Chip Kelly is officially coming to Evanston, and he's already making changes at Northwestern.
Two days after the Wildcats announced the addition of the longtime NFL and college football coach, Kelly has begun filling out his offensive staff. Head coach David Braun said on Tuesday that more changes would be made to NU's coaching staff, and Northwestern is now bringing in a pair of coaches with previous ties to the team's new offensive coordinator.
CBS Sports' Matt Zenitz reported on Thursday morning that Northwestern was set to hire Tim Drevno as the team's offensive line coach. The 56-year-old was a consultant for Texas this past season and worked under Kelly at both UCLA and Ohio State.
With the Bruins, Drevno was an offensive assistant in 2021 before being elevated to the team's offensive line coach from 2022 to 2023. He then followed Kelly to Columbus, where he served as a quality control coach when the Buckeyes won the National Championship.
Drevno's reported hire comes a day after Northwestern offensive line coach Bill O'Boyle left the Wildcats for San Diego State.
Shortly after, the 'Cats made another addition on the offensive side. According to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, Northwestern is also hiring Jerry Neuheisel as the team's quarterbacks coach. The former UCLA quarterback was hired at his alma mater as a graduate assistant in 2018 and has held various roles since then.
Neuheisel entered the 2025 season as the Bruins' tight ends coach and assistant head coach, but ended it as the interim offensive coordinator after a midseason shakeup. UCLA's offense was much more explosive under Neuheisel and pulled off three consecutive upsets over No. 7 Penn State, Michigan State and Maryland.
The hire marks a split from Northwestern's previous coaching arrangements. Former offensive coordinator Zach Lujan was also the Wildcats' quarterbacks coach, as was Mike Bajakian from 2020 to 2023. This will be the first time in program history that Northwestern has a separate quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, which should allow Kelly to focus on the offense as a whole with Neuheisel solely working with the quarterbacks.
Braun will have several key decisions to make regarding the team's remaining offensive assistants. Northwestern currently has Armon Binns (wide receivers), Paul Creighton (tight ends and special teams), Aristotle Thompson (running backs), Zach Martin (assistant quarterbacks), Zac Krause (assistant wide receivers) and Ryan Olson (run game specialist and offensive line assistant) on the staff as designated offensive coaches.