UCLA Football: Will Chip Kelly take the head coaching job?

Why he won’t take the job: Florida, the main competition at the moment for retaining Kelly’s services, has a recent and established national championship pedigree and such a job in the SEC probably presents a better re-launching point for Kelly’s career if he’s trying to end up back in the NFL sooner than later.

Furthermore, Florida’s trustees will rubber-stamp any contract agreed to between Kelly and Florida’s athletic department with no questions asked, while the UC Regents would put up a fight when it comes to a contract between UCLA and Kelly that might present optical issues in a far more liberal state that emphasizes college football far less.

Faculty at UCLA already make it clear that they resent the pay that UCLA’s revenue sport coaches earn because they live in a bubble where they don’t know the value of a top-flight football coach; they’re likely to throw a collective hissy fit if UCLA Football gets near the top-10 of college football coaching salaries, which it would probably have to do to close on Chip Kelly. The money is there, but hopefully the political side has been prepped in advance by the powers that be in Westwood in order to close quickly on Chip Kelly if an opportunity presents itself.

Finally, Kelly is known to put heavy emphasis on sports science and support staff, two departments in which UCLA either has limited or no expertise and funding. The UCLA administration would likely have to agree to Kelly’s many ancillary demands for that kind of backend support in order to win him over and lure him to Westwood.

Next: The Verdict