLA.

Kelly’s teams at UCLA finished 35-34. The Bruins beat Boise State in the 2023 LA Bowl but lost to Pittsburgh in the 2022 Sun Bowl.

• 2018: UCLA 3-9
• 2019: UCLA 4-8
• 2020: UCLA 3-4
• 2021: UCLA 8-4
• 2022: UCLA 9-4
• 2023: UCLA 8-5

Chip Kelly’s UCLA buyout

In March 2023, Kelly signed a contract extension to remain the coach at UCLA through 2027. According to the Los Angeles Times, Kelly was set to make $6.1 million in 2023 and 2024, and $6.2 million in 2025, 2026 and 2027.

Ohio State was responsible for paying $1.5 million to UCLA for Kelly’s buyout and related taxable income resulting from the expense.

Chip Kelly’s Ohio State contract

Kelly signed a three-year deal to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State that includes an annual basic compensation of $2 million.

Chip Kelly’s coaching career

Here’s a look at where Kelly’s coached before becoming Ohio State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

• 1990: Columbia — Defensive Backs/Special Teams
• 1991: Columbia — Outside Linebackers/Safeties
• 1992: New Hampshire — Running Backs
• 1993: Johns Hopkins — Defensive Coordinator
• 1994-96: New Hampshire — Running Backs
• 1997-98: New Hampshire — Offensive Line
• 1999-2006: New Hampshire — Offensive Coordinator
• 2007-08: Oregon — Offensive Coordinator
• 2009-12: Oregon — Head Coach
• 2013-15: Philadelphia Eagles — Head Coach
• 2016: San Francisco 49ers — Head Coach
• 2018-23: UCLA — Head Coach
• 2024: Ohio State — Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks

Ohio State football schedule 2024

• Aug. 31: Ohio State vs. Akron; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
• Sept. 7: Ohio State vs. Western Michigan; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
• Sept. 21: Ohio State vs. Marshall; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
• Sept. 28: Ohio State at Michigan State; Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, Michigan
• Oct. 5: Ohio State vs. Iowa; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
• Oct. 12: Ohio State at Oregon; Autzen Stadium, Eugene, Oregon
• Oct. 26: Ohio State vs. Nebraska; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
• Nov. 2: Ohio State at Penn State; Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pennsylvania
• Nov. 9: Ohio State vs. Purdue; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
• Nov. 16: Ohio State at Northwestern; Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
• Nov. 23: Ohio State vs. Indiana; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio
• Nov. 30: Ohio State vs. Michigan; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

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The CSX worker who discovered his friend run over by a pair of remote-control locomotives in a railyard last year sees a simple solution to preventing similar deaths in the future: two-person crews.

But that idea won’t be popular with the railroads that have come to rely heavily on having one person control trains moving around a railyard with a remote control as they take apart and reassemble trains. The tactic that was first approved in 2005 started with two people on the job to watch for hazards, but today one-person remote-control operations are common.

Using remote control operators helps limit costs by using less experienced workers to move locomotives that help assemble trains — a task that once required licensed engineers who are among the highest-paid rail workers. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Trainmen and Engineers and other unions have been raising concerns about the practice recently, particularly because remote-control trains are now being used in places outside of railyards to make local trips to pick up and drop off cars.

Railroads are confident the practice is safe based on their experience using it for years. But Federal Railroad Administration spokesman Warren Flatau said the agency is scrutinizing the use of remote control after this death and several other recent incidents. The expanded use of remote-control trains outside of rail yards is also attracting attention.

The National Transportation Safety Board provided an update on its investigation into the death of Fred Anderson on Wednesday when it posted transcripts of its interviews with the workers involved and other information. Anderson was killed on September 17, 2023, when he stepped in front of two locomotives in CSX’s railyard in Walbridge, Ohio.

Railroad safety has been in the spotlight ever since last year’s disastrous Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, forced evacuations and left residents with lingering health fears after a cocktail of toxic chemicals spilled and burned.

At the time Anderson was killed, the remote control operator was riding on a ladder on the back of the second locomotive with no view of the front of the train. That practice is perfectly acceptable under federal and railroad rules because earlier in the shift the remote-control operator had cleared the area around the tracks where he was working.

Anderson and the other carman he was working with, George Oliger, had radioed ahead to get permission to enter the area, but Anderson was still struck by the train. Oliger told investigators afterward that he thinks Anderson’s death would have been prevented if the remote-control operator was on the front of the locomotives or if a conductor or engineer were controlling them from the cab. He said a traditional crew would have likely seen Anderson and rang the bell to alert him to the danger.

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“What does it cost for an engineer for the night? $350? If we had two guys on every crew, to spend $350 to save someone’s life or to make our yard a little bit safer, I think that’s what we need to do, you know. Like I said if there had been a two man crew on that crew that night, we wouldn’t be talking,” Oliger said, according to a transcript of his interview.

It’s not clear if anyone would have been able to stop the locomotives in time before they hit Anderson, but if someone operating the train had seen him step onto the tracks, they may have been able to warn him. The locomotives were moving at 10 mph (16 kph) when they struck Anderson, and the remote control operator told investigators that he believes it would have taken the length of an engine to stop them at that speed.

But Randy Fannon, who leads the engineers’ union’s Safety Task Force, said he thinks, “This tragic incident in Ohio involving a remotely operated train, blindly controlled from behind, would not have happened if there had been a locomotive engineer in the cab.”

Fannon said railyard workers are more alert to the risks presented by remote-control trains, but the union is “adamantly opposed to remotely operated trains being used outside fenced-in yard environments where pedestrians or vehicles could come in contact at rail crossings.”

CSX and all the unions directly involved aren’t allowed to discuss Anderson’s death until the NTSB completes its investigation, which the agency has said is focused on CSX’s carmen safety procedure training and awareness.

The Federal Railroad Administration and CSX both put out advisories after Anderson’s death reminding all rail workers that they need to be careful when crossing tracks and should always be aware that a train can move down a track at any time. CSX had its managers stress to all its maintenance workers that they must look both directions before they ever cross tracks.

The railroad said last year that it wasn’t planning any changes to its remote control operations after Anderson’s death because it appeared that all federal and CSX rules were being followed at the time.

Safety statistics on railroad crashes are unclear on how safe this practice is because Federal Railroad Administration reports don’t break out those involving remote control trains from incidents involving trains operated by engineers and conductors.

The Brotherhood of Railway Carmen union has said that three of its members have died in incidents involving remote-control trains since 2015.