Northwestern announced Tuesday morning that the program was making a change at offensive coordinator with the hiring of veteran Chip Kelly.
The move comes just days after the Wildcats beat Central Michigan, 34-7, to win the GameAbove Sports Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit. During the game, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg put out a tweet that an “offensive reset” was coming to Northwestern soon.
We now know that reset takes the form of Kelly replacing current offensive coordinator Zach Lujan, who’s contract expires in January.
Head coach David Braun spoke with the media Tuesday afternoon via Zoom to answer questions about the hiring of Kelly and what it means for Wildcats football in 2026. Below is that transcript with minor edits.
Opening Statement
Excited about what’s in front of us as a program is we get into the month of January, critical times around transfer portal recruiting, retention of our current roster, you know shift our focus and continued recruiting of you know the class of 2027 and 2028, all the things that go into continuing to build a program and put together a team for 2026 that we’re all really proud of. Ultimately, you know, with some some opportunity to evaluate and continue to push this program forward in a new era of Northwestern football. You know, we have made a made a change at our offensive coordinator position.
We’re thrilled to have Chip Kelly, you know, on board as we move into this new era of Northwestern football. You know, do want to acknowledge, you know, really appreciative of everything that Zach Lujan has done for our program. Ultimately, I truly believe that our offense and our team is in a better spot today than it was two years ago.
And, you know, Zach played played a huge factor in that. Also very excited about the future of our offense and our football team with the addition of Chip Kelly. Excited to get to work with him excited to get him on campus and excited to work really diligently through the month of January.
In this offseason to position this team for a very successful 2020, 2026 season. Reminder, if you have a question, please message athletic communications in the chat.
Given that Chip Kelly was just one of the most prominent names in the sport when during the formative years of your coaching career, I mean, is it almost surreal to now have him on your staff?
Yeah, you know, I’m really excited for the opportunity to work with Chip, you know. At the end of the day, my number one priority in hiring any staff member, whether that be coach or support staff is, you know, criteria number one is an individual that’s low ego and high output.
And through my conversations with Chip and getting to know him, there was certainly an incredible amount of respect for the body of work that he’s put together, whether it be an NFL, his time at Oregon, time at UCLA, time at Ohio State. But through conversations and really getting to know him as a person and as a football mind, it was very evident to me that an opportunity to bring him on board and have him be a part of Northwestern football was something that could be an absolute game changer for this program. And specifically our offense here at Northwestern, you know, I wouldn’t call it surreal, but ultimately I would say it’s an incredible opportunity to bring someone in at his expertise that is gonna make all of us better within the program.
As a head coach, your job is to populate your staff with the best, the brightest, great people that understand and value Northwestern. And through that process, it was very evident that Coach Kelly embodies all those things and we’re excited to have him.
Timing of this offensive coordinator change was a little different than the last time you made it a few years ago. You mentioned this morning on the radio having talked with Coach Kelly before the bowl game. He and Mark Jackson share a connection with Pete Carroll. Was there a directive from Mark Jackson to make a change at OC and he pointed to Kelly or was this an open interview process and his name emerged?
Absolutely not. There was no direction from Mark.
Ultimately, everything that’s going on within this program is my responsibility. And that’s the hard part about being a head coach. Probably the part of the job, Matt, that I don’t always enjoy is making hard decisions that you ultimately feel are in the best interest of the long term health of the program that affect individuals that you really care about.
But as I went through that evaluation process post regular season and it got into December and I had a chance to really process through that, I felt like it was a needed change for our program. We truly want to talk about winning Big Ten championships. And once that decision was made, being really forthright with my communication with our staff in terms of wanting to finish off the season the right way, but being honest and transparent with individuals that may affect.
And then it’s a partnership between myself and others and Mark of how do we not just make a change to make a change, but make a change that will have tremendous impact on us chasing down the goals that we have for this program. And Mark was certainly a critical asset in that, but ultimately the decision to make a change was mine and thrilled that I’ve been able to have an opportunity to build a relationship with Chip and feel really confident that this is the right decision for our program.
Can you just maybe walk us through a little bit how this process unfolded? Have you ever crossed paths with him or just how did this whole thing come down?
