What once seemed like an inevitable dismissal late in the 2023 season turned into a college football version of Bill Murray’s 1993 hit movie “Groundhog Day.”
After six seasons as the UCLA head coach, and weeks of speculation that connected him to three NFL offensive coordinator jobs, Chip Kelly is reportedly expected to be Ohio State’s next offensive coordinator and a deal could be finalized as soon as Friday, according to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.
The hire would reunite Kelly with Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, who he coached from 1998 to 2001 at New Hampshire. The job opened up after Bill O’Brien reportedly emerged as the next head coach at Boston College.
UCLA, which opens spring camp in roughly 2 months, confirmed Kelly’s departure minutes later in a statement and announced a national search for the program’s next head coach “has already begun.”
“I want to sincerely thank Chip for his service to UCLA Football and our student-athletes across the past six seasons and wish the best to him and his wife Jill moving forward,” athletic director Martin Jarmond said in the release.
“It is imperative that we support our student-athletes and put them in the best position to succeed,” said Jarmond. “UCLA is a special place, and we are confident we will find a leader for our football program who develops young men on and off the field and embodies our True Bruin Values.”
Word began to spread earlier in the day, with players such as running backs Isaiah Carlson and Deshun Murrell calling for DeShaun Foster, who left last Friday to be the Las Vegas Raiders running backs coach, to return to lead UCLA as the next head coach.
Earlier in the week, Kelly reportedly interviewed for the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator position, according to The Ringer’s Benjamin Solak.
A report of Kelly’s interest in returning to the NFL surfaced Jan. 21, with two additional reports emerging that he had interviewed multiple times with the Las Vegas Raiders and another that mentioned he was a candidate for the Washington Commanders after they hired Dan Quinn as head coach.
Despite signing a contract extension with the Bruins last March that would have taken him through the 2027 season, Kelly quickly saw the support from the fan base dwindle after his offense’s scoring output declined in three consecutive weeks — including a 17-7 home loss to shorthanded Arizona State on Nov. 11 that accelerated speculation about a potential firing.
Major donor Casey Wasserman, the namesake for the Wasserman Football Facility that oversees the practice field, scoffed at the growing displeasure the following week and told the Orange County Register that calls to fire Kelly were “ridiculous.”
A win at rival USC and a second-half comeback in the LA Bowl victory over Boise State were enough to overshadow a 33-7 home loss to California in the regular-season finale. UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond decided to stick with Kelly for the Bruins’ important transition from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten this summer.
Now, however, the Bruins must scramble to figure out the next move while attempting to hold together a signing class and roster that will be granted an immediate 30-day transfer window under NCAA rules because of a coaching change.
Kelly, 60, who was due to make $6.1 million in 2024, compiled a 35-34 record — including a 10-21 start through the first three years — and just an 8-28 mark against winning teams.
In the Pac-12, the Bruins were 26-26, winning as many as six league games in back-to-back seasons in 2021 and 2022.
The Bruins posted their first winning record under Kelly in 2021, finishing 8-4 before having to back out of participating in the Holiday Bowl due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the team.
UCLA topped the mark the following season with a 9-4 record but lost 37-35 to Pittsburgh in the Sun Bowl.
In those first five seasons, the Bruins’ defense was the common denominator for its struggles after ranking 102nd, 113th, 69th, 70th and 89th, respectively, among 130 FBS teams.
In 2022, in particular, UCLA had the nation’s 12th-worst pass defense, but Kelly’s hire of former Washington defensive line/outside linebackers coach Ikaika Malloe prior to that season helped show glimpses of an improving pass rush.
Last February, Kelly took another significant step toward improving the defense with the hire of first-time coordinator D’Anton Lynn.
Lynn’s impact was immediate as the Bruins got off to a 6-2 start and consistently ranked among the leaders in fewest yards per play allowed throughout the season, thanks in part to a Pac-12 schedule that did not include Oregon and Washington.
UCLA’s pass defense finished the 2023 season ranked 61st to go with the nation’s second-best run defense. That added up to the 10th-best total defense at 301.5 yards allowed per game.
Lynn left after the regular season to take the same position at rival USC in a shared role, while Malloe was elevated to defensive coordinator after serving as Lynn’s replacement in the LA Bowl.
That turnaround on defense coincided with a role reversal with the offense, however. It was highlighted by a season-long quarterback shuffle between redshirt junior Ethan Garbers, five-star freshman Dante Moore and Kent State transfer Collin Schlee, with Kelly never formally naming an official starter throughout the season.
Poor pass protection after significant turnover along the offensive line — three starters headed off to the NFL following the 2022 season — contributed to injuries to Garbers, Moore and Schlee in the back half of the season.
Moore decided to transfer at the end of the regular season, landing at Oregon.
It was a steep drop-off from having quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, the program’s all-time passing leader, in Kelly’s first five seasons and All-American running back Zach Charbonnet for the previous two campaigns.
From 2020 to 2022, UCLA ranked as high as fourth and no worse than 31st nationally in total offense.
While the Bruins ranked 32nd in total offense (427.1 yards per game), their scoring production dropped to 68th (26.5 points) thanks to the nation’s second-worst offense in the red zone (63.3% conversion).
Kelly’s offense scored 10 or fewer points four times this season — all in losses — including three of the last four weeks in the regular season and twice at home. Among the issues was a failure to consistently get the ball to Cal transfer wide receiver J.Michael Sturdivant, who had 29 fewer catches in his first season with the program.
On the recruiting trail under Kelly’s direction, UCLA lagged behind attracting high school recruits and instead used the transfer portal to aggressively stock its signing classes with more proven, but older talent.
The most notable pick-ups were inside linebacker Darius Muasau and edge rushers Laiatu Latu and twins Gabriel and Grayson Murphy — all of whom were recruited by Malloe. Latu, the Lombardi, Hendricks and Pac-12 defensive player of the year award winner this past season, is a highly projected first-round draft pick.
While the strategy has worked for the defense over the last two seasons, the Bruins failed to create a steady pipeline of homegrown talent at some key positions, including an offensive line that has brought in eight transfers — two from the junior college ranks — over the last two years with little success.
Of the eight, only left tackle Raiqwon O’Neal (Rutgers) and left guard Spencer Holstege (Purdue) — both starters — managed to consistently crack the playing rotation over the past two seasons.
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Tracy McDannald, BruinBlitz.com
