We are getting Chip Kelly!

DaCat

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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.
Agreed that Kelly's salary probably didn't break the bank for us, as he has other sources of income than his NU salary. Hopefully he gets to play the role of the innovative OC without much interference from Braun, although I'm sure we'll still continue to hear the term "complementary football" often.
 
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May 29, 2001
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Great hire. Just wonder from Kelly’s perspective what would this position as NU’s OC be attractive to him besides the salary and possibly a new stadium. Just seems like an odd choice for him that he might have other offers that would be more attractive. Definitively a benefit with his pro and college background would be attractive to recruits. This hire is a real attention grabber that will be noticed by recruits.
 

NJCat

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I wonder why Ohio State didn't want him back? They are looking for a new OC.......
 

TheC

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The other thing this hire does is make me feel better about Braun. He quickly learned from his mistake and corrected it with a home run hire. He also went out and hired an established coach with a big name which suggests Braun is comfortable and confident as a head man. Some coaches, especially young coaches, might feel overshadowed by someone with the stature of Kelly. This hire also makes me think that Braun is not just happy to be here, but rather fully intends to win.
 
May 29, 2001
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Staff, yes. Players, no. NU is capped at $20.4 million overall.
I’m confused about cap restrictions and how it is determined and who and how it is enforced. It seems that there is no limit to what players and coaches can be paid under this current environment and lawsuits would be filed if efforts to restrict or enforce limits imposed. The NCAA doesn’t seem to be the vehicle enforcing any rules these days.
 

JustGary

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Oct 7, 2025
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I wonder why Ohio State didn't want him back? They are looking for a new OC.......
A theory on that. There has been rumors on the Ohio State message boards that Day was pursuing Kelly but Kelly wanted more control of the offense than Day wanted to give him. Kelly wasn’t attracted by salary as he is being paid well by the Raiders. So Kelly was looking for a better deal (not in money but in control).

With Northwestern, he will probably have more say in recruits and play calling. I’m getting the sense that he wants to work for a head coach who will not be looking over his shoulder or double guessing his choices. It feels like he wants a final home where he is free to institute his vision stress free.
 

DaCat

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A theory on that. There has been rumors on the Ohio State message boards that Day was pursuing Kelly but Kelly wanted more control of the offense than Day wanted to give him. Kelly wasn’t attracted by salary as he is being paid well by the Raiders. So Kelly was looking for a better deal (not in money but in control).

With Northwestern, he will probably have more say in recruits and play calling. I’m getting the sense that he wants to work for a head coach who will not be looking over his shoulder or double guessing his choices. It feels like he wants a final home where he is free to institute his vision stress free.
That makes a lot of sense to me.
 

Catmandoo78

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Nov 12, 2025
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A theory on that. There has been rumors on the Ohio State message boards that Day was pursuing Kelly but Kelly wanted more control of the offense than Day wanted to give him. Kelly wasn’t attracted by salary as he is being paid well by the Raiders. So Kelly was looking for a better deal (not in money but in control).

With Northwestern, he will probably have more say in recruits and play calling. I’m getting the sense that he wants to work for a head coach who will not be looking over his shoulder or double guessing his choices. It feels like he wants a final home where he is free to institute his vision stress free.
Not recruits. Kelly isn’t recruiting, and he doesn’t stick around anywhere long enough to care about who’s recruited bc he’s gone before they will matter. (Preps, not transfers. Obviously he cares very much about instant starters.) That was the gripe at Ohio State; he didn’t want to recruit at all. He won’t recruit, he won’t fundraise, he won’t build a relationship with his players.

But he WILL install an offense and call it very, very effectively and score a ton of points. He will also probably leave after a year, but that’s the deal you take with a smile on your face.
 
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Catmandoo78

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Nov 12, 2025
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I’m confused about cap restrictions and how it is determined and who and how it is enforced. It seems that there is no limit to what players and coaches can be paid under this current environment and lawsuits would be filed if efforts to restrict or enforce limits imposed. The NCAA doesn’t seem to be the vehicle enforcing any rules these days.
There is no cap because there is no enforcement. Every other school is conducting itself accordingly. We need to as well. I think we have to, right? You don’t bring in a splash OC so that he can coach a bunch of below-average players.
 

