Sources: Chip Kelly in negotiation to potentially be the next head coach of Florida

Submitted by BoFlex on

Florida has received ‘verbal commitment’ that there won’t be issue with hiring Chip Kelly

Source: Gator Reps are headed too talk with Chip Kelly. Things are picking up on the @SEC coaching searches.

— Trey Wallace (@TreyW_Radio) November 14, 2017

Credible source tells me Florida finalized deal with Chip Kelly last night. Announcement coming either today or tomorrow. If this is true it's a solid big splash hire for the Gators.

— John Ivory (@Ocala7v7Showdwn) November 14, 2017
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Chalky White

November 15th, 2017 at 3:28 PM ^

This is the first picture I ever saw of Curtis without professional make up. 

I think a lot of women get labeled as hot because they are blond and/or have their hair freshly styled.  For whatever reason, a fresh out of the salon hairstyle and a pair of yoga pants completely changes the perception of a woman's face.

 

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stephenrjking

November 14th, 2017 at 1:24 PM ^

This is a good hire if it works out. Now, we find out if Kelly can actually recruit (my guess: he'll be fine) and if he can learn and adapt from his time at Oregon and in the NFL (my guess: the year off should help with that). 

I'd be delighted if I were a Florida fan. The two questions there are very real, as Kelly's system has been exposed against great D-Lines and he'll have to face them on the regular, but if he can work that out the SEC East is legit again.

BTW Tennessee fans must be flocking to tall buildings and bridges right now.

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Gentleman Squirrels

November 14th, 2017 at 1:37 PM ^

Oregon seemed to always go for smaller and shifty players under Kelly. Basically Oregon was the ideal version of Rodriguez's spread system. Sinc then others have adapted the spread and the most dominating version of it so far is spread offense with a base on a strong downhill running system. OSU, Georgia, Auburn, and to some extent Alabama all have switched over to that. They're tough to beat, but the best bets have been shut down the run and make the QB beat you with their arm.

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stephenrjking

November 14th, 2017 at 1:46 PM ^

Kelly's in particular. I'm not attacking the spread, RPOs, or the zone read; I'm talking about Kelly's full offense, including his mobile but undersized OLs.

It's not just that they were slowed down by superior defenses. It is that they ceased to work at all. It's not just the size of the linemen--there are other flaws inherent to that system that the line play helped expose, too. Like the habit of Oregon teams tipping plays, something that became a huge problem in the NFL. 

But the line was the biggest issue. When Oregon played elite DLs like Auburn and LSU and Ohio State, they didn't just slow down a bit; they stopped completely, and their offense transformed from a run-first balanced buzzsaw to a moderately effective but simple passing attack that was ok but not great. 

 

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Bigly yuge

November 14th, 2017 at 2:13 PM ^

Recruiting at Oregon is a little different than recruiting at Florida. He will get a much higher quality player. Chip also will bring some of the stuff he learned in the nfl with him. I think his system will be tweaked a bit to better fit in the SEC. if I was a gators fan I’d be ecstatic after the atrocious offensive production they’ve witnessed over the last several years. I hope he succeeds bc I am sick of nick saban.

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Don

November 14th, 2017 at 5:30 PM ^

I'm not suggesting Kelly won't be able to, but I wish I had a fiver for every comment made on MGoBlog along the lines of "RR will be able to recruit much better players at Michigan than he ever could at WVU... we'll be unstoppable once he gets his own players!"

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TrueBlue2003

November 14th, 2017 at 3:19 PM ^

is 46-7!!!

We went to BCS bowls is each of his four seasons as HC at Oregon and he went 2-2 in those games, includng a 2-point loss in the 2010 NCG.

Sure, they lost a few games to really good teams, but there's nothing in that body of work that suggests an issue with his system.  Sometimes great teams lose to other great teams.

Great hire, if true.  He was by far the best availalable college coach this cycle.  And as others have pointed out, it should be a little easier to recruit to Florida than Oregon.

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newtopos

November 14th, 2017 at 3:23 PM ^

Respectfully, this is a crazy take.  I'm looking at the 2011 team.  They scored fewer than 40 points only three times, and the lowest was 27 (on LSU).  (The other two were 34 points on Washington, and 35 points on USC.)  Those 27 points were the most LSU (S&P+ No. 2 defense) allowed all year.  (That was the year LSU beat Alabama 9 to 6 in OT during the regular season, then lost 21 to 0 in the BCS Championship.)  Oregon hung 45 points on No. 9 Wisconsin in their Rose Bowl victory.  If that is being "stopped completely," please let it happen to us.  

