Kelly’s choice: UCLA or Florida
Aikman leading push to bring coveted coach back to Pac-12 roots.
Reports and rumors about Chip Kelly’s whereabouts and future employer are coming as fast and furious as the points his Oregon teams used to put up against opposing defenses.
Is he in New Hampshire, agreeing to a deal to coach the Florida Gators or in California negotiating a deal with the UCLA Bruins? Did he do both?
On Wednesday, ESPN and the Los Angeles Times reported that Kelly met with UCLA officials and will make a decision between UCLA and Florida in the next few days.
Meanwhile, Darren Heitner — a blogger who was first to break the news that Florida was working
on a deal to part ways with Jim McElwain — tweeted that Kelly has already reached a non-binding deal to coach the Gators.
On Wednesday morning, Heitner revealed that sources told him Kelly made a verbal agreement with Florida before last week. Meanwhile, the Gators are already in the process of looking at potential assistants for a new staff.
However, that agreement doesn’t set anything in stone.
While it may seem strange to have an “agreement” while leaving the door open for Kelly to take a job elsewhere, the verbal handshake could have been a way for the parties to put enough in writing to facilitate finalizing a contract.
Furthermore, while it may not be completely binding, there could be some aspects that are. For instance, maybe Kelly and the Gators agreed that he could only meet with UCLA, excluding the possibility of other schools getting into the mix.
According to ESPN, ex-UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman, a member of the school’s search committee, is putting a “full-court press” on Kelly to accept the Bruins job and return to the Pac-12, where Kelly’s Oregon teams were dominant before his unsuccessful NFL stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.
Kelly met with Florida officials on Sunday in New Hampshire. “There will probably be some more productive conversations in the days ahead,” Athletic Director Scott Stricklin told reporters after returning to Florida.
Kelly, 53, went 46-7 in four years (2009-12) at Oregon, which averaged 44.7 points a game during that span. The Gators would welcome anything close to that after slogging through the post-Tim Tebow era. Florida (4-6) will finish outside the top 100 nationally in total offense for the sixth time in the past seven years, including all three under McElwain.
Kelly was fired from two NFL jobs in the past two years and left Oregon shortly before NCAA sanctions were handed down. He was slapped with “failure to monitor” in the Will Lyles case. Kelly also was handed an 18-month show-cause penalty after he left to become the head coach for the NFL’s Eagles.
Oregon was accused of paying $25,000 to Lyles, a 7-on-7 coach, in exchange for his guiding players to the Ducks. The NCAA ruled that Kelly wasn’t aware of Lyles’ actions, but said he was responsible for ensuring his program was in compliance.
Kelly’s show-cause penalty expired in late 2014, meaning he and any school that hires him would face no restrictions or penalties related to the Lyles case.
Noteworthy: Saturday will, in fact, be Luke Del Rio’s final game as a Florida Gator. Del Rio, who suffered a season-ending collarbone injury against Vanderbilt, posted a tweet saying that while he has a sixth year of eligibility, he won’t use it. Del Rio’s college career began at Alabama, saw him transfer to Oregon State and then to Florida, where he played in eight games.