How many coaches in the football world do you know who can hop in and out from the NFL to college football and then to the NFL again and still stand out? Very few of them, right? The only coach who can do this right now is the national championship-winning coach Chip Kelly. As his name describes, the 61-year-old coach has had a ‘chip’ on his shoulder since he started pursuing a coaching career in football. 

But wait… what in the world did he do to win AP College Football Coach of the Year, Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, Sporting News Coach of the Year, AFCA Coach of the Year, and Pac-10 Coach of the Year in a single year? Yeah, it’s shocking; read that again! What the New Hampshire college alum has done on college football and the NFL’s gridiron is out of the world. And that’s why people want to know more about the star coach. And among many personal questions, one rare query fans are eager to know about Chip Kelly is his relationship status. Let’s dive in. 

Is Chip Kelly in a relationship?

If we have to answer this question in one word, it would be yes! The current OC of the Raiders has been in a relationship with Jill Cohen since, reportedly, 2015. Cohen, a former Oregon student who passed out of college in 2004, has a staggering 18 years of age difference with Chip Kelly’s age. Also, Cohen and Coach Kelly have not yet gotten hitched and do not share any children. They are in a close romantic relationship which people already know about. She loves to keep private things private, just like Kelly. 

However, Ohio State’s head coach, Ryan Day, mentioned Jill as Chip’s wife in Feb 2024 while announcing his association with the team. “We are extremely excited to have Chip and his wife, Jill, joining our program,” Day said in a news release issued by the athletic department. Also, in 2020, NBC Sports Philadelphia mentioned Jill Cohen as Kelly’s wife. Their article referring to their property sale, remarked, “In August 2018, former NFL coach Chip Kelly — now head coach of the UCLA Bruins — and his wife Jill Cohen paid $7 million for the then-brand-new structure, which was built and sold by a local developer.”

However, there’s no such statement from Chip. In 2015, when NFL’s Albert Breer asked him about his personal life, Chip Kelly’s response was, “Why people want to know about that other part, I don’t know. I’m not a social media guy, I don’t tweet, I don’t Facebook, whatever all that stuff is.” Another shocking fact about his personal life is that before he shook hands with the University of Oregon in 2009, Kelly’s engagement was set to happen in July 2008 with a New Hampshire girl, Karen ‘Kobi’ Biagini. But things went down differently. Well, that’s a different story. But, do you know, before meeting Jill Cohen and Kobi, Kelly was married!  

Who is Chip Kelly’s ex-wife?

In the same interview, Chip Kelly talked about his ex-wife Jennifer Jenkins, whom he married in 1992. Both parted ways in 1999, the same year he started coaching for New Hampshire as an offensive coordinator. Jennifer and Chip Kelly first met on Thanksgiving in 1989. Some say they got married secretly. But did you know Chip and Jennifer Jenkins tied the knot in front of around 250 people?

Talking about his ex-wife in 2015, the former UCLA head coach said to Breer, “She’s awesome. She’s a good person.” Coach continued, “And I was married for a while. And I never tried to hide that. It was in the University of New Hampshire media guide, just like it always was. And I had never asked the question before. No one ever said that, so I don’t know why it’s a revelation. Not a revelation to me. Everybody in my life — my family, my parents, her family, my girlfriend now — they all know what my life is all about. I’m not a People Magazine or a US Magazine guy.” Well, more things are still private in Chip Kelly’s life.

Though he parted ways with his wife, Kelly is enjoying life with his girlfriend. Whether they have tied the knot remains a mystery.