Bill O’Brien thanked Ohio State head coach Ryan Day for his “patience and understanding” during his introductory press conference as the new Boston College head coach. Day hired O’Brien as the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator on Jan. 19 but O’Brien departed two weeks later when the Boston College job came open.
“I really want to thank Ryan Day, the head football coach at Ohio State, for his patience and his understanding of why it was so important for me to pursue this job,” O’Brien said. “A lot of people here at Boston College are familiar with Ryan Day. Ryan Day is an outstanding person and an outstanding coach. He was great during this whole process.”
O’Brien spent the 2023 season as the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The team finished bottom three in total offense. He was 52-48 as the Houston Texans head coach from 2014-20. Prior to that, he served as the head coach at Penn State (2012-13), where he compiled a record of 15-9 in two seasons, including 10-6 in Big Ten play. O’Brien was named the Big Ten’s Coach of the Year in 2012.
Day replaced O’Brien with UCLA head coach Chip Kelly. The hire drew immediate praise, with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum arguing that it worked out best for all parties involved.
“I frankly think Ohio State is better off with Chip Kelly than they were with Bill O’Brien,” Finebaum said, via 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 2-3 best coaches in college football and playing for national championships.”
Kelly and UCLA went a combined 25-13 over the last three seasons, one of the program’s most successful runs in recent memory, but the veteran coach interviewed for several NFL coordinator vacancies this offseason before getting a call from Day at Ohio State.
Kelly inherits a star-studded offense for the Buckeyes following an offseason filled with high-end acquisitions. Ohio State has a top-10 portal haul following the additions of multi-year Kansas State starting quarterback Will Howard, Ole Miss standout rusher Quinshon Judkins and five-star Alabama quarterback Julian Sayin, one of the top signees in the Crimson Tide’s 2024 class.
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Bucknuts analyst Bill Kurelic reported last week that Ohio State could be in the market for a couple of Kelly’s former players at UCLA, who now have a 30-day transfer portal window following the coaching change. Specifically, that includes a closer look at the offensive line, where the Buckeyes have already added one impact transfer this cycle in former Alabama starting center Seth McLaughlin.