Yeah, ultimately my interactions with Chip really come from just a level of appreciation for what he’s done. Obviously competed against each other in 2024 when he was at Ohio State.
I think the thing, for me that really stood out is if you study his time at Oregon versus his time at UCLA versus his time with the Eagles in the NFL, and even his one year at Ohio State, it all had its own unique flavor to it. And it was based on the personnel and what that group of young men could do well. And that’s what was so impressive to me is his ability to evaluate the strengths of a roster and position that group to play winning football on the offensive side of the ball.
Beyond that just initial level of appreciation, Mark’s relationship with Chip probably put me in a position, us in a position to start the conversation. To see if this is an opportunity that Chip would be interested in. And through those conversations, countless conversations between Chip and I, it became very evident that this might be something that is of very strong mutual interest.
And the thing that excites me most about him coming on board is, yes, his level of expertise, but also the level of passion that he has to get here and get to work and make this truly something special for Northwestern football going into the future.
Along those lines about those conversations with Coach Kelly, what was your pitch about your program to get him to want to come on board?
Yeah, it starts with alignment, whether it be the relationship that Mark and I share, the institution’s commitment to long-term success within our football program, a new opportunity to start a new era of Northwestern football with new Ryan Field opening up in 2026.
There’s so many converging things that lead to perfect timing. And then, honestly, an opportunity to work with an incredible group of student athletes. I will say this boldly, coaching at Northwestern is an opportunity to work with one of the best collection of young men in all of college athletics.
And I think that’s something that’s important to Coach Kelly. I know it’s important to me, it’s important to our staff. And then ultimately, it takes a unique individual to say, you know what? I wanna go be a part of something that all of us in the building believe can happen, but maybe the outside world doesn’t always anticipate that you can do it.
And not that you’re out to prove people wrong, but you’re out to prove yourself right in terms of the vision that you have for the program moving forward. This is a new era in Northwestern football. There’s a lot of converging timing that goes around that.
And his excitement to be a part of that, a critical part of that, is ultimately what makes him the right person for the job.
In your conversations with Chip, where does he feel like he can grow this offense in his history of play calling and schemes?
Yeah, I think at the end of the day, he’s got a really strong understanding of the league, obviously, being at Ohio State. And then being a head coach at UCLA understands the additions to the Big Ten over the course of the last two years. I think that’s a really unique perspective.
His experience in the NFL, where at the end of the day, I’m not saying that college football is professional sports, but it’s a different dynamic today than it was three years ago, for sure. And those converging experiences on top of his ability to just be creative and innovative, open-minded about what it needs to look like at Northwestern to differentiate ourselves and create an incredible offensive product that positions us for winning, are all things that I know he’s confident he brings to the table. And the thing that really excites me is certainly putting him in a position of leadership with our offense to take it to heights that we all wanna see.
But also his head coaching experience is something that I can’t wait to tap into. The ability that him and I are gonna be able to have conversations about what it looks like, me being able to bounce ideas off of him, him being able to bounce ideas off of me and provide perspective on how he’s experienced and the things he’s done really well as a head coach, maybe some of the mistakes he’s made along the way that he can make me aware of. Again, it comes back to as a head coach, your job is to populate and support a staff that creates a lot of great creative thought, checks ego at the door, and ultimately just makes every decision based on what’s in the best interest of our student athletes.
And I know Coach Kelly is gonna enhance that throughout our program and the relationship that he and I share.
Is this more of a, we are going to go out and get the players that fit Coach Kelly’s system? Or have you had conversations with Coach Kelly about kind of adapting what he has known and what he’s had experience with to Northwestern? And likewise, has there been, was there some kind of promise to Coach Kelly that there was going to be a financial investment in the transfer portal and in recruiting and NIL, etc?
Yeah, ultimately my ultimate task as a head coach is to make sure that I support the individuals that are tasked with leading different areas of our program to the highest level.
And my job now is to support Coach Kelly in a way that positions him to absolutely thrive in that role as offensive coordinator. His job is gonna be to evaluate our current roster and find ways to maximize the strengths on this roster. Identify where we can continue to improve through also high school recruiting and transfer portal recruiting.
And the reality around investment in terms of supporting a roster that’s competitive in the Big Ten and competing for Big Ten championships is, yeah, there is a financial piece of that. That’s just the reality of college football right now. All those things intertwine and converge.
