We are getting Chip Kelly!
- Thread starter eddie_gocats
- Start date
Awesome news here in 2010.
Unless we also are preparing to bring back Marcus Mariota, as I'm sure he can find a way to grab another couple years of eligibility. Probably younger than Pavia.
Bad / weird / old guy, doesn't recruit, and his offense is no longer innovative, nor particularly effective outside of one CFP run. Flamed out spectacularly with the Eagles, the 49ers, UCLA, and the Raiders. Had a great month at Ohio State with ridiculous talent, after raising serious doubts during the regular season. Teams tend to be finesse rather than power teams.
Of course, all of that is still a step up for us.
One thing we don't have to worry about -- even if he DOES well, I can't see any program trying to poach him for a HC position.
Unless we also are preparing to bring back Marcus Mariota, as I'm sure he can find a way to grab another couple years of eligibility. Probably younger than Pavia.
Bad / weird / old guy, doesn't recruit, and his offense is no longer innovative, nor particularly effective outside of one CFP run. Flamed out spectacularly with the Eagles, the 49ers, UCLA, and the Raiders. Had a great month at Ohio State with ridiculous talent, after raising serious doubts during the regular season. Teams tend to be finesse rather than power teams.
Of course, all of that is still a step up for us.
One thing we don't have to worry about -- even if he DOES well, I can't see any program trying to poach him for a HC position.
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He definitely has his warts and is eccentric but what a weird take. The NFL and college are completely different and no one can deny that he has an amazing offensive mind. It’s the kind of bold aggressive move NU just doesn’t make in years past.
Hankwitz was an old guy who didn’t like to recruit and didn't run an innovative scheme. That worked out ok.
Are you seriously complaining about this hire after the offenses we’ve had the last 15+ years?? This is exciting as hell!
He was the OC at Ohio State last year. The year they won the national title. With a fantastic offense.
I’m not saying he will win a Natty at NU, but to act like he’s washed as an OC is ridiculous.
Am I crazy to like this hire?
Didn't work out with the Raiders, but he'll still be easily the best offensive mind we've had in decades...
We needed a shakeup like this to try to jolt the offense; it may not work, but I love the idea of it. I like that they're going big as we enter newly renovated Ryan Field.
Didn't work out with the Raiders, but he'll still be easily the best offensive mind we've had in decades...
We needed a shakeup like this to try to jolt the offense; it may not work, but I love the idea of it. I like that they're going big as we enter newly renovated Ryan Field.
I am as excited as heck about this news! Sure, this may go wrong for whatever reason, but it may go wonderfully right.
The Raiders are a disaster from top to bottom. I don’t think anyone would have succeeded with that Raiders team.
This just proves that no matter who you hire, someone will ***** about it.
Yeah, I don't see the complaints with this hire.
Kelly is easily one of the best offensive minds in modern college football. As @Catmandoo78 said above, the Raiders are a special kind of disaster of a franchise; him not working out there isn't much of a surprise.
This is easily the biggest/boldest offensive coordinator hire we've seen in a long, long time around here, maybe ever. Even if it doesn't work, what's the worst outcome? We've had 5 years of Bajakian and Lujan offenses that didn't work. Chip Kelly is either going to work, or it's going to be more of the past 5 years. Can't really be worse than what we've seen:
We've had maybe a handful of good offensive games in 5 whole seasons...; Chip Kelly can easily do better than that and can't really do worse. I don't see the risk here with this hire; just potential upside.
The question in my mind is who put up the $$$$.
We had to have thrown some serious cash at him - something NU has seldom done
We had to have thrown some serious cash at him - something NU has seldom done
This is likely to be significantly more successful than the last guy we hired from the Raiders. What a move!
The next exciting question is whether this hire will catch the attention of some top offensive players in the portal. And as bigcat alluded to above, is there money to spend on building an offense?!! What a fun start to the new year!!
NU AD has to be budgeting tens of millions in higher revenue with new RF starting 2026-2027 FY (after July 2026). So we can probably start shelling out bigger coordinator salaries (though we have always been hesitant on that front before now).
NU AD revenue/spending has always been tough to discern as a private, but it's very easy to estimate some huge revenue boost from new RF (even compared to old RF with the concerts and all the rest of the events planned).
And the donors need to step up on NIL now that facilities are basically done for the next couple of decades. Time to start spending on recruits if we're going to be serious about competing.
This is a big time move on several levels. 1) he is an improvement, case closed 2) it's a a clear commitment that the university is serious about the program..3) it signals the same to recruits and transfers. 4) we've moved beyond Gagg and have a real AD.
I already figured that with the Jackson hire, but agree this is proof that the football program is taking the need to compete seriously (especially from Braun and Jackson).
Hopefully donors understand that we need to compete on NIL now that the stadium and facilities spending is complete.
(I would hope that Kelly discussed roster spending as part of his hire as well.)
I think this is the biggest move on the offensive side of the ball since Walker decided to adapt the spread. I think it also says we are actually going to be aggressive in the portal. What an exciting development.
