He's leaving. He's staying. He's leaving...OUCH. My neck hurts.

Chip Kelly: Coach of the Eagles. Are you sure this time, Chip?

I've just been rummaging through files and the trashcan looking for whatever I was going to say about Kelly leaving the Ducks two weeks ago.  I tossed it aside when I heard he was staying.

That's been the problem for all of us Duck fans. This news gave us double whiplash.

For two or three months, we had everyone telling us that Kelly was sure to be gone after the Fiesta Bowl. No way he's staying. The NFL will be calling for him. Get ready for it.

And so we did. When the Duck players doused him with Gatorade in Arizona, we knew it was the end of an era.

"Thanks for everything, Coach. Good luck. Don't worry about us. We'll be fine."

And then . . . . . "What? You're STAYING?!?!?!  Well . . . . OK then.  That's uhh. . . Great!  WONDERFUL!!!"

He had to forgive us if we hesitated at the news. But we had just spent all that time mentally preparing ourselves for his leaving. We were getting used to the idea, even steeling ourselves to the task of getting on without him.  It's like he lived in our house, and we had already converted his bedroom into a library/office.

"But that's no problem, Coach. We're glad you're staying!  We'll just take these bookshelves down and return them to Ikea. Hopefully they'll take them back after we've already assembled them and thrown away the boxes. But no matter coach. Your room is just like it was. It's like you had never left . . . which you didn't.  Welcome . . . . again, sort of."

And then, "What's that . . . . . You're LEAVING?!?!?!  Well . . . . OK then. . . . . . . Good luck . . .  again."

And now we have to call Ikea and see if we can buy back those bookshelves at the same price because they went off sale last week.

OK. Let's pull this spidery story apart leg by leg:

Chip said he was staying. When and why did he change his mind?

John Canzano wrote in today's column:
 It was interesting in the days after he apparently walked away from the Eagles and Browns on Jan. 6 that we never heard this from Kelly himself. No public statement, no interviews, no votes of confidence. In the end, this is how he liked it, a situation left as ambiguous as fourth and three from midfield.

Kelly went for it. Were you really surprised?

I noticed the same thing; perhaps we all did. We never saw Kelly's face again after he informed Oregon he was staying. Oh sure, he was busy recruiting. But no statement. He never closed the door. His 'No' to Philly wasn't final. Perhaps he went back to work with the Ducks while his agent kept the line open with the Eagles.

I don't think he actually changed his mind. He just kept an open mind.

 Did Chip Kelly BETRAY Oregon?
 No. He gave Oregon his all, and his all was more than Duck fans had ever been given before. What's more, this is life in big time sports. Successful coaches are loyal to their organizations until a better opportunity comes along. And organizations are loyal to their coaches until the loss column count is too high.

How will he do in the NFL at Philadelphia?
 Everyone is all over the board on this. But my money is on Kelly to succeed. I want him to succeed, not for Philly, but for the game of football.

Since his four years as head coach at Oregon, the entire landscape of college football had changed. This past season, Oregon's first four opponents -- Arkansas State, Tennessee Tech, Fresno State and Arizona -- all operated with some variation of spread option and/or no huddle. Ark. State's coach Gus Malzahn led them to win their conference and bowl game before going back to Auburn to be their head coach.

In the Pac-12, ASU and UCLA joined 'Zona in switching away from the traditional pro set for a more Oregonesque style or pace. After the season, Cal fired Tedford and hired a spread guy.

Texas A&M took the concept and, with their Heisman QB, made Oklahoma look absolutely Stoopid in the Cotton Bowl.

No, Kelly didn't invent these offensive elements, but no one has blended them better. And more importantly, no one has changed the pace or conditioning demands of practice like Kelly.

In the pros, Denver and San Francisco have experimented with it. New England's Belichick regularly consulted with Chip Kelly. Now Philadelphia has said, "Ya, we get it." and gone straight to the source.

My dream is this. One day in the not too distant future, I'll be watching a football game with a young child who will ask me,

"Great Grandpa Killer Bee, what is that team doing?"

And I'll say, "Well I'll be. I haven't seen that in years. I believe they're in a huddle!"

"What's a huddle, Great Grandpa Killer Bee."

I would begin the story, "Well, way back in the insane 20th century, cars burned only gas because nobody believed oil was killing the planet. Health care coverage was completely controlled by private stock holders. And you could buy military assault rifles at Wal-Mart."

"HA HA HA HA . . . . People sure were stupid dumbasses back then, weren't they Great Grandpa Killer Bee?"

