ESPN's Paul Finebaum thinks Bill O'Brien did Ohio State a favor by leaving

Bill O'Brien was the offensive coordinator at Ohio State for all of a few weeks. He didn't even call a play in a spring game, let alone during the regular season.

O'Brien was tabbed to be Ohio State's offensive coordinator in 2024, but then former Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley skipped for the NFL and a defensive coordinator spot with the Green Bay Packers. 

That opened up a head-coaching spot at BC and O'Brien ultimately took it, which then led to another domino falling. This time, it was Chip Kelly stepping down from his head-coaching post at UCLA to take on the role O'Brien barely even started at Ohio State.

So now Hafley is in Green Bay, O'Brien is at Boston College and Kelly took a demotion to coach what should be a stacked offense at OSU for (at least) a season.

That's a ton of moving pieces and that's been par for the course during this college football offseason, but according to ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum, Ohio State ultimately came out on top during these transactions.

“Well, I frankly think Ohio State’s better off with Chip Kelly than they were with Bill O’Brien,” Finebaum recently said on "McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning" (h/t On3). “I remember Chip Kelly from what, 13, 14 years ago who was among the two or three best coaches in college football playing for national championships. So I mean, I think he probably made the right decision."

Finebaum is right that Kelly is probably now in a great position. He's been on the hot seat at UCLA after three middling years in a row, but now he doesn't have to worry about being the program's CEO, recruiting or anything else that comes along with being a head coach.

Now, he can focus on getting OSU back to the National Championship and doing what he has historically done best, which is call plays and create explosive offenses.

O'Brien is no slouch as an offensive coordinator, but he and Kelly aren't in the same stratosphere when it comes to generating points.