Catmandoo78

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Nov 12, 2025
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The other thing this hire does is make me feel better about Braun. He quickly learned from his mistake and corrected it with a home run hire. He also went out and hired an established coach with a big name which suggests Braun is comfortable and confident as a head man. Some coaches, especially young coaches, might feel overshadowed by someone with the stature of Kelly. This hire also makes me think that Braun is not just happy to be here, but rather fully intends to win.
Really think this is as simple as adapt or die. He couldn’t keep Lujan another year. Next year the schedule is brutal. If they go 3-9 Braun isn’t getting a 5th year. But with better offense, you’re not going 3-9.
 

JustGary

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Oct 7, 2025
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Not recruits. Kelly isn’t recruiting, and he doesn’t stick around anywhere long enough to care about who’s recruited bc he’s gone before they will matter. (Preps, not transfers. Obviously he cares very much about instant starters.) That was the gripe at Ohio State; he didn’t want to recruit at all. He won’t recruit, he won’t fundraise, he won’t build a relationship with his players.

But he WILL install an offense and call it very, very effectively and score a ton of points. He will also probably leave after a year, but that’s the deal you take with a smile on your face.
I didn’t say he would recruit but I believe he will be heavily involved in the type of personnel he needs and will therefore have a lot to say about who we are recruiting.

I don’t think this is a one and done. There were bigger programs pursuing him. He doesn’t need Northwestern to improve his reputation. I think this can be a Hankwitz type coaching change.
 

AdamOnFirst

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I’m confused about cap restrictions and how it is determined and who and how it is enforced. It seems that there is no limit to what players and coaches can be paid under this current environment and lawsuits would be filed if efforts to restrict or enforce limits imposed. The NCAA doesn’t seem to be the vehicle enforcing any rules these days.
There are no meaningful cap restrictions and they are not at all enforced. Simple!
 

AdamOnFirst

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Not recruits. Kelly isn’t recruiting, and he doesn’t stick around anywhere long enough to care about who’s recruited bc he’s gone before they will matter. (Preps, not transfers. Obviously he cares very much about instant starters.) That was the gripe at Ohio State; he didn’t want to recruit at all. He won’t recruit, he won’t fundraise, he won’t build a relationship with his players.

But he WILL install an offense and call it very, very effectively and score a ton of points. He will also probably leave after a year, but that’s the deal you take with a smile on your face.
Scouting recruits and deciding who is a take and shaking hands on the visits and taking key phone calls and making decisions about what player at what position needs extra investment or not is very different from hitting the road 100 days a year to sit in the stands at high school football games and eat cake in living rooms and DM every kid on your list like four damn times a week and take 7 extra meetings per year with guys already on the roster to make sure they don’t transfer.
 

Catmandoo78

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Nov 12, 2025
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I didn’t say he would recruit but I believe he will be heavily involved in the type of personnel he needs and will therefore have a lot to say about who we are recruiting.

I don’t think this is a one and done. There were bigger programs pursuing him. He doesn’t need Northwestern to improve his reputation. I think this can be a Hankwitz type coaching change.
Nobody knows, but his track record would suggest he likely jumps if successful. He’s a great coach, and likely wants to chase rings if he can. Having total control will be fun for him, but he may get horny for NFL talent like he had at OSU and Oregon.
 

JustGary

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Oct 7, 2025
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Nobody knows, but his track record would suggest he likely jumps if successful. He’s a great coach, and likely wants to chase rings if he can. Having total control will be fun for him, but he may get horny for NFL talent like he had at OSU and Oregon.
Whatever his future desires, he is a Wildcat coach next year. That alone should change the trajectory of the program.
 

zeek55

Junior
Nov 21, 2010
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At least given the past couple of years where he's jumped around a lot, maybe he's burned enough to not want to be HC or NFL OC at this stage of his career:

So realistically, the alternative for him is a bigger college OC job.

