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Why did Chip Kelly leave UCLA for Ohio State? Explaining head coach to assistant move

Published

1 year ago

January 20, 2025

Why did Chip Kelly leave UCLA for Ohio State? Explaining head coach to assistant move

Ohio State football and coach Ryan Day made a coaching hire splash 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 UCLA, a 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 the 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 offense.

Kelly, who won three Pac-12 championships and led Oregon to the 2011 national championship, is among the most experienced offensive minds 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 the Buckeyes in March.

Kelly, who hadn’t been an assistant being the offensive coordinator at Oregon in 2008, coached UCLA’s quarterbacks for the 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 reinvigorated his love for football.

“I actually coached the quarterbacks for the bowl game, and I just started to think, like I hadn’t actually coached a position since 2008,” Kelly told reporters in his introductory press conference. “I think my wife remarked, she was like, ‘I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time.’ And, to me, the best part of football is football. And so, you got to do football, and not do some of the things involved with the head coaching deal.”

Kelly then said he started looking into possible opportunities to be an assistant coach again.

“So I started to look into, ‘Is there an opportunity?’” Kelly said. “And it would have had to been the right spot to go somewhere and just coach 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 he last stint as an assistant.

Of course, it would’ve taken one of the top assistant roles in college football to likely lure Kelly away from UCLA, which Ohio State provided. It’s unclear what some of the things with head coaching were that turned Kelly away from the Bruins, however, with the current age of college football in recruiting, name, image and likeness and also leading UCLA into a new conference, it likely took a toll on 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 coaching the position,” Kelly said. “Really happy to be at 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 to be here with Ryan, had a great relationship, I’ve known Ryan since he was a little kid. So, I think a lot of things just fell into place that way.”

Kelly took the job that was previously filled by Bill O’Brien during the offseason, but O’Brien never actually coached the Buckeyes as he turned around and took the head coaching position at Boston College, leaving the opportunity open for Kelly.

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

Chip Kelly contract

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

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

Chip Kelly buyout

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 undetermined amount to reduce the tax impact on Kelly.

Kelly signed a contract extension with the Bruins in 2023, which would’ve paid him $6.1 million in 2024.

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8th Annual Trumbull County Special Olympics Invitational held in Girard

Published

12 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

8th Annual Trumbull County Special Olympics Invitational held in Girard

GIRARD, Ohio (WKBN) – Over 100 athletes came together for the 5th Annual Trumbull County Special Olympics Invitational Saturday morning in Girard.

These athletes represent five different schools across Trumbull County to compete and spread the message of inclusion, achievement, and sportsmanship.

The Invitational continued its long-standing tradition of honoring the legacy of Randy Suchanek while celebrating the dedication and accomplishments of Special Olympics athletes throughout the region.

“You can hear all the excitement for this, for the athletes that are here today,” said superintendent Bryan O’Hara. “They work hard all year long to participate. We’ve always worked hand in hand with the rotary to get this accomplished is a lot of work behind the scenes.”

Participating schools included Ashtabula, Geauga, Columbiana, Kent-Portage and Trumbull Fairhaven

“There’s a lot of nice participation from girard students as you see behind us, and a lot of participation from the community helping out,” Girard-Liberty Rotary co-president Andy Kish added.

O’Hara added that the event keeps everything in perspective, seeing the athletes compete in the spirit of fun, along with the courage and determination that they show.

Alex Sorrells contributed to this report.

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Can you eat Ohio River fish? Just Askin’

Published

24 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Can you eat Ohio River fish? Just Askin’

Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?

In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.

At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.

There were warnings in 1977

But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.

Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.

But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.

So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?

The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.

There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.

In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.

Here’s where to check

Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.

Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish

The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.

Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.

Have a question for Just Askin’? Email us.

The Just Askin’ series aims to answer the questions that no one seems to have an answer for, except maybe Google.

Do you have a question you want answered? Send it to us at justaskin@enquirer.com, ideally with Just Askin’ in the subject line.

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UCLA offensive coordinator visits four-star Ohio State commit

Published

1 day ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

UCLA offensive coordinator visits four-star Ohio State commit

It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.

Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?

Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.

247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.

It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.

Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.

Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.

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