Ryan Day Excited to Have Chip Kelly, James Laurinaitis on Ohio State’s Coaching Staff: “I Love Having Chip On My Side”

The final piece of Ohio State’s coaching staff fell into place on Thursday when Ryan Day moved to promote James Laurinaitis from graduate assistant to linebackers coach. That promotion came six days after Day hired Chip Kelly as his new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, which followed Bill O’Brien’s departure – just three weeks after he was hired as OSU’s initial offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for 2024 – to become the head coach at Boston College.

Ohio State now enters the 2024 season with five assistant coaches on both sides of the ball. Kelly joins returning assistants Tony Alford, Brian Hartline, Justin Frye and Keenan Bailey on offense while Laurinaitis joins Jim Knowles, Larry Johnson, Tim Walton and new safeties coach Matt Guerrieri on defense.

While it might have taken a bit longer than expected for Ohio State to fill out its coaching staff, Day is pleased with the staff he ended up with.

“It’s our job every year to identify what areas need to be adjusted, whether it’s with the team or with the staff. And we’ve worked really hard, we’ve spent a lot of time thinking to make sure the right guys are in the right seats. So now it’s time to go to work,” Day said Friday in a brief interview following his presentation at the Ohio High School Football Coaches’ Association clinic.

Day reunites with Kelly after previously playing for Kelly at New Hampshire, where Kelly was the offensive coordinator while Day was the starting quarterback, and working for Kelly as his quarterbacks coach when Kelly was the head coach of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. Their history together has made for a smooth transition as Kelly has joined Day’s staff.

“Chip and I obviously have a long history together, so we see the same things the same way. And it’s been exciting to get him going here,” Day said. “He’s got a lot of excitement walking around the building, meeting the guys, so it’s been a great start.”

Day shrugged off the suggestion that it could be awkward to have the coach he once worked for now working for him.

“It’s great,” Day said. “All I know is I love having Chip on my side.”

“Chip and I obviously have a long history together, so we see the same things the same way. And it’s been exciting to get him going here.”– Ryan Day on new Ohio State Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly

As for Laurinaitis, Day said he decided to promote him based both on what Laurinaitis has shown as a coach in his first year at Ohio State as well as the work Laurinaitis put in on the recruiting trail after taking over as Ohio State’s 10th traveling assistant following the firing of former special teams coordinator Parker Fleming in January.

Much like with Hartline, who had a similar path to where he is now as he played at Ohio State and played in the NFL before he starting his coaching career at OSU as a quality control coach, Day believes Laurinaitis does a great job of drawing from his playing experience and using that to his advantage as a coach.

“Well, first off, he knows Ohio State, he loves Ohio State. He has credibility with the players, he has credibility with recruits because he’s done it,” Day said of Laurinaitis. “And not only did he do it, he did it at an unbelievable level, he did it in the NFL.

“But I’ve been impressed with the way he’s transitioned from being a player to a coach. I think when you look at James, when you look at Brian, those guys were guys who maximized themselves on the field. So as they transition from being in the NFL to college, they use a lot of the things they’ve learned, especially in the latter years of their NFL careers, to help guys on the field. And so I’ve seen so many great things from him. Had an opportunity to see him on the road (recruiting) the last couple of weeks. Did an unbelievable job. There’s a lot of momentum, so we felt like it was the right move.”