October 18, 2015
Nick Saban coached college, and then he coached in the NFL, and then he went back to college. Bobby Petrino coached college, and then he coached in the NFL, and then he went back to college. Steve Spurrier coached college, and then he coached in the NFL, and then he went back to college. And more recently, Jim Harbaugh coached college, and then he coached in the NFL, and then he went back to college.
It's a difficult pattern to understand, so we'll show it in flow chart form:
From my view, that seems to be the best evidence that Chip Kelly has any interest in leaving the NFL for some college team -- that some other guys went from college to the NFL and back to college. Otherwise, there has been no concrete information, or really even any good speculation, why Kelly would want to leave the Eagles for some college.
But his name appeared again this morning, this time via Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who is a good reporter. Rapoport's quote (video here):
My understanding is that there are two other NFL coaches that are on USC’s list. First of all, Chip Kelly, of course the Eagles coach, had so much success in college. I’m told that he would have some interest in the USC job, although a source close to him points out that Chip Kelly really likes to be liked and wanted, so that may be driving some of his interest.
So apparently now Chip is insecure and starved for attention.
I think Kramer summed that up pretty well, actually.
Kelly was, of course, asked if USC had contacted him about returning to college, and Kelly was fairly emphatic that it wasn't happening.
"No. No. No. No. No," said Kelly to reporters earlier in the week. "North Texas. State. The Armadillos, or whatever. Just keep asking questions like this in press conferences, and it'll be over quicker. What do you want to talk about? Let's talk about another college. You have 10 minutes, so let's talk about North Texas... I know you have an obligation. I understand it. It's going to happen. If we're not successful and we're not winning, (the talk will be that) I came from college and I'm going to go back to college.
"I hope some day to be like coach Coughlin and win enough games where I can stay around long enough where that speculation ends. But I understand you have to ask the question. I answered it the same way a year ago, and I answered it the same way my first year here. It's an unfortunate part of the game because the other part of it is the people that have lost their jobs. A friend of mine, Steve Sarkisian, is dealing with a big issue and I wish him the best with the whole thing. That's how I look at it, with that situation."
But... COLLEGE.
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