Chip Kelly didn’t land on his toes by taking the offensive coordinator place at Northwestern on Tuesday, a month after the Las Vegas Raiders fired him.
Extra probably, he’ll land on his derriere, seated in a snug chair overlooking Ryan Discipline, the Wildcats’ gleaming new $850-million stadium, whereas calling performs for a program that completed fifteenth within the Large Ten in factors per recreation this season.
That is what a comfort prize appears like. A yr in the past, Kelly was calling performs at Ohio State, essentially the most prolific offense in faculty soccer and eventual nationwide champion. He’d nonetheless be there, pulling the strings once more for a juggernaut offense within the Faculty Soccer Playoff, however for his determination to leap to the Raiders.
It’s been fairly the free fall. Las Vegas was 2-9 when Kelly was fired shortly after the lowly Cleveland Browns registered 10 sacks in a 24-10 win over the Raiders on Nov. 23. No matter play-calling magic Kelly mustered at Ohio State didn’t translate within the NFL, the place in years previous he had largely failed in head teaching assignments with the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles.
Kelly, who honed his fame as a person of few phrases throughout his mediocre 2018-2023 tenure as UCLA head coach, didn’t specific laborious emotions towards the Raiders on his manner out.
“Hey, we gotta win,” he informed a reporter. “I get it.”
Now he’ll have a chance to restore his fame at Northwestern. Coach David Braun clearly is enamored with Kelly, who cemented his offensive genius bona fides by main Oregon to a 46-7 document as head coach from 2009 to 2012.
“His progressive strategy to offense utilizing methods that concentrate on various tempo, effectivity and sensible decision-making, his observe document of growing quarterbacks, and his capability to maximise expertise are precisely what our program wants at this second,” Braun mentioned in a press release. “Make no mistake: this can be a program-defining change and is reflective of our long-term dedication to the pursuit of championships.”
The one titles Northwestern can declare are a dozen Educational Achievement Awards from the American Soccer Coaches Assn. since 2002. Since leaving Oregon, Kelly has stumbled at each cease besides the only season at Ohio State, the place he may nonetheless be calling performs had he not left for the lure of the NFL.
