Is Brian Kelly Related to Chip Kelly? What’s Their Connection?

Kelly is not the most common last name in the United States of America. It is most commonly associated with people of Irish heritage. According to 23andMe, in 2010, Kelly was the 74th most common last name in the United States, with 267,394 people having it.

What enhances the speculation that Brian Kelly and Chip Kelly are related is that they are both prominent members of college football. Over the last twenty years, both have been considered among the elite coaches in college football, which only sparked the rumors that they could be related.

Brian Kelly Coaching Career

Brian Kelly’s coaching career is nowhere close to ending. In 2023, he signed a 10-year deal worth $95 million to be the Louisiana State Tigers football coach. He has only coached two seasons for LSU, winning 10 games and a bowl game in each.

There is no sign of him slowing down, but the next step is to bring LSU to the college football playoffs. That should be easier now, with the college football playoffs moving from four teams to 12 before the 2024 season.

However, Brian did not start his coaching career at LSU. After attending and playing linebacker for four years at Assumption, he transitioned into a coaching role after graduating in 1983. Brian stayed at Assumption until 1986 as the defensive coordinator and linebacker coach.

Eventually, Brian would move on and truly start his coaching career at Grand Valley State. He joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant, focusing on defensive back in 1987. Brian would take little time to move up the coaching ladder, earning the defensive coordinator job in 1989 and finally becoming the head coach in 1991. He stayed at Grand Valley State till 2003, winning NCAA Division II National Championships in 2002 and 2003.

Brian’s success with Grand Valley State earned him an upgrade as Division I schools started to call. He would become the head coach for Central Michigan in 2004, with the task of rebuilding the program. In his first season as the head coach, Central Michigan finished 4-7 but improved to 6-5 in the second. Then, in 2006, Brian completed the rebuild, leading Central Michigan to a 9-4 record and winning the MAC Championship.

Again, after Brian’s success at Central Michigan, bigger programs came calling, and this time it was Cincinnati. He would coach Cincinnati in a 2006 bowl game, beating Western Michigan University, having also beaten them that season while coaching Central Michigan.

2007 was the first official season that Brian was the head coach of Cincinnati, leading them to the program’s second-ever 10-win season and a bowl win. That also came with accolades, as Brian won Big East coach of the year that season. It only got better in 2008, when Cincinnati won its first-ever Big East title, as Brian once again won the conference’s coach of the year award. The success only continued in 2009, when Brian led Cincinnati to an undefeated season and to be ranked third in the country but lost in a bowl game.

It was official that Brian was a star in the college football coaching world, and now, the biggest programs wanted to hire him. He would join a short list of Notre Dame head football coaches in 2010 and stay there till 2021. During his time at Notre Dame, Brian would win two AP Coach of the Year awards in 2012 and 2018. He would also reach the National Championship game in the 2012-13 season but would lose. Then, during the era of the four-team college football playoffs, Brian would lose in the semi-finals twice, in 2018-19 and 2020-21. By the time Brian left Notre Dame, he had the most career wins in the school’s history, at 113.

Chip Kelly Coaching Career

Chip Kelly’s career is slightly more challenging to put into perspective. Compared to Brian’s career, Chip has a lot more ups and downs, but he spent some time in the NFL, which might be an advantage in some people’s minds.

In the early part of his career, Chip Kelly’s past teams coached all over the place. He spent a lot of time bouncing around as a position group assistant. In 1990, Chip started his coaching career as a defensive back and special team coordinator at Columbia before focusing on outside linebacker and safeties in 1991. Chip would move to New Hampshire in 1992 for a season, being its running back coach. He would move again for the 1993 season, being the defensive coordinator at Johns Hopkins.

However, after all that, Chip eventually returned to New Hampshire in 1994, officially starting his career as a great offensive mind in college football. He would be the running back coach again until 1997 when he moved to the offensive line. His big break would come in 1999 when he became New Hampshire’s offensive coordinator.

Finally, in 2007, Chip got his big break. After multiple successful seasons leading New Hampshire’s offense, Chip was hired to be the offensive coordinator for Oregon. Oregon’s offense would explode, which led to Chip becoming the head coach in 2009.

As the head coach of Oregon, Chip would prove his worth. Oregon went 10-3 in his first season, and he was named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year. He would again receive the same award for 2010 but also be named AP Coach of the Year, as he led Oregon to a 12-1 record, reaching the National Championship game but lost. The success continued in 2011 and 2012, finishing with a combined record of 24-3 and two bowl game wins. Chip also led Oregon to three Pac-12 championships in his four seasons there.

Given how much success Chip had in college in such a short amount of time as a head coach, the next obvious move was to the NFL. Chip would officially move to the NFL in 2013, becoming the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, which would lead to immediate success. His offense would turn a 4-12 team into a team with a 10-6 record and winning the NFC East in 2013. His success continued in 2014, as the Eagles finished the season with a 10-6 but missed the playoffs.

However, in 2015, things started to change. It seemed like the NFL had caught on to Chip’s offense, and the Eagles were 6-9 in Week 16 when they decided to fire him as the head coach. Chip would still get another chance with the San Francisco 49ers in 2016, but that would quickly become a disaster. The 49ers went 2-14 in 2016, leading to Chip’s firing that offseason.

Chip took a season off from coaching in 2017 before becoming the head coach of UCLA in 2018. It would be hard to see any silver lining, as Chip might have lost his touch as UCLA went 3-9, 4-8, and 3-4 from 2018 to 2020.

But in 2021, UCLA would finish 8-4, as the team finally started to look like one coached by Chip. That was followed up by a 9-4 season in 2022 but ended with a loss in a bowl game. Finally, Chip would win his third bowl game in 2023, as UCLA finished that season 8-5.

Despite the success at UCLA from 2021 to 2023, Chip has decided to be the offensive coordinator for Ohio State in 2024. While that is a step back in position, Chip is still at one of the elite programs in the nation, calling the offense.

Are Brian Kelly and Chip Kelly Related

While it would be a cool story, Brian and Chip are unrelated. They have different parents, and no other family member ties them together. However, with the same last name, it is possible that if either did a deep dive on ancestry.com, they could eventually find a common relative, but that might be too far back to mean anything.

They were both born in the Northeastern part of the United States of America, with Brian in Massachusetts and Chip in New Hampshire. But these are just two fantastic football coaches with the same last name.

As always, make sure to check the latest NFL news before placing your bets!

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