Quantum entanglement is the term for what happens when two particles are inexorably linked.
"Inexorably" in the sense that even if said two particles are on opposite sides of the galaxy, they will be two parts of the same whole; anything that impacts one of the particles can be found in the other, even if those two particles are separated by a massive amount of space.
It's a weird and paradoxical concept (Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance"), that I don't really understand the physics of and never will because I'm a big dummy that had to read the simple version of Wikipedia first to get my head around the idea of it. Also I probably screwed up some of the details, just watch this video instead:
But in general it's an idea that fascinates me because it's both incredibly odd and also weirdly applicable to the kinds of relationships that we find in sports, particularly among coaches in college and the NFL.
We talk a lot about the web of coaching connections that are created when one successful coach is able to find other talented coaches to help coach their talented teams to success; it is part of the founding mythology of Ohio State, starting with Wayne Woodrow Hayes emerging fully formed from the muck and mire that is Miami University to create a coaching tree that eventually would lead to Urban Meyer bringing a national title to Columbus 60 years later.
How that happened, from both a historical and logistical standpoint, is kind of unbelievable. That the lives of so many people had to intersect at just the right time and the right place to create something great at X specific location during Y specific time is something legitimately special.
Ryan Day and Chip Kelly have both been in the coaching game for a long time, starting their relationship when Day was a tight ends coach at the University of New Hampshire after his graduation there, when Kelly was his offensive coordinator as quarterback and then colleague. Matt Galatzan has a good rundown of how their paths intersected, leading up to Kelly's hiring as offensive coordinator at Ohio State under Day:
The two go way back, with Day serving as Kelly's quarterback at New Hampshire from 1998-2001. The two were also both on the New Hampshire staff in 2002, with Day as tight ends coach and Kelly as offensive coordinator.
Flash forward to 2015 and the two were once again coaching together, this time with the Day serving as the Eagles QB coach under Kelly. One year later, Kelly took over as the head coach of the 49ers, with Day following him - once again as the QB coach.
Ryan Day joined Urban Meyer's staff in 2017, and the rest you know. Chip Kelly was at UCLA starting in 2018, and now as made it to Columbus, where the paths of the two men cross yet again.
And that's all well and good, but to drive my point home about how nuts all of this is in practicality, I think that it's important to visualize the spatial path that both Day and Kelly have followed to get to the point where we are now. For instance, here's what Chip Kelly's coaching career path has looked like since he entered Ryan Day's life way back in the 90's (black circles indicate where Day and Kelly coached together):
If you're not familiar with Kelly's career, this includes stops in Eugene, Oregon as head coach of the Oregon Ducks, a stint with the Philadelphia Eagles as their head coach, a disastrous year as the head coach of the 49ers, and several years at UCLA as the head coach of the Bruins.
That was the easy one. Now let's see what Ryan Day has been up to in that time:
Okay. Uh... okay. New Hampshire as the tight ends coach, Boston College as a grad assistant, Florida as a grad assistant, Temple as a wide receivers coach, back to Boston College, back to Temple, back to Boston College again, followed Kelly to Philly with the Eagles and then on to San Fran, and finally to Ohio State.
Now let's combine the maps:
Which is why I've called this article "quantum entanglement." There's nothing particularly spooky about two men in the same profession maintaining a relationship over multiple decades and thousands of miles, but it is something pretty special regardless. That the extensively travelled Ryan Day and Chip Kelly (or any group of coaches for that matter) can be so intertwined both philosophically and in terms of their career paths says a lot about the intensely personal nature of sports.
That has meaning, especially in an increasingly mercenary world of college football, and while this coaching relationship might yet again be a brief one (especially if it is successful), I think that the offseason is as good a time as any to appreciate how two guys from New Hampshire found themselves trying to win a national championship in Ohio.