Exactly. This is a holy ******* shitballs hire. Kelly himself is one of the most significant names in modern college football and an offensive innovator who has made a permanent and signifocant impact the sport. He’s a big part of why the modern game of football is simply different than it was 25 years ago. On top of that this has to signal a major shift in NU’s offensive philosophy, which has been stuck in the past for over a decade. Not to mention what this implies in terms of support for the programs.
I made the comment about Kelly in the other thread but honestly never ever expected this at NU. This is incredible.
In just recent memory, he's had some terrific offenses even if you look beyond Ohio State's star studded roster from last year.
Top 10 offense at UCLA (as HC) in 2022: averaged near 40 ppg and lowest scoring game was 28, every other game UCLA was between 32 and 50 points scored that season. Consistently excellent production. Yes he basically hated the HC aspects of the job (especially recruiting), but he probably doesn't even need to do that here with Braun as the HC. Even just having him as OC probably does more for offensive recruiting than we've had in a long time as a nationally known offensive mind. It's up to Jackson to work with the donors on NIL and Braun as HC to bring in the players for him to succeed.
I have no idea if he'll ever be able to produce his past results here, but it's hard to imagine he can't improve on the past 5 years of bottom quartile of the country offenses.
If we can get to just top 20-40 offenses paired with strong defenses, that's a recipe for winning 8 to 10 games per year.
Top 10 offense at UCLA (as HC) in 2022: averaged near 40 ppg and lowest scoring game was 28, every other game UCLA was between 32 and 50 points scored that season. Consistently excellent production. Yes he basically hated the HC aspects of the job (especially recruiting), but he probably doesn't even need to do that here with Braun as the HC. Even just having him as OC probably does more for offensive recruiting than we've had in a long time as a nationally known offensive mind. It's up to Jackson to work with the donors on NIL and Braun as HC to bring in the players for him to succeed.
I have no idea if he'll ever be able to produce his past results here, but it's hard to imagine he can't improve on the past 5 years of bottom quartile of the country offenses.
If we can get to just top 20-40 offenses paired with strong defenses, that's a recipe for winning 8 to 10 games per year.
His worst years are better than our best years.
Our top ppg year since 2017 was 93rd, then we groveled around between 83-110 in 2013-15. So basically one year since 2012 with a top half offense.
Our top ppg year since 2017 was 93rd, then we groveled around between 83-110 in 2013-15. So basically one year since 2012 with a top half offense.
A truly shocking move and one that shows the NU front office is very, very serious about competing in the new era. No, he wasn't good in the NFL, but who cares? This isn't the NFL. He's been successful offensively at basically every college program he's been to and there's no reason to expect anything different at NU. This is awesome and should be a huge influence in portal recruiting.
If the Bears and Northwestern have good offenses at the same time it'll be time to look skyward for the meteor.
If the Bears and Northwestern have good offenses at the same time it'll be time to look skyward for the meteor.
Not a terrible effort last year. Good Oline help, got Wilde, swung hard and missed on Stone. The two LBs (one injured) didn't contribute. Farrell was a bust but is young. TE Lines and backup QB Frakes didn't contribute much. Idk if the problem with QB was money or bad judgment, but they need a QB no worse than, say, 10th best in the B1G to have a decent offense.
This, far more than any offensive creativity/wizardry he may or may not bring, is the main reason I am excited about the hire.
I put very little stock in comparing NFL head coaching records to college OC performance as it’s got to be a very different skill set. And comparing Kelly as Raiders OC this year, under the previous OC they were at the bottom of the NFL in total and scoring offense, and there didn’t appear to be major upgrades to the pretty mediocre looking roster so I wouldn’t tank his whole legacy based on that.
Unlikely he is making much more than $1.5 mill. He has $15 mill guaranteed coming from the 3 year contract he signed less than 1 year ago with the Raiders and there is probably offset language in that contract. He has no incentive to seek big dollars from NU and actually the opposite is true. He has more incentive to keep his salary modest so the program can invest more dollars in staff and players.
Obviously Braun, he’s got to be at least $3-4 mil even as a junior B1G head coach. Top OCs are not even $2 mil I don’t think
About as good as news gets for NU football. Might break into "High Hopes" any minute.
No doubt his staff will be made of coaching stars he's met along the way.
While NU was succeeding, NU started to recruit better and better, but the only recruiting superstar NU ever had is St. Gary Barnett. IMHO Kelly can't do any worse than we've seen the past few years and, since he is known nationally, most of us can see a possible big upside.
It's nice to have an AD that is able and on it for a change.
No doubt his staff will be made of coaching stars he's met along the way.
While NU was succeeding, NU started to recruit better and better, but the only recruiting superstar NU ever had is St. Gary Barnett. IMHO Kelly can't do any worse than we've seen the past few years and, since he is known nationally, most of us can see a possible big upside.
It's nice to have an AD that is able and on it for a change.
I know nothing about football. Don’t even have any instincts to guess if this is going to work out or not. I never post about football.
But, to me, this feels like a signal we are going to be serious about competing in the new stadium. That’s exciting.
But, to me, this feels like a signal we are going to be serious about competing in the new stadium. That’s exciting.
Who cares? I hope they are both paid handsomely.