Report: Chip Kelly to Bucs; 5 Candidates to Replace Him

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According to reports, Oregon head coach Chip Kelly is close to a deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I am not here to debate whether the rumors are true or not, but personally I think Chip would be making a bad move by leaving Oregon.

However, if the rumors are true, Oregon is in an extremely tough jam. Not only are they losing two of their best players on offense, but now they are losing the man behind it all.

Here are four replacement options from Chip.

Bryan Harsin

Harsin, I think, would be a wonderful pick to replace Chip.

He's young, energetic, and has an innovative offense.

Harsin had success at Boise State in the latter part of the previous decade, and under his leadership, Texas' offense improved vastly after an embarrassing 2010.

Chris Peterson

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His name needs to come up for every job opening, I know.

While I doubt this hire will happen, I will still put it up here to please everyone.

Petersen is loyal to Boise State. The Bronco's are going to a BCS Conference next season and he just signed a five-year extension to remain in Boise.

But I'll still put him.

Petersen doe shave ties to Oregon however. He once served as the Ducks wide receivers coach.

Mike McCoy

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The current Bronco's offensive coordinator spent the past couple weeks interviewing for NFL head coach vacancies, and would make sense.

One of the major reasons why Chip can even think of going to the NFL is because McCoy had success utilizing a spread-option offense in Denver with Tim Tebow.

Being from the NFL, McCoy could recruit well in the Pac-12 and keep the success going at Oregon.

Mike Nolan

I understand that Nolan just accepted the Falcons' defensive coordinator job, but he could easily leave and return to head coaching.

The Oregon grad could help bring a more intimidating defense to the Ducks, as his defenses have been ranked in the upper echelon of the NFL for years.

Yes, Nolan failed as a head coach in San Francisco, but he did not have the best management with the 49ers, was a rookie head coach, and it is much easier to succeed in college than in the NFL.

Instead of the visor on the sideline, we could see the suit.

Mike Bellotti

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What was it that General Douglas McCarthur said? "I have returned."

Bellotti resigned three years ago to become Oregon's athletic director, but that lasted all of a year before he chose to become an analyst for ESPN.

Bellotti's name has come up previously with the Arizona vacancy this year, and the Colorado vacancy last year.

Bellotti is well liked in Oregon, and the success of the program would not drop off from Kelly to Bellotti.