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- Chip Kelly joins Northwestern as offensive coordinator after the Raiders fired him mid-season with a 2-9 record and mixed NFL head coaching results.
- The hire comes after Kelly’s orchestration of Ohio State’s national championship offense, which he abandoned last year to pursue an NFL opportunity with Las Vegas.
- Northwestern finished 15th in Big Ten scoring this season, giving Kelly a chance to rebuild his reputation at the program’s new $850-million stadium.
Chip Kelly didn’t land on his feet by taking the offensive coordinator position at Northwestern on Tuesday, a month after the Las Vegas Raiders fired him.
More likely, he’ll land on his derriere, seated in a comfy chair overlooking Ryan Field, the Wildcats’ gleaming new $850-million stadium, while calling plays for a program that ranked 98th in the FBS in total offense and finished 15th in the Big Ten in points per game this season.
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This is what a consolation prize feels like. A year ago, Kelly was calling plays at Ohio State, the most prolific offense in college football and eventual national champion. He’d still be there, pulling the strings again for a juggernaut offense in the College Football Playoff, but for his decision to jump to the Raiders.
It’s been quite the free fall. Las Vegas was 2-9 when Kelly was fired shortly after the lowly Cleveland Browns registered 10 sacks in a 24-10 win over the Raiders on Nov. 23. Whatever play-calling magic Kelly mustered at Ohio State didn’t translate in the NFL, where in years past he had mostly failed in head coaching assignments with the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles.
Kelly, who honed his reputation as a man of few words during his mediocre 2018-2023 tenure as UCLA head coach, didn’t express hard feelings toward the Raiders on his way out.
“Hey, we gotta win,” he told a reporter. “I get it.”
Chip Kelly was fired by the Raiders as offensive coordinator less than two years after he bolted UCLA and one year after helping Ohio State to an NCAA title.
Now he’ll have an opportunity to repair his reputation at Northwestern, which was 7-6 this season, including a win over Central Michigan in the GameAbove Sports Bowl. Coach David Braun clearly is enamored with Kelly, who cemented his offensive genius bona fides by leading Oregon to a 46-7 record as head coach from 2009 to 2012.
“His innovative approach to offense using systems that focus on varying tempo, efficiency and smart decision-making, his track record of developing quarterbacks, and his ability to maximize talent are exactly what our program needs at this moment,” Braun said in a statement. “Make no mistake: this is a program-defining change and is reflective of our long-term commitment to the pursuit of championships.”
The only titles Northwestern can claim are a dozen Academic Achievement Awards from the American Football Coaches Assn. since 2002. Since leaving Oregon, Kelly has stumbled at every stop except the single season at Ohio State, where he could still be calling plays had he not left for the lure of the NFL.
He sounded appreciative that he is back in the Big Ten.
“I am honored to join the Northwestern Football program,” Kelly said in a statement. “This program and university are clearly on the rise, and the values of the people and this place align with my own. I am grateful for the opportunity.”
