by Travis Normand
Last week I wrote how happy I was that Oregon head coach Chip Kelly had decided not to go to the NFL and stay at Oregon. You can read that here.
I bring this up again because I just read that Kelly has apparently accepted the job as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL). What a shocking turn of events, as I can honestly say I haven’t seen a move like this before. I have never seen a coach decline an NFL offer, stay at his current school, then take the very same offer a week and a half later.
I am sure it has happened before, but this one just caught me off guard. I actually expected him to stay at Oregon through the 2013 season and then make the jump to the NFL. I had figured that there was just something about the job in Philadelphia that he didn’t like and he had decided to wait another year before making the move.
However, thinking back now, the reports last week about Kelly staying at Oregon were just that, reports. In other words, I don’t think we saw an official statement from Kelly that said he would be staying, and all we had were reports that said the Philadelphia job fell-through (and they therefore assumed he was staying).
Good luck Coach Kelly. I wish you had stayed at Oregon, but good luck in Philadelphia.
OnePointSafety 
The initial report did surprise me that he was staying at Oregon. After all, the goal of most of these coaches is the NFL. Very few, namely Nick Saban, realize their true potential is at the college level and go back to the college level. So I was truly surprised that Kelly passed on his chance to jump to the NFL. He may come back to college, but not until he has had a chance to prove himself at the higher level.
BTW, if A&M sees any real success, like a National Championship with Kevin Sumlin, I suspect he will jump to the NFL if given the opportunity. In fact, he may not need a National Championship before the offer is made. As my father, a Houston Cougar fan says, don’t bother learning your coach’s name. If he is good, he will quickly move on to something better. If he is bad, he will be fired. In this world of sports, I’m seeing that to be the case.
Unfortunately, your father is at least half correct…as there are only two kinds of coaches. (1) Those who have been fired, and (2) those who have not yet been fired. haha
I too expect Sumlin will field some offers, but at this time I am just hoping A&M is willing to do what it takes to keep him. However, if the NFL really wants him, he will be hard to keep.
Finally, just about every UH fan tells me that Sumlin will be leaving A&M for more money very soon. They all act as if he went to UH and just took their money, and then left for more money the first time he was offered. Of course, this is not true. He did a lot for UH and they should be grateful. It is also my understanding that he turned down several job offers before going to A&M….so he didn’t just take the money and leave (the first time it came around). He was at UH for several years, and if anyone thought he took that job for any other reason than a stepping stone, they are crazy.
Of course, this is the same reaction that Bama fans had when Coach Fran left Alabama for A&M. I think people just hate the idea of a coach leaving the place that they love so much.
Yes, it seems like he had offers from other schools. I think he liked it at Houston and A&M was a great fit since he has been there. I sure am glad he was willing when we needed him. I was a bit disappointed we didn’t go after the previous Houston coach, the one at Baylor. But Mike Sherman still looked promising at the time.
I think Sherman just lacked the ability to inspire, which is so necessary on the college level.
Yes, I liked Sherman too. I was pretty upset when they fired him, and despite the fact that they found a great replacement, I still think they treated Sherman rather unfairly. Oh well….unfortunately that is the coaching profession, right?
As for Art Briles (the UH coach that went to Baylor)…I wasn’t sold on that hire by Baylor when it happened. Looking back now, it wasn’t too bad of a call on Baylor’s part, however, I am still waiting to see if the success was more Briles or RG3.
He has appeared to have built Baylor up quite a bit, but he was 4-8, 4-8, 7-6, 10-3 (RG3), and 8-5. It will be interesting if he can reach 9 or 10 wins again….or if he hovers at the 6 to 8 win range.
Its harder to win at Baylor, but I still think Sherman may have been better for A&M. While Briles, being the legendary Texas high school football coach, fits in great at Baylor…seeing that it is one of the largest high schools in the state of Texas (haha..sorry, I had too).
Thanks for your comments, as always!
Great post! I have to admit, I was kind of taken back also when I found out that Kelly took the Philly job and I do get suspicious of players and coaches who “flip-flop” (Dwight Howard, Carlos Boozer…etc.), your integrity is in question at that point; but after reading your post I have to agree that Kelly never came out and talked about his decision, which means we really didn’t know and we just went with the “reports and rumors”. I also wish Chip Kelly stayed at Oregon, but since he moved up to the pros…good luck at Philly, because you’re gonna need it.
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I have looked for comments from Kelly that say “I am staying at Oregon,” but I haven’t found any. If you (or anyone) happen to find them, please let me know. Otherwise, this is just a case of the media jumping the gun, or reading too much into his initial decision to stay. Oh well, it happens.
As for the NFL..I too wish he had stayed at Oregon, but I wish him the best of luck in Philly. It would be cool to see if he can do there, what he did at Oregon (or if he will have to change the way he operates).
As a Trojan fan, I should say huzzah. But at the same time I don’t think this is good for the Pac-12 having the best coach in the conference leave, let alone Oregon who has yet to win a BCS Championship Game.
I seriously thought Kelly would want to stay to get that crystal football for his team as well as himself. Ya know? Leaving no unfinished business. Meh……maybe he has a thing for Vick pitbulls and philly cheese steaks and MONEY. I just don’t know how his coaching offense is going to translate with the big boys.
Very true. It will be interesting to see how he is able to take his offense to the NFL….or can he? I hope he does well, but I hate to see him leave college football. Oh well.
I too thought he would stay until he got the Crystal Ball, but I guess not.
Now just wondering, who is going to take on the Oregon head coach job?
Not sure if its official or not, but I believe their OC will be taking over as HC.
That will hopefully work out pretty well for the Ducks.
I thought he was staying put, too. Ducks lost a good coach. I’m not sure anyone can put the Eagles back together.
Agreed. They did lose a good one, but hopefully they will be able to continue moving forward with their new HC.