Ohio State is looking for two new coordinators following its national championship season.
According to ESPN, Chip Kelly is leaving the Buckeyes after one season to become the offensive coordinator for Pete Carroll with the Las Vegas Raiders. Kelly’s departure comes not long after defensive coordinator Jim Knowles left to take the same position at Penn State.
Kelly came to Ohio State after the 2023 season as Ryan Day gave up play-calling duties. Kelly left his job as UCLA’s head coach to run Ohio State’s offense as the Buckeyes bounced back from two regular-season losses to win the first 12-team College Football Playoff.
The former Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers head coach has never been an offensive coordinator in the NFL. He joined the Eagles before the 2013 season after he spent four seasons as Oregon’s head coach and coached the 49ers for one season in 2016 after he was fired by the Eagles.
The Eagles were 26-21 in Kelly’s three seasons with the team and went 10-6 in his first two seasons. But the team was 6-9 before he was fired ahead of the conclusion of the 2015 season.
His season in San Francisco was an unmitigated disaster as the 49ers went 2-14. He was the 49ers third coach in three seasons and the team lost 13 straight games after winning in Week 1.
After a year at ESPN, Kelly became UCLA’s head coach. He spent six years with the Bruins and they won at least eight games in his final three seasons with the school.
In Las Vegas, Kelly takes over the offense for a team that’s in dire need of a quarterback. Las Vegas got starts from Gardner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder in 2024 and they combined to throw 19 TDs with 16 interceptions and average just 6.5 yards per attempt.
The Raiders could hope that a QB like Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward falls all the way to No. 6, trade up for either QB or make the move for a veteran stopgap quarterback in Carroll’s first season in the AFC. The former Seattle Seahawks coach spent the 2024 season out of coaching after he parted ways with the Seahawks after the 2023 season.
Though the QB position needs to be solved, the Raiders do have one of the best offensive building blocks in TE Brock Bowers. The former Georgia player was a first-team All-Pro as a rookie with 112 catches for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns.
