Chip Kelly

Head coach, UCLA, 2018 to 2023
Before: Oregon

Now

Career arc

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerFBS medianOregonUCLAWashingtonWashingtonUSCUSCBlue Bloodpermanent top tierPower Programperennial contenderNational Programrespectable, streakyOregon when he took over: 51.6 (Power Program II), its final 2008 readingtook overOregon, 2009: 10-3, Power Program IIOregon, 2009: 10-3, Power Program II200910-3Oregon, 2010: 12-1, Power Program I201012-1Oregon, 2011: 12-2, Power Program I201112-2Oregon, 2012: 12-1, Power Program IOregon, 2012: 12-1, Power Program I201212-1+17.5UCLA when he took over: 41.7 (Power Program III), its final 2017 readingtook overUCLA, 2018: 3-9, National Program IUCLA, 2018: 3-9, National Program I20183-9UCLA, 2019: 4-8, National Program II20194-8UCLA, 2020: 3-4, National Program II20203-4UCLA, 2021: 8-4, National Program I20218-4UCLA, 2022: 9-4, National Program I20229-4UCLA, 2023: 8-5, National Program IUCLA, 2023: 8-5, National Program I20238-5-0.3best: 2012gray dashed: rival programs · ○ the program when he took over · Dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Bowls and playoffs: 3-3 · won 0 of 1 national title game

Oregon2009Rose BowlL 17-262010BCS title gameL 19-222011Rose BowlW 45-382012Fiesta BowlW 35-17UCLA2022Sun BowlL 35-372023LA BowlW 35-22

Coordinator years

Offensive coordinator across 3 programs, 4 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.

100th — best in the country90th — elite — top 10%75th — top quarter50th — national median25th — bottom quarter0 — worst in the countryHis unit’s national rank, by season’14’15’16’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26UCLAUCLA · head coachUCLAOhio St→ Became head coachUCLA, 2018← Returned to coordinatingUCLA, 2022UCLA ranked 78th percentile the year before he arrived○ what he walked intoUCLA 2018: 60th percentile nationallyUCLA ranked 87th percentile the year before he arrivedUCLA 2022: 95th percentile nationallyOhio State ranked 87th percentile the year before he arrivedOhio State 2024: 100th percentile nationallyNorthwestern ranked 38th percentile the year before he arrivedNorthwestern 2026: 97th percentile nationallyUCLA 2018: 60th percentile (Chip Kelly ran the unit)UCLA 2019: 30th percentile (Justin Frye ran the unit)UCLA 2020: 76th percentile (Justin Frye ran the unit)UCLA 2021: 87th percentile (Justin Frye ran the unit)UCLA 2022: 95th percentile (Chip Kelly ran the unit)UCLA 2023: 44th percentile100th, career bestOhio State, 202430th percentile

How to read this. Coordinator seasons come from our coordinator career records; head-coaching-era seasons are the same unit's FBS-relative percentile for those years, regardless of who coached it, read directly from the staff assignments record. A role change (a “hinge”) is a fact, never a performance verdict — only the season-by-season data itself is colored by outcome.

Report card

Offense carries it: 76th percentile offense, below the median defense at 41st.

UCLA, every completed season graded against the whole field, then averaged.

Offense

B+
of which —76th
efficiency — 76th percentile success rate, 2018–23
B+75th
Standard-downs success
B+71st
Passing-downs success
B67th
Trench push (line yards)
C-37th
Red-zone scoring rate
B-59th
Power-success (short yardage)
C-34th
Ball security (giveaways per game)

Defense

C
of which —41st
41st percentile SP+ defense, 2018–23
B-55th
Front-7 havoc
B-57th
Secondary havoc
B-57th
Stuff rate (run defense)
B-51st
Takeaways per game

Each season is his team’s percentile among every team with that stat (the share it beat), averaged over his completed seasons here; a mid-season takeover year and the season in progress aren’t graded. Letters: A+ 90th percentile and up, A 80, B+ 70, B 60, B− 50, C+ 45, C 40, C− 30, D 15, F below.