He came, he saw, he conquered, and he left. That’s Chip Kelly for you, folks. Hardly a year into his coaching assignment as offensive coordinator and QB coach. Kelly created moments that will last generations. He gave Ohio State their Jeremiah Smith, and he took Will Howard from a 61% pass completion rate in 2023 to 73.1% in 2024. In a literal sense, he also gave Ohio State supporters their glory days back. All this in just one season is just unbelievable to imagine. But then came the agonizing news.

‘Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly will leave the Ohio State to join Las Vegas Raiders in NFL‘. Read the headline. Raiders hired Pete Carroll as their new head coach after firing Antonio Pierce after another disappointing season. However, no one could guess why Kelly had to leave. That’s because he came to the Buckeyes by leaving behind his lucrative job as head coach at the UCLA Bruins. He spent 4 years in the NFL as head coach, coaching the Eagles and 49ers.

To everyone’s surprise, rather than taking another job in the NFL, Kelly came to college football. In his six years at the Bruins, Kelly’s record was 35-34, with one bowl victory. Naturally, when the OC position at the Buckeyes opened up, Kelly grabbed it with both hands. A national championship later, he got enamored by the bright lights of the NFL.

Speaking in an interview, he talked about the reason that tempted him to go back to the NFL. “This opportunity came up after we beat Notre Dame. And I started to think about it a little bit, you know. And I said I would only go somewhere where I felt really confident in the alignment from the ownership to the personnel to the head coach, and I really felt that when I met with Pete Carroll.” Of course, no one can deny Pete Carroll’s influence in the footballing years. However, their acquaintance from their previous coaching days when both Pete and Kelly were peers in Pac-10 would also have played a part. Kelly also revealed why he joined Ohio State in the first place.

“Our quarterback coach had left to go be the coordinator at Oregon State, and then for those two and a half weeks before the bowl game, I got a chance to coach the quarterbacks again and coach a position again. And I think my wife remarked, I hadn’t seen you this happy in a long time.” Ryan Day also influenced Kelly’s decision to join Ohio State. 

“Ohio State had someone that I know very well that I coached with in college and recruited him, and he (Ryan) played for me, and then I had an opportunity to coach with him in the NFL (San Francisco 49ers), so I had a pretty good feel of what I thought it was going to be like if I went there, and I just really kind of rekindled my love for just coaching football.”

Ryan Day did play for Chip Kelly when he played for Chip Kelly as QB and linebacker at the University of New Hampshire when Kelly was OC there in 2002. That and Ryan Day being his co-offensive coordinator at the 49ers would have certainly made things clear for Kelly to join. But the thing now is Chip Kelly has gone, and Ryan Day has a new problem on his plate to figure out.

Ryan Day’s ghost of the past coming back to haunt him?

Well, Ryan Day’s and Chip Kelly’s partnership was just phenomenal at OSU. But Kelly’s departure has raised a few alarm bells in the background that may become more visible in the coming time. This is because Ryan Day might have announced his new QB coach, Billy Fessler, and offensive coordinator, Brian Hartline. But that actually looks just for show.

Brian Hartline was given the OC job in 2023 when Ohio State didn’t have the best of their seasons. The reason for that was never Brian Hartline. Because for most of the season, Ryan Day himself had taken over the play-calling duties, with Hartline pushed back to a supporting role. And we all know what happened to OSU with Ryan Day in charge of playcalling.

The 2025 season is also looking to be bringing on the same difficulties for Ryan Day, with his old responsibility seemingly coming back to haunt him. Furthermore, he will also have to worry about the departure of his DC, Jim Knowles, to Penn State. Who went on to become the highest-paid DC in college football.