{"id":114004,"date":"2025-12-30T20:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T20:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/114004\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T20:14:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T20:14:11","slug":"can-chip-kelly-repair-reputation-at-northwestern-after-raiders-fiasco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/114004\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Chip Kelly repair reputation at Northwestern after Raiders fiasco?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chip Kelly didn\u2019t land on his feet by taking the offensive coordinator position at Northwestern on Tuesday, a month after the Las Vegas Raiders fired him<\/a>. <\/p>\n

More likely, he\u2019ll land on his derriere, seated in a comfy chair overlooking Ryan Field, the Wildcats\u2019 gleaming new $850-million stadium, while calling plays for a program that ranked 98th in the FBS in total offense and finished 15th in the Big Ten in points per game this season. <\/p>\n

This is what a consolation prize feels like. A year ago, Kelly was calling plays at Ohio State, the most prolific offense in college football and eventual national champion. He\u2019d still be there, pulling the strings again for a juggernaut offense in the College Football Playoff, but for his decision to jump to the Raiders.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been quite the free fall. Las Vegas was 2-9 when Kelly was fired shortly after the lowly Cleveland Browns registered 10 sacks in a 24-10 win over the Raiders on Nov. 23. Whatever play-calling magic Kelly mustered at Ohio State didn\u2019t translate in the NFL, where in years past he had mostly failed in head coaching assignments with the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n

Kelly, who honed his reputation as a man of few words during his mediocre 2018-2023 tenure as UCLA head coach, didn\u2019t express hard feelings toward the Raiders on his way out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, we gotta win,\u201d he told a reporter<\/a>. \u201cI get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019ll have an opportunity to repair his reputation at Northwestern, which was 7-6 this season, including a win over Central Michigan in the GameAbove Sports Bowl. Coach David Braun clearly is enamored with Kelly, who cemented his offensive genius bona fides by leading Oregon to a 46-7 record as head coach from 2009 to 2012. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis innovative approach to offense using systems that focus on varying tempo, efficiency and smart decision-making, his track record of developing quarterbacks, and his ability to maximize talent are exactly what our program needs at this moment,\u201d Braun said in a statement. \u201cMake no mistake: this is a program-defining change and is reflective of our long-term commitment to the pursuit of championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only titles Northwestern can claim are a dozen Academic Achievement Awards from the American Football Coaches Assn. since 2002. Since leaving Oregon, Kelly has stumbled at every stop except the single season at Ohio State, where he could still be calling plays had he not left for the lure of the NFL.<\/p>\n

He sounded appreciative that he is back in the Big Ten.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am honored to join the Northwestern Football program,\u201d Kelly said in a statement. \u201cThis program and university are clearly on the rise, and the values of the people and this place align with my own. I am grateful for the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chip Kelly didn\u2019t land on his feet by taking the offensive coordinator position at Northwestern on Tuesday, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[61085,1321,61086,40287,48,52,51,6424,47,50,49,29149,8935,24288,3238,4576,61084,5681,38380,278,61087],"class_list":["post-114004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-chip-kelly-repair-reputation","tag-college-football","tag-juggernaut-offense","tag-kelly","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-northwestern","tag-offensive-coordinator","tag-ohio-state","tag-play","tag-program","tag-raiders-fiasco","tag-record","tag-reputation","tag-season","tag-ucla-head-coach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}