UCLA Hires Chip Kelly As Head Coach

Chip Kelly is back in the NCAA. UCLA announced today that they have hired Kelly as their new head coach (news first reported by Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports on Twitter). It will be a five-year contract worth $23.3MM with a $9MM reciprocal buyout (financial aspects first reports byFS1’s Bruce Feldman on Twitter).

Chip KellyKelly made a name for himself as the head coach of Oregon, compiling a 46-7 record between 2009 and 2012 (along with three Pac-12 Conference championships). The head coach subsequently moved on to the NFL, taking a job with the Eagles. During his three seasons in Philadelphia, Kelly amassed a respectable 26-21 record, leading the Eagles to a division championship in 2013.

After the Eagles went 6-9 through the first 16 weeks of the 2015 campaign, Kelly was fired. Less than a month later, he joined the 49ers, although things didn’t go as planned. San Francisco ultimately went 2-14, including a 13-game losing streak, and Kelly was fired following the season. As ESPN’s Darren Rovell points out (on Twitter), the 49ers organization still owed Kelly $15MM, but this will mostly be “erased” as any salary will offset the buyout.

Since then, there have been rumblings that Kelly could take another head coach or coordinator gig in the NFL. The 53-year-old had met with the Jaguars regarding their former head coach and offensive coordinator vacancies, and there were also whispers that he could take a role on either the Patriots or Falcons coaching staffs. The majority of the rumors surrounding Kelly pertained to NFL gigs, as the coach apparently wasn’t interested in taking a job at Alabama (there were also whispers that Florida was eyeing him). Ultimately, during his year off, Kelly spent time with ESPN as a studio analyst.

Last week, former Jaguars offensive coordinator Jeff Fisch was named UCLA’s interim head coach after the school fired Jim L. Mora. Fisch ultimately led the Bruins to an important 30-27 win over California, gaining his team bowl eligibility.

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