Chip Kelly reveals why he left UCLA for Ohio State as offensive coordinator

New Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly opened up why he left UCLA for the Buckeyes OC job.

In an unprecedented move during the modern era of transfer portal and NIL, Kelly left his head coaching post with the Bruins to take an assistant job in the same conference: the Big Ten.

However, Kelly prioritized his happiness and love of the job as reason why he left UCLA for Ohio State.

“Sometimes I do a lot of things other people don’t do,” Kelly said. “I don’t know if that’s right or wrong, but I think it started when we were preparing for a bowl game. Ryan Gunderson is a great quarterbacks coach, left to go to Oregon State as the coordinator. So he wasn’t there. So I actually coached quarterbacks during the bowl game and I just started to think like I hadn’t actually coached a position since 2008.

“And I think my wife, she’s like, I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time. And to me, the best part of football is football. And so you got to do football, and not do some of the things that involve being the head coach.”

Kelly simply just wanted to coach football and thought more about it as UCLA transitioned into the offseason.

“I had a chance after we beat Boise in the bowl game and as we started recruiting just to kind of think about what that experience was like, and then I get to make the decision on what my future is going to be,” Kelly said..” So what do I want to do? So I started to look, is there an opportunity and it would’ve had to have been the right spot to go somewhere and just coach a position and then be back with that group. 

“Because I think as a head coach, you sit in position meetings, but then you’re always getting pulled out. And there’s other things that are involved with being a head coach, and I think it’s more of a CEO operation right now. You know, it’s the job in the landscape as we all know of college football has changed.”

Chip Kelly reveals reason behind leaving UCLA for Ohio State

Kelly even reference John Lennon as to what his mindset was behind leaving a head coaching gig where he saw success in recent seasons.

“So I just thought at the time that you know, there’s a story about John Lennon when he was a little kid,” Kelly said. “He had an assignment of what do you want to be when you grow up? And he said, I want to be happy. His teacher said, I don’t think you understand the assignment. And his mom said, I don’t think you understand life.

“So I just wanted to be happy, and I’m really happy coaching positions. Really happy to be at this place. You know, it would have taken a special place for me to leave UCLA because I love those players and I love that coaching staff but to be here with Ryan, who I have a great relationship. I’ve known Ryan since he was a little kid. So I think a lot of things just fell into place.”

There were rumblings about Kelly potentially being fired from UCLA, but he ended up keeping his job. During that time, Kelly had no desire of resigning from his position.

“I’ve never thought about quitting anything,” Kelly said. “Is there an opportunity that I think I can, that fit? I think that’s no different than when you’re talking to a recruit about that and they make a decision on where they’re gonna go to school. I think where they should go to school is where the best fit is for them.

“So, you know, I just entertained some opportunities and I always felt I felt like this was the best fit and I never thought about quitting or not coaching. I’m gonna coach and then I’m gonna die … I don’t think about about retirement. I don’t think about any of those things. That’s just kind of my mindset that you know, I love football. And as long as I can be part of this game, then I’ll be part of this game.”