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stephenrjking

November 14th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^

Do you remember that LSU game? LaMichael James ran for 1800 yards that season at 7.0 ypc. Against LSU he ran 18 times for 54 yards, and Oregon as a team ran for 95 in a season where they averaged 299 per game. Total yards? 335, 200 below their normal amount. 

The 27 points they got included two TDs in the last 10 minutes of the game after it was effectively over, and their 240 passing yards required 54 attempts from Darron Thomas (completing 31). 

They got mauled. Not dissimilar to the last game of the previous season, when an Auburn DL led by Nick Fairley so totally jailed Oregon's running game that they managed 75 yards on 32 carries.

Wisconsin had a decent defense that year (13th overall, I believe) but not the killer DL that could disrupt Kelly's offense. That game is immaterial to my argument. Which is: Oregon's offense was terrific, but it had a flaw. I take no joy from this--they were a blast to watch, and I hope Chip's next stop is equally entertaining--but there was a problem they could not overcome.

 

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newtopos

November 14th, 2017 at 6:25 PM ^

I appreciate your follow-up, but I don't think it was a flaw of Oregon's offense, but the fact that LSU's defense that year was incredible.  Oregon scored more than anyone else against LSU that year.  To put it another way, other offenses were even more "flawed" when facing that LSU defense.  (LSU beat 8 ranked teams that year, the most of any college program at the time, and had defeated 3 top-4 ranked teams going into the rematch with Alabama in the championship game.)

In the Oregon game, Oregon outgained LSU 335 to 273.  Both teams had 18 first downs.  Similar stats passing (4.4 v. 4.5 yards per pass) and rushing (3.4 v. 3.6).  But Oregon turned the ball over 4 times (to LSU's one).  

Alabama, with Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy, averaged 3.1 yards per carry against LSU that season in their first match-up, and Alabama managed to put up 6 points (including in overtime).  (It took Alabama two full games and an overtime period that year to score the same number of points on LSU that Oregon did.)

An 11-2, No. 5 ranked (at end of year) Arkansas averaged 1.7 yards per carry against LSU that year. 

No. 20 ranked Georgia averaged 2.3 yards per carry against LSU.  No. 18 West Virginia averaged 3.2.

Miss. St. (ranked when they played LSU) averaged 1.5 yards per carry against LSU.  Florida (ranked when they played LSU) averaged 3.5 yards per carry.  And the defending national champions, Auburn, averaged 2.6 yards per carry against LSU that year.

If the test of an offense is how well it did against the 2011 LSU team, every offense is severely flawed, including Alabama's pro-style approach with a roster of future NFLers, West Virginia/Holgorsen's air raid with Geno Smith (which did put up more yards, but only 21 points), Arkansas/Bobby Petrino's power spread (a top 5 team that averaged 37 points per game, but only managed 17 against LSU that year), etc.

I don't know how Chip Kelly will do now, whether he has failed to adapt while the game has progressed, etc., but I don't think his offenses were truly "flawed," except in the sense that all teams would fare better with better recruits.  RR, Kelly, and everyone else, if given the choice between a fast athlete, and an equally fast athlete who is also larger and stronger, will choose the latter.  I suspect if Kelly goes to Florida, the average ranking of his recruiting classes will be better than they were at Oregon.

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stephenrjking

November 14th, 2017 at 8:42 PM ^

This is great discussion IMO, and your fact-saturated posts are well taken.

If the LSU game were just one event, I would likely agree with you. However, LSU is part of a pattern. It's not just that a great defense shuts down everything, but specific characteristics of a defense are particularly problematic. Kelly's offense didn't just use the mobile OL zone running game, it depended on it.

Auburn's defense in 2010 wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. It relied heavily on one significant player, Nick Fairley, and an unstoppable offense keyed by Cam Newton. However, that defense's strength, the Fairley-led DL, played right into Oregon's weakness, and the result was that Oregon couldn't run the ball effectively. And without running the ball effectively they could not begin their rolling tempo drives, and they had trouble scoring points (they only got to 19 with that late TD before Auburn stormed back to win at the end). When they played OSU (same system, but coached by Helfrich), again, a dominant DL squeezed the running game, and the entire offense struggled. In all these cases the passing game was adequate and provided some movement, but it wasn't consistent and the offense did not at all resemble the dominant tempo outfit that annihilated the Pac 12 of the day.

My opinion, for whatever it's worth, is that the mobile OL zone running game was very good at creating creases for RBs, creases that moved the football and as games wore on often resulted in explosive plays as the spread out defenses were unable to cope. The tempo offense (something else that is good but no longer the huge advantage it used to be) exploited these small advantages into big ones. But powerful DLs eliminated much of the space, and the creases that guys like LaMichael James would run through to destroy the UCLAs and Cals of the west coast simply didn't exist, and the 8-yard gains that the offense depended upon turned into 0 and 1. 

