In one of the most surprising moves of the offseason, UCLA head coach Chip Kelly stepped down from the role in order to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State under his former protege, Ryan Day. Today, he opened up a bit about the decision.
During the Ohio State spring game on Saturday, Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt spoke to Kelly and asked him why he joined the Buckeyes. Kelly explained that he loves coaching football and suggested that the role of a head coach has changed to the point where being the head coach isn’t the same as it once was.
“I love coaching football… If I was gonna go somewhere it would be a school where the program shares the same values and visions that I have. When I got the opportunity to coach here, it was a dream,” Kelly said.
Kelly was coming off three straight winning seasons with the Bruins after a rough three-year start to his tenure with the program. His team went 7-5 in the regular season and won their first bowl game since 2015 with a win over Boise State in the LA Bowl.
But after a year with wide receivers coach Brian Hartline serving as offensive coordinator, the Buckeyes decided that they needed some more help on offense and so Ryan Day pulled out his Rolodex and reconnected with Kelly.
Kelly might be the most high-profile coach to voluntarily take a demotion from head coach to a coordinator, but he’s hardly the only one to do it this offseason.