"Yes, but do you know what was even stupider?  Football teams did this thing called a 'huddle'. The team would gather together for about 30 seconds while the clock ticked and decide on just one play; and the quarterback wasn't allowed to change the play after the ball was snapped."

"That must have been painful to watch, Great Grandpa Killer Bee."

"Well not really, because we didn't know any better. Then one day in 2008 came two great men. One became Coach of Oregon, and the other became President."

(Hee hee. I'll take this minute to let some of you wipe the tobacco spit off your screen.  I promise from here I'll just stick to Duck football.)

Will Mark Helfrich become Oregon's next coach? Should he?
Yes and yes. From his press conference, it appears that AD Rob Mullens is being careful to follow all the selection and hiring rules, but he is following them as fast as he can. Kelly told Mullens he was leaving in the morning. By lunch time, Oregon had a 'help wanted' ad out.

Job search requirement #1?  Check.



I have to feel for Mullens. What if he woke up Wednesday
morning with the thought, "Maybe today will be a slow easy day."
And before he was even at the office, he got a call and saw Kelly's
name on his cell phone, and he just knew . . . .
"Awwwww CRAP."


The hurry is that new recruit signing day is just weeks away. And some oral commits who were solid just 48 hours ago are now wavering. They need to be shown consistency and stability. Oregon needs to show them that little has changed. Kelly isn't Oregon. Oregon is Oregon. And everyone else is staying.

Regarding Helfrich, everybody likes him. He's been at Oregon during Kelly's entire tenure. He doesn't want to change things. In a Ted Miller story at ESPN, Chip Kelly is quoted as saying about Helfrich.
"He's really smart, really intelligent," Kelly said at Fiesta Bowl media day when asked why he made Helfrich his first offensive coordinator. "He brought a different perspective to our staff, because he had a different background. He wasn't a spread guy. I wanted to bring someone in who wasn't going to tell us what we already knew."

A non-spread guy, a former QB and QB coach who knew about passing offenses, and he just spent four years in Oregon's successful spread system. Who else would you want? Dare he balance the number of pass plays to runs but keep the total production high?!?

I can only think of two other people on the planet worth considering. Gus Malzhan, but he just went back to Auburn; and Nick Aliotti.

I know a lot of people dislike Aliotti, and I don't get that. I'll put his tenacity and work ethic up against any other coach. And no other assistant coordinator in the country has seen it all like he has.

Nevertheless, I think Helfrich is the next coach.

BREAKING NEWS: At the time of this writing, the story broke that USC coach Lame Kiffin asked Aliotti if he was interested in their defensive coordinator position. 

Aliotti replied:
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What about Oregon's future in general?
Back during the first time we thought Chip was gone, before we knew he was going to stay at Oregon when he really wasn't, Aaron Fentress absolutely nailed it in this Oregonian story:
Finally, life at Oregon after Kelly would be just fine if he indeed leaves. Don't forget:

Kelly didn't build Oregon's facilities.

Kelly didn't invent or bring the spread-option offense to Oregon.

Kelly didn't invent the no-huddle.

Kelly, as head coach, didn't recruit the vast majority of the players responsible for the team's four-year run of success.

Kelly didn't hire most of the coaching staff.

Kelly didn't invent the "Swoosh."

Kelly didn't come up with the idea of using multiple, state-of-the-art uniforms to attract recruits.

Kelly didn't pay money to former USC running back Reggie Bush, leading to the Trojans facing serious penalties.

Would a 45-year-old Kelly have had the same success at Oregon had he taken over the program in 1995 instead of 2009? No chance.

Would the Ducks of the past four years have dominated the conference during the Bush-Pete Caroll-Matt Leinart era of last decade? Not likely.

In other words, while Kelly certainly did his share to elevate Oregon to another level, an argument could be made that the Ducks were headed in this direction anyway. Therefore, an equally compelling argument could be made that Oregon would continue to be successful without Kelly.

I feel good for Kelly. I feel good for Philadelphia. And I especially feel good for Oregon. I got an email from one of you yesterday saying, "Wouldn't it be perfect if next year Oregon won all their games and the National Championship?"

"Yes. Perfect," I replied. And by no means a stretch. It's certainly happened before where great old coach leaves and new young coach comes in and rockets the team to the next level. Oregon's opponents are breathing a sigh of relief that Kelly is gone. But that is premature my friends. Oregon hasn't left. Oregon is still Oregon.

--KB