And the rest of the offense wasn't good enough to make up the difference. In fact, I believe that the offense couldn't function properly, because the passing schemes weren't that advanced and the QBs were often (though not always) chosen for their ability to manage the running game and weren't elite passers. FWIW I think RR's offense, which is similar, has had this same flaw. 

Like Meyer did, I would expect Kelly to compensate by drafting top-end OLs and counting on size and superior athleticism rather than just mobility to open things up. 

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Maynard

November 14th, 2017 at 10:24 PM ^

In any case, the numbers don't lie. 7 losses, BCS bowls every year, a close loss in a national championship game, etc. Pretty sure he will figure out how to play in the SEC. 

And yes, I realize that you have said that as well. I'm just saying whatever he decides to do from a system standpoint, there is a good chance he will be successful.

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stephenrjking

November 14th, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^

Chatter on twitter suggests that we're still in the "vetting" stage. Not clear that anybody has agreed to anything yet. This is a good option for Kelly, though, and he would be foolish to turn it down unless Florida really handcuffs him with conditions. 

Good news for Nebraska, too, if it happens--Scott Frost becomes a much bigger possibility if Florida is off the table.

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DrMantisToboggan

November 14th, 2017 at 1:33 PM ^

Yep, HUGE domino effect if this happens. Frost probably goes to Nebraska, but with a major rival hiring a slam dunk, Tennessee now faces enormous pressure to match Florida and get a staff in place to recruit from the same talent pool. If Sumlin loses another game or two and gets canned at TAMU, they will be behind the 8 ball.

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DrMantisToboggan

November 14th, 2017 at 2:18 PM ^

I just don't see why he would leave Miss State for a school where the expectations are much higher, especially if this Kelly to UF happens. There's also the consideration of a coach leaving for another school in conference? UT has better facilities than MSU, but MSU pays pretty well. Mullen has had opportunities to leave, I don't know why he would leave now.

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DrMantisToboggan

November 14th, 2017 at 2:46 PM ^

As you know opportunities =/= formal offers. He's rumored for every prominent vacancy every year. He was atop the list of Oregon (whose facilities are in a different galaxy from Miss St) rumors last year. He could have left Mississippi State for a "better" place by now if he wanted to. Personally, I am not going to call a man who found a job that pays him $4 Million to be average a bozo. Sounds more like a genius to me.

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NowTameInThe603

November 14th, 2017 at 3:03 PM ^

Thats ok, I will. If he turned down Oregon to stay at MSU he is a bozo. And no team should want someone with that attitude coaching their team.

 

 

My guess is these rumored opportunities are leaked by an agent hoping for an offer. If he jumps at one this offseason then you have your answer.

 

Edit: What coach at a low P5 school has turned down offers from better programs for multiple offseasons? I can't think of a single one.

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NowTameInThe603

November 14th, 2017 at 4:45 PM ^

Peterson is a good one but he eventually left.

Patterson... Meh. What has TCU really done besides join the Big 12? Again I think thats a coach who gets credit for having TCU be competitive against schools with greater tradition. No doubt they have benefitted from the debacle at Texas too.

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DrMantisToboggan

November 14th, 2017 at 4:39 PM ^

Gary Patterson for certain. Mike Gundy I believe turned down Tennessee last time (depends where you think Ok St sits in the CFB hierarchy, before Gundy and Miles they were pretty shitty).

 

I just don't know why Mullen would want to leave - he's got it made in the shade. He coaches at the school with probably the 3rd or 4th? lowest expectations in one of the premier conferences. He makes more money than Taggart does at Oregon in the state that is the cheapest to live in (whereas Oregon is one of the 10 most expensive to live in). Just seems to me that Mullen is content to retire at Mississippi State and be considered the greatest coach in program history. I think another program would have to basically give him the keys to the athletic department and the school's atm codes in order to get him out of Starkville, and at that point I don't think he's worth it.

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Don

November 14th, 2017 at 9:15 PM ^

Once upon a time, Florida State was a nobody independent program that had to travel to get good games. Bowden changed that. He turned things around in his second season, and he could have gotten hired at any number of "better" programs after that. He chose to stay in Tallahassee.

Granted, Tallahassee ain't Starkville.

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NowTameInThe603

November 14th, 2017 at 2:17 PM ^

Ha... shit hire.

 

I was panicked when Brian was driving the Mullen train during the coaching search. The good years he has had at MSU are wildly overrated. He can get credit for making the program respectable but he should jump at any offer from a better university.

He is perfect for Tennessee.

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