Chip Kelly is hiring another assistant for the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff, according to Football Scoop. They are reporting Kelly is going to hire former Cleveland Browns quarterbacks coach Kevin O'Connell. Kelly hired Ryan Day to serve as quarterbacks coach, so it remains to be seen what role O'Connell will play.
O'Connell's year as the Browns quarterbacks coach is his only coaching experience. Prior to that he spent five years in the NFL. The New England Patriots drafted him in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He was waived a year later in training camp, losing out to Andrew Walter and Brian Hoyer as backup to Tom Brady. The Detroit Lions claimed him off waivers, and then traded him to the New York Jets five days later for a seventh round pick. The Jets released him a year later after a torn labrum injury. He signed with the Dolphins in 2011, was waived, spent some time with the Jets and Chargers, and appears to have called it a career in 2012.
The most interesting thing I've read about O'Connell is that he actually worked with Marcus Mariota prior to last year's draft. Our friends at Dawgs By Nature indicate there was a lot of praise for the hire, and the Browns quarterbacks seemed to make some semblance of progress amidst a dumpster fire of a season. Here are two articles from the Browns website following his hiring. It is no surprising Hue Jackson would be looking for his own guy upon his own hiring.