Chip Kelly joined Ryan Day and Ohio State after a brief stint as the head coach at UCLA. After the massive national championship win over Notre Dame in 2025, he left for the NFL to be the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Day now had to pick his replacement and promoted co-offensive coordinator Brian Hartline back to business. After his latest upgrade to his role with the Buckeyes, the coach made sure to thank Day for his trust and giving him an opportunity once again.
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The Buckeyes recorded a successful 14-2 season and punched a national championship, eventually winning the big matchup against Notre Dame.
The championship glory had its toll. Apart from the team success, Day lost a couple of coaches to the pro league after multiple franchises pounced to secure natty-winning candidates.
Kelly left for the Raiders, quarterback coach Justin Frye departed to the Arizona Cardinals, and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles took the Penn State job.
Hartline served as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator in 2023 before Kelly took charge of the offense last season. He is back into the game again and will lead the squad in 2025.
“Great honor,” Hartline said this week. “Very humbled by it. I mean, coach can select anybody in the country he wants to be the offensive coordinator at Ohio State, and he has trusted me for me to be one of those guys. So it means a lot.”
This was something that was expected after Kelly announced his decision. He shared his love for the pro league and mentioned what makes it different from college.
“The one thing about the NFL that I love is it’s the ultimate level of competition. It’s football at the highest level. You have to go against the best and the brightest from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint, and that challenge of trying to be the best team and be the world champ is a pretty cool deal,” Kelly said per USA Today.
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“So, when I got the chance to talk with (Carroll) last Saturday about this, and then Tom Brady on the ownership side, because Tom’s involved and he kind of represented the ownership during the interview process, it was just pretty cool to listen to their vision and their thoughts on what Raider football is and the Raider way is,” Kelly added.
The 2025 season will have big expectations piled up for Ohio State as a champion team looking to defend its title. Day has already stacked the coaching staff roster within weeks and is now focused on recruiting top talents from high school.
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