Being under the national spotlight is something to which the University of Oregon football team has become accustomed over the last three-years.
All three of those seasons were by the hands of head coach Chip Kelly and his trademark visor.
The national media turned the spotlight on nice and bright late on Jan. 22, when there were multiple reports stating that Kelly was taking his East Coast swagger and high-speed offense back to the Atlantic to become the coach of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
As midnight approached, the reports retracted to state that Kelly was going to stay in Eugene.
The confusion even inspired The Register-Guard to print a front page reporting Kelly’s departure — then stop the press, and print again — correcting the headline and reassuring fans of Kelly’s follow-through for the UO football team.
The truth is that Kelly felt that he has unfinished business at Oregon, and he knows that as long as he continues to be successful, the NFL will continue to be knocking on his door.
Recent history shows that coaches who make the jump from the college ranks struggle to make it to the top of the NFL coaching chain.
Oregon has only had one coach in the programs history move on from the Ducks to the NFL. Rich Brooks, who the field inside Autzen Stadium is named after, left Eugene to go coach the Rams, but was unable to take the team to glory.
Pete Carroll was the last high-profile coach to leave the conference and he has had a pretty lackluster career with the Seahawks other than the win in the wild card round of last year’s playoffs against the Saints.
It’s hard to know if any of these issues helped Kelly make up his mind, but one thing we do know is Duck fans nationwide are happy to know that he will be leading the Ducks out of the tunnel for a fourth season.
