Oregon Football: Chip Kelly Wise to Distract with Wins When Discussing Pot Usage

Surely, you've read the expose that ESPN The Magazine just released on the Oregon Ducks football team and its passion for marijuana. The piece by Sam Alipour weaves a web of rampant pot use, blatant disregard for the consequences and a culture normalized with regard to acceptance of the drug.

Not a tremendous revelation in the grand scheme of things; college football players, like every other group of college students, have a subculture of folks who enjoy getting high. While the reveal was not groundbreaking, it also did not exactly shine a glowing beacon of positivity on Chip Kelly's program.

In situations like this, even with no current arrests or suspensions over the drug, the coach is forced to respond. Unlike Gary Patterson, who was battling more than just drug use, there really was not much for Chip Kelly to say. On the other hand, Patterson—after having multiple players arrested for selling drugs—came out hard, talking about ramping up his drug-testing policy and standing firmly against the drug use on the team. He ultimately gave folks what they wanted to hear—meaning he is a coach who, at least in Patterson's words, is planning on grabbing his team by the craw and putting a stop to the insanity that is marijuana use.

Chip Kelly, whose university is set in a location that prides itself on their lenient marijuana culture, doesn't have to do these things. Not only has Oregon relaxed its drug-testing policy, but on the heels of the article's debut, Kelly masterfully steers folks away from the problem.

In response to the article, Kelly said, via The Oregonian:

"

If we had 60 percent of our kids doing that, we wouldn't be 34-6 (in three years) and play in three straight BCS games.

"

Does his answer make sense? No, not particularly. There's no real proof that a group of guys who love smoking weed can't also be good at football. In fact, there is a lot of proof, in the NFL and college, that some guys who are really good at football also seem to enjoy a little reefer every now and again. 

So, while there is no evidence, proof or logic to Kelly's response, what he does do is spin the story in a way that casually downplays the situation. The good old, "Man, if all my guys were getting high, surely we wouldn't be winning as much as we are now."

That's enough for some folks, and whether you see right through it or not, there really is not much else to say to Kelly's response. Sure, you could talk about his head being in the sand over this terrible problem or demand he drug test everyone right now, but why?

It's not in Kelly's best interest to back himself into a corner by grandstanding about taking a hard line or committing to weeding out all the "bad apples."

He's there to win ball games, and the formula that the Ducks have right now, well, it's working.

The article is going to pass and will ultimately boil down to no real change, resulting in nothing more than jokes about Oregon's marijuana culture as a team, school and Eugene community. Which is fine because, after Cliff Harris and Jeremiah Masoli, those jokes won't be something that are new to the Ducks.

As Oregon goes through spring ball, with their spring game coming a week from Saturday, things will settle down and life will resume its normal patterns. On a day like today, that might involve smoking a little celebratory pot, but it's cool because Chip Kelly has been in three straight BCS games, dude.