Chip Kelly was the stuff of coaching greats. He was 46-7 over four seasons at Oregon. Kelly then traded swapped birds, going from the Ducks to the Philadelphia Eagles. Two seasons of success have been followed by an utter collapse of a coaching resume.
The Oregon years
Kelly was incredible in Eugene. His Ducks won 10 games in 2009. They then ran off three 12-win seasons. He lost his first two bowl games before winning the next pair. Overall, Kelly had an .868 win percentage at Oregon.
Fast start in Philly
Kelly bolted college for the City of Brotherly Love. There was immediate success, a 10-6 mark in 2013 followed by another 10-6 season in ’14. His Eagles won 19 of their first 28 games as his offense averaged nearly 30 points per game. Everything was going great … and then the bottom fell out.
A terrible third season
The third year in Philly did not last a full season. The Eagles were 6-9 when management decided to fire Kelly before the final game of the 2015 season.
On to San Francisco
Kelly was hired by the San Francisco 49ers for the 2016 season. To say it was a disaster would be an understatement. His Niners had the worst defense in the NFL and that translated into a 2-14 record. The Niners allowed 30 ppg and were outscored by 171 points. Kelly was fired after the season.
Westwood-bound
There was much joy in Westwood when Kelly was tabbed to replace Jim Mora after the 2018 season. There was trepidation across Los Angeles at USC as UCLA signed a coach with a rich college football record. It has not played out for the Bruins. UCLA started out 0-5 in what was tabbed a rebuilding year. Kelly got a pair of wins before the Bruins lost 4 of their last 5 to finish 3-9.
Another sordid start
The second season at UCLA has been as bad as the first. After Saturday’s 48-14 home loss at the Rose Bowl to Oklahoma, the Bruins have started back-to-back seasons 0-3 for the first time. The second loss in 2019 was to San Diego State, 23-14, a school that had never beaten the Bruins.
The future
It won’t get any easier for the Bruins. They go to Pullman to face Mike Leach and 3-0 Washington State. The Bruins have scored 14 points in each of their losses in 2019. They gave up 48 Saturday, more than they have scored all season for Kelly, once considered an elite offensive guru. Kelly is 11-35 in his last three-plus seasons as a head coach. How the might have fallen.