At the very least though, if Kelly gets hired away from us, it probably means he did a great job here and put together a high performing offense. I'll take that as long as he can deliver it to be quite frank. Maybe it sets us up for the future (we can hope).

We just need to get out of this rut of bad offenses that we've been stuck in since late in Fitz's tenure.

I feel reasonably optimistic that Kelly can be OC here for at least 2-3 years and isn't looking to just hop to the next job fast. With a HC like Braun willing to fully defer to him on offense, that's a lot better of a situation for him than others where an HC might not be as deferential.
 
May 29, 2001
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Any sense that Kelly and Braun will be able to get qualified recruits thru admissions?
I wonder if there is an understanding at higher levels that just throwing money at coaches and facilities won’t get it done unless the prospective recruits can get thru the admissions screening process. With the number of injuries we had this year esp at rb, depth is also an issue, not just being able to get a couple of stars in the door. We need quality and quantity upgrades.
 

zeek55

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Nov 21, 2010
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Any sense that Kelly and Braun will be able to get qualified recruits thru admissions?
I wonder if there is an understanding at higher levels that just throwing money at coaches and facilities won’t get it done unless the prospective recruits can get thru the admissions screening process. With the number of injuries we had this year esp at rb, depth is also an issue, not just being able to get a couple of stars in the door. We need quality and quantity upgrades.
I would venture that Braun and Jackson (and Kelly) understand that.

It's an open question though of what the limits on transfers will be...; we'll see what happens is all we can really do.
 
May 29, 2001
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The transfer issue is so thorny. Will pro players be able to come back to play college ball for cash? This is becoming a major issue with college basketball where older G league and Euro players are showing interest in playing college ball, attracted by the money some college players are making now. (SportsCenter just had a big segment on this with interviews with top college basketball coaches who are beyond frustrated with the current environment.)

 
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katatonic2

Sophomore
Dec 1, 2025
180
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Didn't think this would happen as thought Kelly would rejoin his former protégé in Columbus, but am very excited for the change Back to the Future.


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.

It's basically a redux, as Kevin Wilson first met Kelly when they were both visiting Clemson to take a look at Rich Rod's spread O.

Kelly later visited NU and would have then UNH QB, Ryan Day, study tapes of Kustok running Walker/Wilson's version of the spread (which was more RB-focused).

Another coach who ended up visiting Evanston was Urban Meyer, who took note that the spread could succeed against powerhouse programs after 54-51.

Meyer, Day, Wilson and Kelly all ended up at dOSU at some point.

So, one could say, the Cats are the reason for dOSU's success for the past decade or so. Lol


Wasn't Chip Kelly the OC at New Hampshire when they spanked NU 20-25 years ago. UNH's QB was considered for the Heisman Trophy that year

One would have thought that of all programs, the Cats would be better equipped to defend UNH'S O.


I wonder who will have the higher salary, Braun or Kelly.

Likely Kelly, as he's still being paid by the Raiders for the next 2 years.

Speaking of the Raiders, the scuttlebutt is that Brady basically forced Kelly upon Carroll.
 
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katatonic2

Sophomore
Dec 1, 2025
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At the very least though, if Kelly gets hired away from us, it probably means he did a great job here and put together a high performing offense. I'll take that as long as he can deliver it to be quite frank. Maybe it sets us up for the future (we can hope).

So realistically, the alternative for him is a bigger college OC job.

I feel reasonably optimistic that Kelly can be OC here for at least 2-3 years and isn't looking to just hop to the next job fast. With a HC like Braun willing to fully defer to him on offense, that's a lot better of a situation for him than others where an HC might not be as deferential.

Kelly doesn't want to be a HC, especially at the collegiate level and much prefers game planning and calling plays.

Would not at all be surprised if this ends up being a "Hank situation" - basically being the last stop til retirement.

