There's a head coaching job open at USC, and there will probably be a few other big-time college jobs open at some point, and Chip Kelly will be connected to them.
It's a bit strange how so many fans and media members are almost wishing Kelly back to college football (the NFL establishment hates change and hates anything different; many think that because George Halas did something in 1947 means that should always be the way it's done), but it doesn't necessarily mean Kelly is going anywhere.
Steve Sarkisian was fired from USC, and USC would likely love to have Kelly, at least if their athletic department is smart. But the Philadelphia Eagles coach doesn't sound like he's looking to head back to NCAA football.
"I hope some day I’m like [Tom] Coughlin where I win enough games and I stay long enough that that speculation ends," Kelly said, according to Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
(By the way, it really seems like two lifetimes ago that Coughlin was coaching Boston College, doesn't it?)
It's possible Kelly decides to go back to college. USC is a great college job, and what else is he going to say about it in the middle of an Eagles season, that he can't wait to start recruiting for the Trojans? He said that he'll answer the college speculation the same way he did last year, and the same way he did two years ago, and sounded annoyed by it. But all of the "Chip Kelly is going to get run out of Philadelphia this season!" stuff doesn't make a ton of sense.
Kelly is 22-15 with the Eagles. He had two 10-win seasons in a row to start his NFL career, with Michael Vick, Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez as his quarterbacks. Sure, he's 2-3 this season. So is Pete Carroll. Kelly had a whirlwind offseason after he took over personnel control, making many unusual moves. Many of those moves don't seem to be working out (though, tell me which recently dumped Eagles are lighting the NFL on fire this season). But it's incomprehensible to think the Eagles, after two 10-win seasons caused the Eagles to give him more power, are done with him because he lost three games already. One loss came on a last-minute field goal and another came at the Atlanta Falcons, who are 5-0, because of a missed field goal in the fourth quarter. The Eagles aren't going to run Kelly out of town.
Would he want to leave though? It's possible. He's a bit of a mysterious figure so nobody knows his true motivation. But it's not like Kelly should feel like he can't succeed in the NFL. Again, he won 10 games with backup quarterbacks each of the last two seasons. Maybe the lure of college is strong for him. But that shouldn't be the default way of thinking.
Kelly said he understands the speculation ("We’re not successful, we’re not winning, I came from college, I’m going to go back to college," according to the Inquirer) but that doesn't necessarily make it true. As Berman pointed out, Kelly makes $6.5 million per year from the Eagles. He has total control of an NFL franchise, and there aren't too many men on earth who can say the same. Even though he was a great coach at Oregon, there's no tangible reason to believe he'll be back in college next year. Kelly came from college and brought some radical ideas to the conservative NFL, and some folks will hold that against him until he's gone, but that doesn't mean it will happen. But it also doesn't mean the speculation will stop. Every big college opening, and even some not-so-big ones, will have Kelly's name attached to them. Get used to it.
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