But what I’m absolutely confident in is that Coach Kelly is going to evaluate this roster, position it for success in the immediate future of what that looks like to play complimentary football for the Cats in 2026. And that style of offense in 2026 may look very different than it did in 2025. And as the roster continues to evolve and we continue to assess the strengths of this roster, it may look different in 2027 than it did in 2026.
That’s what great coaches do. They don’t force their players to adapt. They adapt to their players, and then they have a vision for their recruitment of what it looks like to bring in the right people that continue to enhance that.
And his experience of being able to do that at different institutions, different levels of football is something that, it’s what makes him such a unique offensive play caller and someone that’s been so proven throughout his career.
Coach, you frequently talked about this program’s goal and desire to be competing for and to be winning Big Ten championships. How do you think the addition of Chip Kelly helps you, puts you further along that path?
Yeah, and I mean, at the end of the day, we’ve had these conversations before. If we’re gonna boldly state that we are in pursuit of Big Ten championships and playing in the college football playoff, and no different than my comments on December 26th, that if your goal is to make the playoff, well once you’re in the playoff, the ultimate goal should be to win a national championship. Well, then it’s my job to make sure that our actions as a program align with that.
And this is a bold, aggressive action at taking the next step with our offense. And making a change just to make a change, to me that’s pointing fingers. When you make a change and have a vision for what it looks like moving forward, well now that’s taking ownership and saying no, we’re gonna take an aggressive move in the right direction to really make sure that this area of our program is reflective of competing for a Big Ten championship.
And I think Coach Kelly’s track record speaks for itself. But the thing that makes me most convicted and so excited about his decision to say, you know what? It’s not just Northwestern choosing Coach Kelly, it’s Coach Kelly choosing Northwestern. I wanna be a part of that, is just who he is as a person and what he stands for.
Fit matters, and I truly believe that Coach Kelly is the right fit for Northwestern at this time, in this new era of Northwestern football.
Chip Kelly’s a big name, there are a lot of programs interested in a guy like that. Did you have to make any assurances regarding revenue sharing, the budget or transfer spending or anything like that to land him? And just how much of a role that had in the whole decision process?
Yeah, there was no absolute assurances more than anything else.
Someone that’s making a decision to choose to come to your program, they’re gonna ask hard questions. They’re gonna ask questions about the vision and the commitment and the investment and the alignment. And at the end of the day, I’m confident in the fact that Coach Kelly wouldn’t have chosen to come to Northwestern if he didn’t believe in my leadership, if he didn’t believe in the alignment that exists between Mark, myself, our institution, all our stakeholders in this.
And for us to provide absolute assurances, the assurances are we’re committed to winning the Big Ten Championship and we’re gonna do everything in our power to do that in the Northwestern way. It’s not deviating from our non-negotiables, but it’s also a willingness to be aggressive and adapt to the new landscape of college football.
Do you feel like over time, he’s gotten more conservative or he’s more adapted or maybe it’s just something of a media perception of that (Oregon) era of Chip Kelly football?
Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything about Coach Kelly that’s conservative or passive. Ultimately, I think he’s just having been an offensive play caller at Oregon and then the head coach and head coaching role at UCLA, back to coordinator at Ohio State, his head coaching experience in the NFL. I think he understands, no different than I do, that everything needs to complement one another.
And each year may look a little different to do that, to put a winning product on the field. But I want him bringing all his creativity, all his aggressiveness. And ultimately for us to win Big Ten championships, we’re gonna have to have the ability to score more points than we have over the course of the last X amount of years here at Northwestern.
And the secret in all that is making sure that we’re evaluating our entire roster, evaluating our competition, and putting together a formula that complements one another and positions us for success on game day. But I’m sure there’s going to be elements of what we’ve seen at Oregon. Also, based on the personnel he had at UCLA and some of the best rushing attacks in the country, elements of that.
And where his expertise is really gonna have to shine is identifying what we currently have at Northwestern and what additions we make in positioning us for tremendous success, not only on offense, but as a team in 2026.
Coach Lujan served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Do you expect Coach Kelly to take on that dual role or do you expect to bring in another hire?
Yeah, well, what I do know is he’s certainly gonna lead this offense and be involved in everything that’s going on with our offense.
