Greg McElroy evaluates how Chip Kelly departure impacts Ohio State repeat effort

Chip Kelly leaving Ohio State for the Las Vegas Raiders is certainly a conundrum for the Buckeyes.

Fresh off a national championship, Kelly is headed back to the NFL and DC Jim Knowles will be coaching on the opposite sideline at Penn State. Greg McElroy didn’t blame Kelly for the move and already pondered some candidates for Ohio State.

The Buckeyes have attractive openings, but Kelly will leave a void.

“He’s leaving Ohio State for the Las Vegas Raiders,” McElroy said on Always College Football. “He’s going to be the offensive coordinator under new head coach Pete Carroll … I think Chip Kelly was very important for Ryan Day in many ways. Chip Kelly, his expertise is in creating advantages in the run game. Ryan Day’s expertise is all aspects of making it easy on the quarterback as far as the passing game is concerned. That blend, that mesh, that synergy, was really, really helpful in leading Ohio State to their first national championship in 10 years. 

“But with what you have to do at the college level and the calendar and having to entertain recruits 52 weeks a year, it seems like who can blame someone that has a chance to go make a lateral move and become a coordinator in the NFL? And that’s what Chip Kelly will do.” 

Chip Kelly leaves void at Ohio State at OC

This is what happens when you win a national championship: your assistant coaches are ripe for the picking. Kelly will coach under Pete Carroll and see if he can resurrect a less than stellar Raiders offense.

So as far as who will replace Kelly, it could be internal or a hot candidate going into 2025.

“So I hate that the Buckeyes have been basically raided,” McElroy said. “They lost Jim Knowles to Penn State in a horizontal move. You lose your offensive line coach, Justin Frye, to the offensive line coach (gig) with the Arizona Cardinals. Now, Chip Kelly leaves to become the offensive coordinator of the Las Vegas Raiders. So hate that they’re having to replace a lot of key pieces, but this will be a very attractive spot, whether it’s where they stay in house and promote Brian Hartline, who already had a co-offensive coordinator title, where they go back to the well and bring Kevin Wilson back. He was the OC there a couple years ago. If they go get a sitting head coach like Jason Candle, who at Toledo had been in the mix for this job the last time around, or Joe Morehead is the head coach at Akron has had success calling plays in the Big Ten. 

“Or if they go and say, ‘Hey, who’s the best at doing it right now in college?’ Maybe they look into Will Stein out at Oregon. It’d be fascinating to see where this coaching search ends up leading, but either way, it’s an extremely attractive spot because of the resources and the talent that you’re going to have there on the roster for the Buckeyes.”