Ohio State offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien came and went like a ship in the night in Columbus, occupying that role for barely 3 weeks before leaving town. Now Chip Kelly is coming from UCLA to take over Ryan Day's offense.
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00:10 Just a casual Friday for the Ohio State Buckeyes, I suppose, or
00:17 at least what feels like the entire month of January.
00:20 And certainly the beginning of February so far, this is just par for the course.
00:25 A big day for Ohio State in that Bill O'Brien is officially on his way
00:30 from Columbus after a nice roughly three weeks stay.
00:34 I don't know if I'd call it a three week vacation, I think you were.
00:39 But Bill O'Brien is on his way to Boston College.
00:42 And reportedly, within a couple hours of that announcement going official,
00:47 Ohio State is reportedly gonna bring Chip Kelly to town.
00:51 Anthony, I want your feedback on a move that I think feels like an accidental,
00:56 potential upgrade, actually.
01:00 >> And I totally agree with it, right?
01:01 Like we've been talking about Bill O'Brien and
01:03 been getting excited about what he brings to the table.
01:06 And I think for Chip Kelly, it's a lot of the same.
01:08 It's a lot of that similar experience, right?
01:10 Coached in the NFL, has had some really great college football experience at
01:14 Oregon, right, made that program an entire dynasty.
01:18 And was really successful as the head coach at UCLA as well.
01:21 So he brings a level of experience that I think matches Bill O'Brien, but
01:26 also his offense is fun.
01:29 Like you kinda knew what you were gonna get with Bill O'Brien,
01:32 a really good offense.
01:33 But with Chip Kelly, you're like, hey, we have the potential to never be in a huddle
01:37 for the rest of time, as long as he's the coach.
01:39 And it's just up and down the field, the good stuff, the fun stuff,
01:41 fireworks all game long.
01:44 So it's an exciting hire, and
01:45 it's one that Ohio State fans should be totally fired up about.
01:49 >> Yeah, and look, I can't wait to see what this looks like.
01:52 Because Chip Kelly, historically, you can go into the X's and
01:56 O's a little bit more on this.
01:57 But historically, he's been more of a run heavy offensive coordinator than
02:00 a passing one.
02:02 And the reality is he's gonna have arguably the best backfield in college
02:06 football with a quarterback who isn't necessarily a run first guy by trait.
02:13 But certainly has the ability to tuck and run.
02:15 Will Howard, I assume, is gonna be the quarterback.
02:17 And if he's not, Devin Brown or Lincoln Kienholz, both are mobile guys.
02:21 So I can see where that's gonna be a big part of this.
02:25 But it's not like Ohio State doesn't have a good receiver room, right?
02:28 This is the first time we're thinking about an Ohio State offense almost
02:32 potentially changing shape entirely.
02:34 Because it's been so pass heavy under Ryan Day,
02:37 because that's what their skill set's been.
02:38 And now, potentially, it could look different.
02:40 >> Yeah, and that's such an exciting proposition too.
02:44 Because I think that we talked about it a bunch last year.
02:48 Go to your strengths, right?
02:49 The strengths was running the football.
02:50 We were trying to kind of force it down the field and
02:51 it just really wasn't working.
02:53 But now it's like, hey, if our strength's gonna be running the ball,
02:56 you feel really good about what Chip Kelly brings to the table from a run game
02:59 perspective, all of his teams have been really forceful in the run game.
03:02 But hey, if we come out and Will Howard's throwing it all over the field and
03:07 you got all our massive awesome receiving core that's still around.
03:12 They're playing really well.
03:14 It can kind of be a pick your poison type of a deal where he can really choose, hey,
03:18 if we wanna be a run heavy team, great.
03:19 We're gonna have two best backs in the country.
03:21 If we wanna be a pass heavy team, great.
03:23 We're gonna have one of the best receiving cores in the country.
03:25 And it's something that he's gotta be chomping at the bit about because
03:29 it's a really good situation to just kind of fall into, if you will.
03:32 >> So I don't know that I wanna go on some soliloquy here, but
03:36 I have an interesting thought.
03:39 And I want your opinion on this.
03:41 Chip Kelly wasn't available, but he was available.
03:47 And the idea that a sitting head coach at a power five school,
03:53 who by the way is now in one of the two biggest conferences in the country.
04:00 The idea that he wants to leave his head coaching job and go be an assistant for
04:05 the first time since I think 2012 was the last time he was an assistant coach
04:10 anywhere, that kind of tells me all that I need to know about college football in
04:15 2024.