Certainly, we’ll be very involved with what’s going on with the quarterbacks as it’s the most critical position for any offensive coordinator. And then also an understanding that it’s my job to support Coach Kelly in every way, shape, and form that I can to make sure that he’s positioned for success. And that’s evaluating additional hires and what that looks like.
And those are things that we’ll have to work through here in the coming days. And worked really hard to make sure that, yeah, I’m very transparent with the communication of our staff here. Like I’ve referenced before, there’s been a tremendous amount of growth in this offense and in this program over the course of the last two years.
And also, there’s a direction that we need to continue to push on. And myself and Coach Kelly are gonna work diligently through that to make sure that we position him for success in this offense for success.
How much do you think it helps both high school and in the portal to be able to talk to offensive players about having someone like Coach Kelly with that kind of pedigree in the fold?
Yeah, no, that’s a great question. I think it’s huge. At the end of the day, recruiting the relationship with the head coach is a huge part of it, but it’s also way bigger than that.
What type of support is around that young man, both on the field and off the field? And when you start talking about having a person like Christian Sarkeesian in place that’s got extensive years as an NFL scout in his perspective, and then you start to talk about the relationships and the quality of people that we have in this program throughout, and then you start to talk about the proven development of guys like Caleb Tiernan and Aiden Hubbard. And Evan Bernstein coming in as a transfer, and then you compile that with someone like Coach Kelly that has been a proven developer of young men as a college coach, but has also experienced the pinnacle of coaching at the NFL level. That comes with a lot of perspective.
That comes with a lot of value. All things that can be poured into the young men that choose to be a part of this program, while also not forgetting to mention the education that exists here, the network that exists here, the relationships that are built here, all things that are non-negotiables of this program as we continue to adapt to the new landscape of college football. But the value and perspective that he’ll bring to our student athletes is something that if you’re a recruit or someone that’s looking to come to Northwestern football, you’d be crazy not to say, gosh, I get an opportunity to work with Chip Kelly and this staff.
That’s pretty special.
With the transfer portal opening up in just a couple of days, why was it important to have this hire in place now, and how do you think Chip Kelly’s presence is going to affect how you attack the transfer portal as it opens up in just a couple of days?
Yeah. You know, again, it does us no good to bicker about the calendar. You know, you just got to come up with solutions to how to manage the calendar.
And ultimately, you know, it was absolutely critical that we have an offensive coordinator in place, you know, at the time of the transfer portal opening, because if you think you’re going to be competitive in the recruiting landscape with, you know, an offensive player that doesn’t know who their offensive coordinator is going to be, you’re kidding yourself. It was absolutely critical that we get this hire buttoned up prior to that portal window opening, and excited that we were able to execute on that.
You mentioned that there was a change here from Zach Lujan to Chip Kelly. Do you expect there to be any other additional changes on your staff going forward here in the next few weeks?
There will be changes.
What that exactly looks like right now, you know, to be determined. But what I can tell you, it’s not just a one for one type of situation. Like, ultimately, I’m charged with having a vision for this program long term of sustainability and competitiveness in the Big Ten, and we have to evaluate everything.
There were some small examples of that in the transition from 24 to 2025. But, you know, that needs to start to grow exponentially in terms of how we build support around this program for our student athletes and being competitive in this league. It won’t look the same.
Some of it is going to involve a lot of the same people, but the structure and the support for our student athletes in terms of how we navigate the development of our current roster, the scouting of potential incoming players in the recruitment, it is constantly evolving. And, you know, we have work to do, and I’m excited to see that start to come together here in the month of January.
Do you think this hiring happens without the stadium?
I don’t. I mean, I don’t. And I don’t know if it’s directly correlated to, like, the stadium, but it is from a standpoint of a new Ryan Field, all the design and development that’s gone into it, the commitment of, you know, this institution, the commitment of the Ryan family, I think we talked about converging timing, you know, the converging timing is moving into a new Ryan Field in 2026, house settlement in a new landscape of college football, a program that is on the rise and an opportunity for us to really establish a new era of Northwestern football in the best football stadium in the world.
Like for me to say that that isn’t a contributing factor to all of this, it isn’t true. I think it absolutely is a factor.
