USA Today Sports: Chip Kelly Not Taking Florida Job

Submitted by HelloHeisman91 on

It's starting to look like he will end up at UCLA if he decides to return to coaching. 

 

 

Confirmed: Florida’s out for Chip Kelly, potentially clearing the way for UCLA—but nothing’s certain.
(UCLA’s Under Armour affiliation remains a real issue because of Kelly's relationship w/ Phil Knight.)https://t.co/IgiuYZTQQD
via @usatodaysports
(1st reported by @YahooForde)

— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) November 24, 2017

TrueBlue2003

November 25th, 2017 at 12:03 AM ^

Mike Riley hasn't even been fired yet but everyone on earth has been speculating on Nebraska's next coach for half the season.  Sooo many open jobs.

I think Frost goes to Florida.  It's just a much better job than Nebraska.  Talent is so much better in Florida.

I actually think Bielema at Nebraksa would be a good fit.

Kelly to UCLA to bring him back to the PAC12.

TrueBlue2003

November 25th, 2017 at 12:06 AM ^

lot left for him to prove.  I agree he has the higher ceiling because he might be an elite recruiter.  Not sure that Chip Kelly is, but he took good not great recruiting to 4 straight BCS bowls at Oregon so his floor is much higher. Whomever gets him is almost gauranteed to compete for conference titles or better.

TrueBlue2003

November 25th, 2017 at 12:11 AM ^

Michigan when we fired Hoke.  But we weren't a mess.  We had two great recruiting classes about to become upperclassmen. Florida is Florida.

MSU also looked like a total mess last year and all through the offseason.  Look what they did.

It doesn't necessarily take a long time to turn things around in college football.  It can happen quickly with the right coaching.

HarleyMarlboro

November 24th, 2017 at 7:12 PM ^

why the whole UnderArmour/Nike thing is such a big deal.  Is he friends with Phil Knight, or is he a Nike Employee of Phil Knight.

If nothing else, you'd think Knight would be happy for him to go to a different school.  If/when Kelly is successful, he might be able to exert influence to switch them to Nike.

In any case, if I were a UF fan, I wouldn't be too excited about Scott Frost.  We know how the hot Group of 5 coach worked for them last time.

funkywolve

November 25th, 2017 at 9:28 AM ^

Sure UCF was winless the year before Frost took over but that was a year of complete upheaval. The cupboard was not even close to bare when Frost took over. In the 5 years before UCF's winless season they won 4 division titles, 3 conference championships and won 10 or more games 3 times.

TrueBlue2003

November 25th, 2017 at 12:23 AM ^

wasn't as hot as Frost though.  That was a bit of a wtf headscratching hire.  Tom Herman (at Houston) and some other hires were viewed, even at the time, as better hires.

Even this Athon Sports article had his hire the 6th best at the time (out of only 14 coaching hires in all of FBS): https://athlonsports.com/college-football/grading-college-footballs-hea…

stephenrjking

November 24th, 2017 at 7:51 PM ^

If true, this is a hilarious disaster for Florida. 

I say "if true" because we're hearing the high-level national media stuff, and some of the things they produce (such as Kelly is choosing between UCLA and Florida only) seem to have limited sourcing. We experienced this with the Harbaugh situation, where national media that isn't stupid just didn't have the sources that mattered for the college landscape. So this might be way off base, too. 

But, if true, Florida misses their A+ hire candidate. And, I think, reasonably; I believe Kelly can win just as much at UCLA as he can at Florida, where the weather is nice and the talent base is great and there is neither the pressure nor the Saban-coached elephant in the room. 

Florida would need to go after Frost, which they might get and might succeed pretty well. But then, by domino principle, that leaves Nebraska without a slam-dunk candidate, something else I can point and laugh about.