Buckeyes 'Better Off' With Chip Kelly Over Bill O'Brien?

The Buckeyes have changed offensive coordinators once again, hiring former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly to replace the departed Bill O'Brien, who was just hired by Boston College.

The Buckeyes have changed offensive coordinators once again, hiring former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly to replace the departed Bill O'Brien, who was just hired by Boston College.

And at least one media member, SEC Network's Paul Finebaum, thinks Ohio State is better off.

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“I frankly think Ohio State is better off with Chip Kelly than they were with Bill O’Brien,” Finebaum said Monday on WJOX and “McElroy and Cubelic In the Morning.” “The fact that Chip Kelly took the job just shows you how little confidence he had in UCLA and he should have been fired a couple of weeks ago, or a couple of months ago. 

"I have no Earthly idea why they retained him. He was right on the bubble. He did an OK job, but I remember the Chip Kelly from 13, 14 years ago who was one of the 2 or 3 best coaches in college football playing for national championships.”

Finebaum says the fact that Kelly bolted from a head coaching gig at a Big Ten school to be the offensive coordinator at another Big Ten school just goes to show the current state of the program at UCLA. Finebaum maintains that UCLA is considered the "little brother to USC" as the two leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.

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He also discussed the difficulty of UCLA competing for fans with USC, the Lakers and the Dodgers.

“I think it’s a really challenging job,” Finebaum said. “… That is a tough town. I read an article this morning, ‘Is Jim Harbaugh a big enough name for L.A. That’s the kind of place it is. When you win a national championship in college football, and you’re trying to get attention... I would be very careful as a sitting head coach or someone who has a great future ahead, to take that job, because to me, it is a dead-end job.”