Former NH resident, Raiders OC Chip Kelly lands coaching job back in college ranks

By USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

January 4, 2026

It’s been quite a ride the past couple years for Chip Kelly. This time two years ago, he was the head coach at UCLA. He left the school to take the offensive coordinator job at Ohio State. The Buckeyes would win the FBS Championship in his first season. And that success made it his only season in Columbus, because the Raiders came calling to make him the NFL’s highest paid OC at $16 million per season.

Kelly got part way through his the first season of his contract in Las Vegas before being fired by the Raiders who had the NFL’s worst offense during his time there. Though reports suggest it may not have been Kelly’s fault because he was never allowed to fully install his offense.

Now a little over a month since his firing, Kelly has landed another job. Kelly will be the next OC at Northwestern.

Kelly has long been a respected offensive mind, going back to his days at New Hampshire in the early 2000s. Kelly was born in Dover, New Hampshire, played quarterback at Manchester Central High School was a defensive back at the University of New Hampshire before he became a coach there. His successful offenses there got him the OC job at Oregon, then promoted to head coach for the Ducks. After four seasons in that job, he was hired away to the NFL to become the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Kelly would last three seasons in Philly, then one season as the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers before his time as an NFL head coach came to an end. It was after a season out of football that he took the UCLA head coaching job which he held for six years.

When Kelly was hired as OC with the Raiders last offseason, he said returning to being an offensive coordinator re-kindled his love for football, suggesting that he was no longer interested in being a head coach. Though I imagine he saw things going a lot better than they did last season where he was a scapegoat for a doomed Raiders offense.

This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire. Reporting by Levi Damien, Raiders Wire / Raiders Wire