04:16 It has changed so much in a fairly short amount of time and
04:20 it's not like a big surprise.
04:23 I get the impression that Chip Kelly really didn't get along with UCLA
04:29 athletic director and it sounded like the board was kind of ready to move on from
04:35 him anyways, but couldn't afford to fire him.
04:38 Different story here than what we're getting at.
04:41 But the idea that you would want to go be an assistant somewhere else
04:47 is kind of a jarring thought and yet for him, it probably makes perfect sense.
04:55 He's a football guy to his core.
04:57 He doesn't have to do any fundraising.
04:59 He doesn't have to do any of the other stuff that is required now of a head coach.
05:04 And frankly, Anthony, there's probably only like ten schools in the country
05:08 that actually have the resources that can win.
05:11 And if he doesn't have to go do the things he wants to do, or
05:16 I should say the things that he doesn't want to do, and now he can just literally
05:20 come here, be the head coach of the offense and call plays and coach quarterbacks.
05:25 I mean, he's an Ohio State fan, sign me up, let alone as Chip, where do I sign?
05:30 But man, that is a wild thought in college football.
05:34 It's a dream scenario for him and I think even more towards your point,
05:39 not only is it a wild thought in college football,
05:42 there's only a handful of schools that you would jump for.
05:45 And it just shows again, we know the Ohio State brand, right?
05:49 We've grown up in the Ohio State brand, we cover the Ohio State brand.
05:52 You understand now that the reach that it has and
05:55 the strength that the brand name has to, you just got a head coach to jump to become
06:00 an offensive coordinator, that doesn't happen.
06:02 That doesn't happen in normal places.
06:04 It's truly an amazing feat and we talked about the other night,
06:07 Ohio State not afraid to open up the checkbook this offseason.
06:10 I'm sure that that was part of it, but still, it doesn't even matter.
06:14 That part doesn't even matter.
06:16 He gets the opportunity to just coach football and that's what at the end of
06:19 the day, all of these guys, they're just ball guys at their core.
06:22 They just wanna deal with football, they just wanna deal with creating the offense.
06:25 He's got that opportunity to do it at arguably the best school,
06:29 the best football school in the entire country.
06:31 I mean, it's just a perfect marriage of a guy who you didn't think was available,
06:35 like you said, but you're able to make it happen and
06:37 he's in a better spot in Ohio State, in my opinion, potentially is in a better spot.
06:41 >> And again, look, this is not an official hire by the school yet, right?
06:45 It hasn't been announced that he's officially signed on the dotted line and
06:49 this is done, but several major college football national reporters,
06:54 Pete Fammel put it out there and Bruce Feldman as well.
06:57 And it sounds like he's already told UCLA he's leaving,
07:00 although he didn't say where he's going yet.
07:02 It's a weird thing for a coach to be looking for the next gig because he was
07:08 interviewing for offensive coordinator jobs in the NFL.
07:10 He did not wanna coach at UCLA anymore.
07:13 And I've said this at times in the past on our show and elsewhere.
07:17 I mean, Los Angeles is a tough place to be a college coach.
07:20 And I know it sounds weird, that is not a college sports town.
07:24 It's a Lakers town and it's a Dodgers town.
07:27 And if you're good, fans will generally support you.
07:30 But go look at the stadium at USC and at UCLA.
07:36 There's a lot of empty seats all the time there.
07:40 It's a different animal in Columbus.
07:41 It's Ohio State football is a religion on Saturday,
07:45 the same way you get up and go to church on Sunday morning.
07:48 You schedule your day around it.
07:50 And Chip Kelly is gonna get a chance to come here and
07:53 work with a guy who professionally he has worked with for
07:57 basically half of his life.
07:59 Somebody who he and Ryan implicitly trust each other.
08:05 Chip Kelly is Ryan Day's closest mentor.
08:08 And I don't think this is necessarily gonna be like a weird thing
08:14 where Ryan's in charge and Chip is not.
08:16 I think Ryan is hiring Chip because he wants him to be exactly who he is.
08:21 So that Ryan can take some of that stuff off his plate and
08:24 focus on the other things that need his attention.
08:27 >> Well, remember in his press conference the other day,
08:29 he said we're not just gonna give it up to anybody.
08:32 >> Yeah. >> We're talking about this.
08:34 He wants to be the CEO of the team, he wants someone to lead the offense.
