As part of Ohio State football's makeover after a third consecutive loss to Michigan, Ryan Day hired UCLA head coach Chip Kelly as the Buckeyes' new offensive coordinator. But Urban Meyer, Day's predecessor, said OSU fans shouldn't expect the ‘Blur' offense for which Kelly became famous at Oregon.
As the head coach of the Ducks, Kelly, who coached and worked with Day at New Hampshire, installed an offense that centered on speed. With Kelly calling plays, Oregon utilized a hurry-up offense and beat teams with an incredibly effective rushing attack. Kelly eventually left Oregon and went to the NFL, where he coached the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, before returning to the college game with UCLA.
The different paths Kelly took to get to Ohio State and back with Day, Meyer says, has made him a much, much more refined play caller than when he was at Oregon.
“I’ve known Chip forever, we’re very close, we spend a lot of time together on the spread offense,” Meyer said on ‘The Herd.' “His philosophy back in the day at Oregon as a head coach and a coordinator was [to] go as fast as you can. That evolved when he went to the NFL, and it really evolved when he went to UCLA. He is now the perfect play guy. He's a guy that’s going to huddle, take their time, and get the perfect play in. That is drastically different than what he was as a head coach at Oregon.”
And for any Ohio State fans expecting Kelly's famed Oregon offense to be brought to Columbus this fall, Meyer said that will not be the case.
“This Chip Kelly offense is completely different than the so-called ‘radical' offense that he ran as a head coach in Oregon,” Meyer said. “This is completely different, and I do believe it’ll help Ohio State. And they have the quarterback (Will Howard) that I think fits this scheme.”
Chip Kelly entering first season as Ohio State offensive coordinator
After being fired by the San Francisco 49ers, Chip Kelly took the job at UCLA in November 2017, marking his return to college football following his departure in January 2013. While Kelly did consistently win eight or nine games in the last few seasons of his tenure, the Bruins never rose above that. Additionally, Kelly was criticized for a perceived lack of interest in recruiting while at UCLA.
Although Kelly could have returned for his seventh season in Los Angeles, he decided to pack up and join Ryan Day and the Ohio State football coaching staff as an offensive coordinator, a position that will presumably not be as recruiting-intensive and allow the coach to focus more on calling plays.
Ohio State opens the season on Aug. 31 at home vs. Akron.
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