The Ohio State football team doesn't get to celebrate their national championship for long. After taking down Notre Dame on Monday to win the title, they have already had to pivot into 2025. In fact, they have already lost a coordinator less than a week after that game.
Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has decided to leave the Buckeyes and head to rival Penn State. It's bad enough to lose Knowles, but to lose him to Penn State stings. That means they've lost coaches to Michigan and Penn State in consecutive years.
Losing one coordinator is bad enough, but the Buckeyes are in a position where they could end up losing both. Chip Kelly was on the road recruiting this weekend, so he wasn't at the national championship celebration on Sunday. Ohio State could end up losing him too if some reports are true.
The Ohio State football program could lose both Jim Knowles and Chip Kelly
According to CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones, Kelly has been targeted by both the Houston Texans and the Jacksonville Jaguars as an offensive coordinator. He could also be a target by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kelly was previously a head coach in the NFL for both the Eagles and the 49ers.
The whole reason why Kelly decided to leave UCLA as head coach to become Ohio State's offensive coordinator is because he just wanted to coach football. He was tired of all of the extra stuff that comes with being a college head coach. Going back to the NFL would certainly avoid all of that.
Kelly could be interested in either of these opportunities. It would mean he wouldn't have to recruit on the road anymore. He has not interviewed for any open positions yet, that could still happen. That would put the Ohio State Buckeyes in a really bad position of having to replace both coordinators.