Why Chip Kelly Is Not Coming Back to College Football
Admit it, college football fan with a coach on a hot, warm or not totally freezing seat. You checked your phone Tuesday night, got that alert from Bleacher Report saying that the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles had fired head coach Chip Kelly and you jumped for joy.
You probably got on your favorite message board, Twitter or social outlet of choice to proclaim that he's going to be the next head coach of your team.
It doesn't even matter which team you root for—Texas A&M, Texas, USC, Auburn, LSU, etc.
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Kelly returning to the college game, where he led the Oregon Ducks to the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, instantly became the hottest college football coaching topic.
Calm down, relax and step back from the keyboard.
Chip Kelly isn't coming back to college football.
At least, not this year.
Kevin Sumlin is under pressure at Texas A&M, Charlie Strong is feeling heat at Texas, Gus Malzahn regressed at Auburn and Kelly could be the perfect coach to kick-start LSU's annually stagnant offense. But this is not the time for any of those schools to make a change.
Yes, Kelly would be considered an upgrade for all, and his ability to successfully coach college offenses would be the cure for what ails all of the programs mentioned—among many others.
But can you really trust him to be a long-term solution to what should be short-term problems?
No.
He told Jay Glazer of Fox Sports immediately after getting his pink slip that he wants to stay at the professional level.
Why?
Two things jump out right off the bat.
One, he's coming from an organization that gave him full control of personnel. Yes, he would have it rather easy on the recruiting trail in any of the four jobs mentioned, but there's no such thing as full control when you're dealing with 18-year-old prospects and players who can and do transfer on a whim.
Kelly admitted in a 2013 article by Sheil Kapadia of Philadelphia Magazine's Sheil Kapadia that he doesn't enjoy recruiting:
"Maybe a misconception is when you're a college coach and the last game is done and then the bowl game comes, you don't have a month off. I would argue my schedule was more hectic from a recruiting standpoint than it was here. So I'm looking forward to being in the office every day and watching tape. That is the fun part of our job.
"
ESPN's Joe Schad mentioned the same thing on Twitter on Tuesday night.
The amount of tasks Kelly would be responsible for at a college program from a recruiting and booster standpoint make the NFL (or a year off) much more attractive options.
If Kelly jumped back into college, it would likely just be a soft landing spot for now until something better opened up a year or two down the road in the NFL. Kelly should not make that move and college athletic directors with teams in need of an offensive identity shouldn't assume he would stick around.
I'd love for Kelly to get back in the college game.
The sport is more entertaining with innovative offensive minds who know how to get the most out of their players. Kelly being back in the mix would make for great theater.
But he's not going to return to a college program, deal with the headaches of boosters, pick up a job late in the recruiting cycle and rebuild a program.
Kelly wants to be an NFL head coach and is much more likely to bide his time until the right team comes calling. That might not include the personnel control that he had in Philadelphia, but that's a small price to pay compared to jumping through all of the hoops that go along with being a college head coach.
Some coaches love those hoops.
They're just not for Chip.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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