Paul Finebaum: Ohio State is better off with Chip Kelly at offensive coordinator

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•02/12/24•

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ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is a big fan of Chip Kelly going to Ohio State from a coaching perspective. The former UCLA head coach stayed in the Big Ten and took the offensive coordinator job under his former protégé Ryan Day.

Kelly replaced the outgoing Bill O’Brien, who was briefly in Columbus. The Buckeyes initially hired him to be the OC this offseason, but left this month to become the Boston College head coach.

But, it seems like Ohio State lucked out with Kelly as the new OC.

“Well, I frankly think Ohio State’s better off with Chip Kelly than they were with Bill O’Brien,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “The fact that Chip Kelly took the job just shows you how little confidence he had in UCLA and he should have been fired a couple of weeks ago or a couple of months ago. I have no earthly idea why they retained him the moment he was right on the bubble.” 

Finebaum chose to remember the prime days of Kelly, when he was Oregon’s head coach and near the top of the college football world.

But I remember Chip Kelly from what, 13, 14 years ago who was among the two or three best coaches in college football playing for national championships,” Finebaum said. “So I mean, I think he probably made the right decision. Now I think it doesn’t portend well for UCLA heading into the Big Ten, but we always knew UCLA was just a little brother coming along with USC and that’s how they were able to pull that deal off.”

Lettermen Row’s Spencer Holbrook mentioned how Ohio State stumbled into Kelly but likely ended up with a better situation with him spearheading Day’s offense.

“Ryan Day found something that may be incredibly unique in Bill O’Brien with the NFL head coaching, college coaching, college play calling, NFL Play calling, all that experience,” Holbrook said. “There’s only one person that fit the bill even better, and it’s the guy who mentored (Day).

“And it just so convenient that Chip Kelly wanted out of UCLA so badly that he was willing to do this and take this move. And Ryan Day is not going to turn that down at all, you know, the run scheme that should Kelly has, that’s exactly what Ryan Day wants … the passing concepts with Brian Hartline married with those run concepts, Ryan Day couldn’t draw that up better.”