Kelly already had one of the biggest OC jobs in CFB, had other bigger options, but ended up choosing NU, in part, because think that he (and more likely, his wife) didn't want to be stuck in a podunk college town at this stage in their lives.

Evanston/Chicago is a great place to live if you have the means.
 

EvanstonCat

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May 29, 2001
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Home run, no grand slam hire. Effing walk off.

It’s a new day for NU Football.

finally, the prospect of having an elite offense to go with an elite defense.

David Braun, I’m sorry I doubted you. Mea culpa. We have been waiting this for more than two decades.
 

cattul

Sophomore
Sep 24, 2002
1,185
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Kelly doesn't want to be a HC, especially at the collegiate level and much prefers game planning and calling plays.

Would not at all be surprised if this ends up being a "Hank situation" - basically being the last stop til retirement.

Kelly already had one of the biggest OC jobs in CFB, had other bigger options, but ended up choosing NU, in part, because think that he (and more likely, his wife) didn't want to be stuck in a podunk college town at this stage in their lives.

Evanston/Chicago is a great place to live if you have the means.
Don’t overlook the lifestyle appeal of the NU job.

Braun continued the Fitz legacy of making sure the staff can go home and see their families.

Contrast that with the experience of working for a coach like Bill Snyder, who might call you with a demanding question at 11 PM on a Sunday night during the offseason.

I also think Kelly’s offenses will benefit from having smart players. The more responsibility they can take on, the better the team can be.
 
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Deeringfish

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Kelly doesn't want to be a HC, especially at the collegiate level and much prefers game planning and calling plays.

Would not at all be surprised if this ends up being a "Hank situation" - basically being the last stop til retirement.

Kelly already had one of the biggest OC jobs in CFB, had other bigger options, but ended up choosing NU, in part, because think that he (and more likely, his wife) didn't want to be stuck in a podunk college town at this stage in their lives.

Evanston/Chicago is a great place to live if you have the means.
I could see this being a Hank type situation too. NU is a place that will appreciate even an average offense. Braun is a Defense guy and won't even be tempted to micro mange him. He can do the parts of the job he loves the most.
 

phatcat_rivals223240

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I could see this being a Hank type situation too. NU is a place that will appreciate even an average offense. Braun is a Defense guy and won't even be tempted to micro mange him. He can do the parts of the job he loves the most.
I just looked and he's only 62. I thought he was older. Yeah maybe he sticks around for 4-5 years.
 

jne381

Freshman
Sep 2, 2013
529
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I don't get the sentiment that if he is successful he will go to a bigger program. I don't doubt for one second that he could have gone to a bigger college program already if he wanted to. I know he did not work out with the Raiders, but the NFL is different than college. Also, the Raiders are just a hot mess. His last college gig was with the National Champions.
 
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Prescott2018

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Oct 10, 2022
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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 don't get the sentiment that if he is successful he will go to a bigger program. I don't doubt for one second that he could have gone to a bigger college program already if he wanted to. I know he did not work out with the Raiders, but the NFL is different than college. Also, the Raiders are just a hot mess. His last college gig was with the National Champions.
Lou Holtz did not have success in the NFL.
 

Fanaticat98

Senior
May 29, 2001
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Good. Maybe he can buy Fitzs old house?? Is it up for sale?? Maybe there will be story about it in Sunday Chicago tribune real estate section?
Ha. I suspect Fitz is keeping his Northfield house unless he was planning to downsize anyway becoming an empty nester.

It seems a good situation for Kelly. Lower pressure job (though maybe not seeing that Lujan was axed after 2 years), great facilities, easy location to travel from compared to random small college town USA.
 

zeek55

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Nov 21, 2010
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Kelly doesn't want to be a HC, especially at the collegiate level and much prefers game planning and calling plays.

Would not at all be surprised if this ends up being a "Hank situation" - basically being the last stop til retirement.

Kelly already had one of the biggest OC jobs in CFB, had other bigger options, but ended up choosing NU, in part, because think that he (and more likely, his wife) didn't want to be stuck in a podunk college town at this stage in their lives.

