Chip Kelly Hired To Be Next Offensive Coordinator At Northwestern
If you were betting on where the coaching carousel would stop next, you probably didn’t have “Evanston, Illinois” on your bingo card for Chip Kelly. Yet, here we are. In a move that has the college football world doing a collective double-take, Northwestern is bringing the veteran offensive mind back to the Big Ten just weeks after his exit from the Las Vegas Raiders.
Why Northwestern Is Banking On Kelly
It wasn’t long ago that Kelly was helping orchestrate a national championship offense at Ohio State. That success led him to take a gamble on the NFL again with the Raiders, a stint that, to put it mildly, didn’t go according to plan. Fired after an 11-game stretch that saw more punts than points, Kelly found himself on the open market.
For Northwestern, however, one man’s “failed NFL experiment” is another man’s absolute treasure. The Wildcats, fresh off a respectable 7-6 season and a GameAbove Sports Bowl victory under Head Coach David Braun, have a glaring need: they need to score. The team averaged a sleepy 22.5 points per game last season, landing them at 15th in the Big Ten. That’s not going to cut it in a conference that is only getting deeper and more dangerous.
Can Kelly Revive the Wildcats’ Attack?
Bringing in Kelly is a clear signal that Braun isn’t content with winning ugly. He wants an offense that can actually move the chains. Kelly replaces Zach Lujan, whose contract expired, and the expectations are going to be immediate.
While the “blur” offense of his Oregon days might be a thing of the past, Kelly brings a chameleon-like ability to adapt to his personnel. He’s seen it all. He’s coached Heisman winners, managed NFL egos, and navigated the chaotic landscape of modern recruiting. That experience is invaluable for a program like Northwestern that relies on development and scheme over raw five-star talent hoarding.
The Emotional Toll Of the Coaching Carousel
There is a human element here, too. Kelly is 62. After the brutal, public nature of his firing in Las Vegas, coming back to the collegiate level offers a shot at redemption in a familiar landscape. There’s something admirable about a coach who simply loves the chessboard of offensive football enough to keep jumping back into the fray.
He isn’t coming to Northwestern to be the face of the franchise; he’s coming to call plays. For a football lifer like Kelly, that might just be the perfect scenario. He gets to focus on X’s and O’s without the exhausting media obligations of a head coach or the cutthroat corporate politics of the NFL.
Northwestern fans should be cautiously optimistic. If Kelly can sprinkle even a little bit of his old magic on this offense, the Wildcats could be a legitimate headache for the Big Ten powerhouses next season.