08:37 But like you said, he's not gonna just bring in any Joe Schmo and
08:40 give him the offense.
08:41 Like you said, these two have a relationship and that's part of it.
08:44 It's not just, hey, you've been great in the past.
08:48 I want your offense and I want you to run it and all that stuff.
08:51 No, they work well together and they're going to work well together.
08:53 And that's so important.
08:54 When your offensive coordinator who's now the play caller and
08:57 your head coach see eye to eye and they're on the same page.
09:00 That is powerful because you're gonna get elements of Chip Kelly's offense.
09:04 You're gonna get elements of Ryan Day's amazing offensive football mind and
09:08 they're gonna be able to marry themselves together.
09:10 And there's not gonna be ego involved in it.
09:12 It's not gonna be, hey, this was my play or this was my play.
09:14 It's all gonna be very collaborative and that's powerful in and of itself.
09:18 That's another reason why this matchup in this marriage makes perfect sense.
09:21 >> I don't know whether or not to thank Jeff Halfley or
09:26 what to think about here.
09:29 I mean, this is obviously a really weird scenario.
09:33 And personally, I was pretty fired up when Ryan was bringing Bill O'Brien to town.
09:39 I think Bill O'Brien was a great hire.
09:42 I also don't necessarily fault Bill.
09:45 I've since learned a lot about his family situation,
09:50 how unique it is and frankly how challenging it is.
09:53 And if the opportunity to be a head coach existed for him in a city where
10:00 his son who needs the medical attention can have better access to that,
10:04 I wish him well.
10:07 It's disappointing for Ohio State fans, but
10:09 Ohio State seems to have landed on its feet quite nicely within a couple of hours.
10:14 The reality is, even though how this played out publicly,
10:17 let's not kid ourselves, Bill probably had some inclination that this might happen.
10:22 And I'm sure Ryan called Chip Kelly and said, hey, look,
10:24 I don't know if this is gonna happen, but if it does, are you in?
10:27 That was probably the interview.
10:28 I don't think there was a whole lot of questions in that interview.
10:33 So we talked about it the other day, Anthony,
10:36 Ohio State is the kind of brand that everybody drops everything for
10:41 when an opportunity opens up and you don't have to quote unquote be available
10:45 to take a swing at having a job.
10:47 And relationships matter and there is a lot of trust between Ryan and Chip.
10:54 And it's full systems go, man, I think this is gonna be a lot of fun.
10:59 >> It's just amazing to me, and just thinking about it, it's like Ohio State
11:03 got the best option that was really available in Bill O'Brien the first round.
11:08 First time for the first go at it, he leaves and within, like you said,
11:12 within hours, obviously, this has probably been in the works for a while.
11:15 But just gets the next best option, literally, if Bill O'Brien's 1A,
11:20 Chip Kelly's 1B, you can't have your- >> 1A and 1AA, it's not really 1A and 1B.
11:26 It's like, yeah, here we are.
11:27 >> Exactly, they're on the same exact level from, like we said,
11:31 from an experience standpoint, from an Xs and Os standpoint,
11:33 from just everything across the board.
11:36 You gotta be fired up about the fit and
11:37 it's just gotta make you laugh as an Ohio State fan.
11:40 This dude just dropped a head coaching job to come be the OC, come on.
11:44 That doesn't happen,
11:45 there's a handful of programs that happens to Ohio State's one of them.
11:49 >> Yeah, it's a lot of fun, a lot of momentum right now and
11:53 the train keeps rolling on.
11:54 And I'm glad that Ryan Day said in his press conference what you brought up at
11:58 the end of our show a couple days ago.
12:00 They're not putting slogans on t-shirts, it's just go to work.
12:03 And you know what you need to do, you're good enough to do it,
12:06 now go get ready to do it.
12:07 This team's built to win a championship and the unexpected curveball,
12:13 I think it's been handled just fine.
12:17 >> Yeah, I think they hung back and hit one into the gap in right field on
12:22 that curveball and landed on the street.
12:24 >> Buddy, I think it was a home run.
12:26 I think you pulled a head coach away from a Power Five program to come be
12:32 the offensive coordinator and don't have to worry about any trust issues with
12:37 anything, that's not a line drive double.
12:40 That's a game winning homer with a game on the line.
12:43 >> I love it, I love it.
12:44 >> Yeah, well done by Ryan Day for sure.
12:47 For all the latest news and info on the team, we got you covered,
12:48 buckeyesnow.com and on this YouTube channel as well.
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