UCLA's Justin Frye Officially Hired as Ohio State's OL Coach, Associate Head Coach

Frye is leaving UCLA just as the Bruins are starting to lose major pieces from its offensive line.

(Photo Courtesy of Justin Frye/Twitter)

The Bruins' fourth coaching loss of the offseason has been made official.

UCLA football offensive line coach and offensive coordinator Justin Frye has left the program to take over as offensive line coach and associate head coach for offense at Ohio State, the Buckeyes announced Tuesday. Frye will be taking over for Greg Studrawa, who was fired after six years in Columbus.

Reports of Frye's move first surfaced late last week, and the announcement simply made it public.

Frye follows in the footsteps of defensive line coach Johnny Nansen and outside linebackers coach Jason Kaufusi, who both took jobs at Arizona, and tight ends coach and special teams coordinator Derek Sage, who went to Nevada.

Welcome to Columbus, @CoachJFrye‼️#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/LUaEHdN5uv

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) January 11, 2022

Frye spent the last four seasons with the Bruins, first exclusively as an offensive line coach before adding the offensive coordinator title in 2019. Coach Chip Kelly has still been the primarily play-caller, though, so Frye's position as coordinator was mostly done to justify a salary bump.

At UCLA, Frye was getting paid $700,000 a year. Studrawa earned $700,000 at Ohio State last year exclusively as offensive line coach, so it is unlikely Frye will be taking a pay cut with an additional title on top of that.

In 2018, Frye's offensive line paved the way for running back Joshua Kelley to post the 10th-most yards in program history, and Kelley followed that up with another 1,000-yard campaign in 2019 when Frye added coordinator duties. Receiver-turned-running back Demetric Felton was one of the best running backs in the Pac-12 in 2020 under Frye's watch, and the two-man combination of Zach Charbonnet and Brittain Brown made for the top one-two punch in the West in 2021.

Even going back to his days at Boston College, Frye was in charge of the offensive line when Andre Williams ran his way to a Heisman finalist spot, when Tyler Murphy set the ACC single-season rushing record for a quarterback and when AJ Dillon burst onto the scene in 2017 behind one of the top blocking units in the nation.

Frye started as a graduate assistant at Indiana, where he previously suited up as an offensive lineman himself, then he took on the same role at Florida under Urban Meyer. He then made the move to Temple and eventually followed head coach Steve Addazio to Chestnut Hill, where he coached alongside then-Boston College offensive coordinator Ryan Day.

With Day now in Columbus, Frye will be reuniting with his old Eagles companion at Ohio State. Kelly coached with Day at several different stops as well – Day was Kelly's tight ends coach at New Hampshire in 2002 and his quarterbacks coach with the San Francisco 49ers in 2016.

UCLA's offensive line, even looking past Frye's departure, was set to undergo a bit of a reset this coming season. Left guard Paul Grattan is out of eligibility and right tackle Alec Anderson and left tackle Sean Rhyan both declared for the 2022 NFL Draft.

The interior is steady with Atonio Mafi, Sam Marrazzo, Jon Gaines and Duke Clemens all expected back, but next offseason will gut that group as well. Clemens is the only player with consistent starting experience set to be on the roster by the time 2023 rolls around, and he too could leave after next season instead of returning for a fifth year.

Frye only has one recruit signed on for the incoming 2022 class – tackle Sam Yoon – but he reeled in four in 2021, with tackle Garrett DiGiorgio impressing in his lone start this past fall.

Bruins, receiver Kyle Philips and tight end Greg Dulcich are leaving the offense as well, so even with quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson returning and Charbonnet still on the fence, the Bruins' offense is going to look drastically different both on the field and on the sidelines.

Nansen and Kaufusi have already been replaced by Chad Kauha’aha’a and Ikaika Malloe, respectively, but there was been no movement on replacements for Sage and Frye. Kelly himself has yet to sign an extension past this coming season, and many view Sunday as the deadline for him to lock down a contract with UCLA.

If the two sides make it past this weekend without a deal, Kelly's $9 million buyout will drop to zero and either side can walk away with no financial loss. Even if Kelly was retained amid that instability, he would be doing so as a lame duck, making it difficult for him to attract not only recruits, but also coaches that could potentially fill Frye and Sage's shoes.

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