Relax Eagles Fans, Chip Kelly Isn't Going Back To College
By Kevin McGuire
The college football coaching carousel is hitting its stride with some big vacancies to fill at Florida, Michigan and Nebraska. As it turns out, Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly is once again having his name float around the coaching rumor mills for one reason or another. Kelly has pledged his allegiance to his job in Philadelphia, but that has not stopped some of the speculation Kelly might leave the Eagles at some point to return to the college game he has thrived in for the bulk of his coaching career.
Relax, Philadelphia Eagles fans. Chip Kelly isn’t going anywhere.
There is no question Kelly would be a wildly successful coach in college, which is why he was one of the first names thrown out there tied to the opening with the Florida Gators. But despite early reports suggesting Florida would make contact with Kelly, Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley was tracked on a flight to Fort Collins, Colorado where he reportedly met with Jim McElwain, the head coach of Colorado State. McElwain is considered to be the top candidate for Florida, which has plucked an up-and-coming coach from the region before with Urban Meyer. Meyer won two national titles at Florida before resigning and eventually returning to the sidelines as head coach at Ohio State. Maybe Kelly was on the Florida AD’s short list, but Kelly was always an extreme long shot target at best for Florida. This isn’t exactly a Bobby Petrino situation with the Atlanta Falcons. Kelly is happy in Philadelphia, and he is set on winning at the highest level of football.
When Kelly left the University of Oregon to accept a job offer from the Eagles, he did so as the program was being hit with sanctions from the NCAA. The punishment to the program was far less devastating than it could have potentially been, but Kelly was slapped with a two-year show cause that would essentially prevent him from being hired by any other college program unless the school was willing to open the doors and books to the NCAA for some degree of scrutiny. That show cause expires on December 25, which would leave a door wide open for Kelly if he actually were interested in returning to the college game.
Multiple college football people have tried suggesting Kelly is interested in a potential return to college football, but that does not appear to be the case in reality. If Kelly were struggling to transition to the NFL, perhaps there would be some legitimacy to the idea. He tried the NFL and failed, so going back to college would make sense. But Kelly has not been a failure. He already has won one NFC East Division championship and is lining up a potential repeat atop the division and jockeying for NFC playoff positioning.
Kelly is not going anywhere. Not at this time, at least.
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Kevin McGuire is a Philadelphia area sports writer covering the Philadelphia Eagles and college football. McGuire is a member of the FWAA and National Football Foundation. Follow McGuire on Twitter @KevinOnCFB. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
