The Northwestern Wildcats are hiring a two-time NFL head coach and college head coach to lead their offense in 2026.
The Northwestern Wildcats are looking to bring some innovation to their offense after a 7-6 finish in the 2025 college football season. It appears they will be moving on from Zach Lujan and bringing in someone with NFL experience. According to the school itself on Tuesday morning, the Wildcats have hired veteran coach Chip Kelly to lead their offense as the team’s new coordinator. The two-time college head coach led teams with Oregon and UCLA. He also was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL. That extensive experience in big league systems and various personnel was a desirable factor of Kelly’s, per sources at ESPN.
Kelly followed his stint with the Ducks up with taking the offensive coordinator job with Ohio State in 2024, where he helped them win a national title. He then made the switch back to the NFL and served as the Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator for one season before being let go after a 2-9 start. He’ll now move back down to the college level with Northwestern for the 2026 season. Kelly has significant time on task in both college and the NFL, and as a playcaller and head coach. That’s a rare group of appealing experiences that Kelly brings to the table.
Here is the full story by Northwestern Roundtable writer Gavin Dorsey on the team's hire.
"His innovative approach to offense using systems that focus on varying tempo, efficiency and smart decision-making, his track record of developing quarterbacks, and his ability to maximize talent are exactly what our program needs at this moment," coach David Braun said in a statement.
"Make no mistake: this is a program-defining change and is reflective of our long-term commitment to the pursuit of championships."
Kelly was fired from the Raiders on Nov. 23 and only had about a month to ponder his future before deciding that would be at Northwestern. Their new playcaller has experience in the Big Ten at Ohio State, and in the Pac-12 with UCLA and Oregon before both jumped to the Big Ten. He’ll look to join Braun and replace current coordinator Lujan, whose contract is soon to expire.
They’ll look to keep building on Northwestern’s last few seasons, as Braun has led them to two bowl wins over three seasons, including the most recent win over Central Michigan, a decisive 34-7 victory in the GameAbove Sports Bowl. But their offense ranked No. 96 in the nation in total and scoring offense. The idea is that Kelly could be the one to help maximize the offense’s potential in 2026.