Chip Kelly: Why Pac-12 Football Needs Kelly at Oregon

With Oregon Ducks head coach Chip Kelly deciding that he will actually stick around instead of taking the leap to the NFL, the rest of the Pac-12 should be happy.

While that seems ridiculous, Kelly is a huge part of the success that the conference has seen over the last few years.

He has ran one of the best programs in all of college football, and who knows what direction the program would take without him.

For these reasons, the 11 other teams in the conference should be happy for his decision.

Recruiting

A huge benefit that Chip Kelly brings to the Pac-12 is what the Oregon Ducks do for recruiting.

The Ducks have been an appealing school for many athletes, and if they continue to do so, many more will want to continue to make their way to the conference.

While teams hate losing top recruits to the Ducks, they will continue to get a chance at recruits who don't get the chance to play at Oregon or just want a shot at playing the Ducks.

Bowl Selections

Since Chip Kelly took over the Oregon Ducks, they have gone to three straight bowl games. Two were the Rose Bowl, while the other was the BCS National title game back in 2010.

Keeping Kelly around will keep the Ducks competitive, as well as make it harder for other teams to just dominate the conference.

While there will always be a strong team, this past season, the Pac-12 had three great teams in the Ducks, USC Trojans and Stanford Cardinal.

While other teams would like to have have to face the Ducks, keeping a strong opponent like this will keep them in the late season picture when it comes to bowl selections.

If the Pac-12 continues to get weaker, then this conference will likely have a harder time in making bigger bowl games.

An End to the Coaching Carousel

The Pac-12 has seen a lot of coaching changes this year. With Chip Kelly sticking around, the conference will at least find some consistency.

The following Pac-12 schools changed their coaches for the 2012 season:

University of Arizona (Rich Rodriguez)

Arizona State (Todd Graham)

UCLA (Jim Mora, Jr.)

Washington State (Mike Leach)

There is going to be a lot of change to struggling teams for years to come, but one area that the Pac-12 didn't need a change was with one of their best coaches and programs.

National Attention

As previously mentioned, the Oregon Ducks have played in three huge bowl games over the last three seasons.

They also get a lot of national coverage, which brings the conference a lot of attention and income.

If the Chip Kelly were to leave the Ducks and they were to take a turn for the worst, the conference would be losing out perhaps on one of their most marketable teams.

With the SEC and Big Ten continuing to be consistent forces in college football, the Pac-12 needs a team like the Ducks to continue to compete on the national stage.