Ohio State has already lost one coordinator after winning the national championship, and now the school is hoping to keep the other heading into next season.
Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly is considered a leading candidate for several OC positions in the NFL, according to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.
Kelly’s name is at “the top of the list for several teams” and is considered a target for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans as they look to fill offensive coordinator vacancies.
Exactly how much interest teams have in Kelly, and how much interest Kelly has in them, remains an open question, but the report notes that he has kept an interest in returning to the NFL.
Jacksonville recently hired former Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Liam Coen as head coach, and the report indicates the Jaguars are interested in matching Kelly with Coen.
Kelly has a previous working relationship with Houston head coach DeMeco Ryans, who was a player on Kelly’s Eagles teams.
Kelly was last in the NFL when hired as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in 2016, but his tenure ended with a 2-14 record that was the lowest win total in franchise history.
Before that, Kelly was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for three seasons, going 10-6 in his first two years but went 6-9 in 2015, when he was fired.
In the collegiate ranks, Kelly was 46-7 as head coach at Oregon from 2009 to 2012, going 2-2 in bowl games, and from 2018 to 2023, he led the UCLA program, going 35-34 and 26-26 in conference play.
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day credited Kelly and his influence in helping the Buckeyes win the national championship this season.
“For him to come and leave the head coaching position, to come work with me meant a lot, because he’s obviously someone who’s a mentor to me, and certainly would not be where I am without him,” Day said of Kelly’s influence.
“He just has a great feel for the game. He really helped me this year, [and I] spent more time outside of the quarterback room.
“Certainly, I was involved very much with they offense, but it allowed me to spread out a little bit and spend more time with the guys on defense, again, not as much as I’d like to, but still enough to bounce in and out. And I think it brought us all together.”
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