Below is a written transcript of the interview with my comments in green.
Q&A with Oregon coach Chip Kelly
DP: Did you try to keep [Jeremiah] Masoli?
CK: Did I try to keep him? No. We have standards here at school that are straightforward, plain and simple. People have asked me, "Was it a hard decision?" No, it wasn't. He knew [he would be suspended] if he pled guilty. I had talked to him the day before. "If you plead guilty, you're suspended for the season. That's a decision you're making." He pled guilty and he was suspended for the season. We put a plan in place of zero-tolerance. If you can adhere to that plan, you'll have the opportunity to come back in 2011. And he didn't, so he's gone.
DP: Is he a bad kid?
CK: No, he's not a bad kid. He's made some bad decisions, but he's not a bad kid.
DP: How surprised are you that [Ole Miss head coach] Houston Nutt is going to give him another chance?
CK: I don't know. They're the ones who have to make that decision. In today's society, I'm never surprised at anything.
DP: Would there be a heads-up you give to Houston Nutt about Masoli?
CK: No, I talked to Houston. I think he did his due diligence and called around. I know he had talked to our offensive coordinator earlier. I actually talked to Houston last Thursday. He called and reached out while we were at our Pac-10 media stuff. I had a chance to share some thoughts with him.
DP: What did he want to know when he called you?
CK: He just wanted to know about Jeremiah as a person. We didn't talk about football. There was no: How fast is he? How strong is he? How does he read this coverage?
DP: Did you caution him at all about taking Masoli?
CK: No. It's kind of between me and Houston, but I just shared with him what happened and the events that happened here.
DP: What are your thoughts on the Pac-10's expansion?
CK: I think our footprint obviously got bigger in adding Colorado and Utah. We're excited about that [and] the fact that we've got to 12 teams so now we can play a conference championship. One of the knocks against the Pac-10 is that we don't play a conference championship like the SEC or Big 12 or ACC did. When it was playing out and you had all those other teams involved, it was kind of exciting. I was on the sidelines. I didn't have a vote in what we were doing because obviously I'm just a coach here. But it was kind of crazy for a little while there, when it was Pac-10, Pac-12, Pac-16.
DP: Did you think Texas would come to the Pac-10?
CK: I didn't know. There were so many teams thrown out at some point in time. I thought we were going to bring in Manchester United.
DP: What about Boise State? Did you think that would be a fit with the Pac-10?
CK: I never really heard that name, to be honest with you. It seemed like [Pac-10 commissioner] Larry [Scott] was going after the schools that were separating from those other BCS conferences. We never really discussed it until we got to our Pac-10 meetings. What we discussed what we were doing in moving forward with Colorado and Utah.
[What is Kelly supposed to say? "We really wanted Texas. Getting Colorado and Utah was like being nice to the ugly girls who are friends with the cute girl.
Boise State? I wouldn't invite them into my Amway pyramid."]
DP: Who's the favorite to win the Pac-10?
CK: We were voted in by the media. Last year, they picked us to finish third and Arizona to finish eighth, and we finished 1-2. I think some media are very savvy, and obviously the ones who picked us are.
DP: Do you consider yourself the favorite?
CK: Not really. We don't worry about that. I know that's coach-speak for everybody, but we really don't. Everybody counted us out last year after the Boise State game when we lost our opener, but the great thing about college football is that one game doesn't make your season. Our players stayed focused, and 90 days from the day we played Boise State, we beat Oregon State on Dec. 3. One thing we know is that we control it, and it's up to us.
DP: What's next for the Oregon uniforms? Anything new or any surprises this year?
CK: Yeah, there are actually a couple of new wrinkles. I'm trying to get a camouflage stealth look, so people don't know what players have the ball.
[Go back to the diamond plating and let Nike provide diamond plated footballs.]
DP: Have you run into Lane Kiffin at all?
CK: I ran into Lane. We spent a week together, the entire Pac-10 coaches. We did a whirlwind tour of New York City and Bristol, and then back out to Los Angeles for media day. So all 10 of us spent last Monday to Friday together. [Oh SNAP! There it is. Kelly's pulling a Letterman and making a rude joke about Palin's daughter. . . . . Oh wait . . . . ESPN . . . . Bristol, CN.
OK never mind.]
DP: Were there any awkward moments with all you coaches together?
CK: No, we bonded. And the Pac-10 coaches are kind of like a boy band now.
DP: Who's the lead singer?
CK: [Arizona State head coach] Dennis Erickson, by far. Dennis Erickson is our Justin Timberlake.
[And Rick Neuheisel is David Lee Roth -- the star of the band until he nearly destroys it.
Arizona's screamer Mike Stoops: Definitely Robert Plant.]
AZ Coach Mike Stoops
DP: I would've thought Kiffin. I need a younger guy up there in front. I don't know about Dennis. CK: I would go with Sark [Washington coach Steve Sarkisian]. If you're going younger, I would put Sark up there. He's got the personality.
[Kelly strikes me as very binary. On/Off. Yes/No. He's in, til he's out. He doesn't suppose, speculate, think outloud, project, pontificate, or daydream. If he wasn't a coach, he would make a great presidential press secretary. ] --kb
1 comment:
I thought Kelly did a good job in the interview. He won't beat the other coaches in pre-season posturing. He will just beat them on the field.
Unfortunately, Masoli is the new Blount. He will get asked over and over about him. The reality is that Masoli's January incident had the same impact for Kelly and the Ducks as it would have if he decided to go pro or if he got injured. The Ducks got 2 seasons out of Masoli. We are moving on. I hope the media will finally do that, too.
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