Evanston/Chicago is a great place to live if you have the means.
Yeah I hope so. I'm optimistic on this because Kelly's done a lot of moving around and we offer him the absolutely perfect setup: 1) lowest possible expectations that it's hard to believe he can't field better offenses than the last 5 years of Bajakian/Lujan, 2) complete control of offense with a deferential young HC looking to learn from him, and 3) as you mentioned lifestyle wise, for a guy of his age and wealth, it's a great place to be.

If he and Braun can make this work, I have high hopes that both of them will be here for at least 5-7 years, that's realistically all you can hope for in CFB.

It's hard to overstate how good this hire is; it's a huge jolt that the program needed. Sends the message that Braun/Jackson are dead serious about competing.

It seems a good situation for Kelly. Lower pressure job (though maybe not seeing that Lujan was axed after 2 years), great facilities, easy location to travel from compared to random small college town USA.
As long as he can raise us out of the basement of bottom 20-30 offenses in FBS to something closer to the middle in 2-3 years, he'll probably be able to stay here as long as he wants. The job should be low pressure to somebody as experienced and knowledgable about offenses as him.

It's just hard for me to believe that he can't at least get us out of the bottom range. We're just asking for passable offenses at first with hopes that he can maybe put together what he had at UCLA (those years where the offense was a legit top 10-25 unit) if we can get the right players.
 

JustGary

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Oct 7, 2025
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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.
One of the biggest compliments I saw was on an Ohio State vlog that said that even though Northwestern would not be a threat to Ohio State (from their perspective), the Kelly move with our defense should move us into the top 6 in conference with an outside chance of CFP next year. That was both a testament to how they feel about Chip and how they view our defense. Their assumption is that we will do well at getting necessary offensive players in the portal who will want to play in a Chip Kelly offense. They think our staff can make up for Kelly not visiting recruits personally. Given It was just two vlog guys but it was exciting.
 
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zeek55

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Nov 21, 2010
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One of the biggest compliments I saw was on an Ohio State vlog that said that even though Northwestern would not be a threat to Ohio State (from their perspective), the Kelly move with our defense should move us into the top 6 in conference with an outside chance of CFP next year. That was both a testament to how they feel about Chip and how they view our defense. Their assumption is that we will do well at getting necessary offensive players in the portal who will want to play in a Chip Kelly offense. They think our staff can make up for Kelly not visiting recruits personally. Given It was just two vlog guys but it was exciting.
Yeah with Kelly, all we really need him to do is close the deal with important offensive recruits/transfers (i.e. if we go after a top QB in the portal or something).

Braun as the energetic young defensive minded HC selling the program as the face of it with Kelly as the established OC is a great duo to have for recruiting purposes I would think.

If they put it together properly, there's no real reason why we can't have our trademark tough top 20-30 defenses combined with top 20-30 offenses..., and that's a recipe for winning 8-10 football games in a lot of years as well as being a tough out for most opponents.
 
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eddie_gocats

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Sep 4, 2018
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It’s interesting how other BIG schools on3 forums view Chip Kelly… most say weird fit, some hater comments of washed up. Iowa fans have smart things to say while Purdue fans seem envious and adding to their misery. Entertaining and definitely buzz for NU.
 

zeek55

Junior
Nov 21, 2010
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It’s interesting how other BIG schools on3 forums view Chip Kelly… most say weird fit, some hater comments of washed up. Iowa fans have smart things to say while Purdue fans seem envious and adding to their misery. Entertaining and definitely buzz for NU.
Most buzzworthy hire we've probably ever had in FB?

Trying to think and I can't think of anybody else that would have drawn this level of public discussion (i.e. major podcasts/media folks talking about it, other Big Ten fanbases, etc.), especially in terms of coordinators.

It's why I think any concern about him and recruiting is misplaced; players will already know who he is, his offensive reputation is already known across CFB. As soon as he produces results and brings our offenses up to even just average, that will already be enough success to show he still has it.
 
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