Kelly To Florida? Why?

December 9th, 2010 01:39 PM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Florida
Tags: BCS, Rich Brooks, SEC, UF

There’s one name that keeps popping up in connection to the Florida job that I just don’t understand.

And I’m not talking about Jon Gruden.

Oregon’s Chip Kelly has been listed by a number of writers and talking heads as a potential replacement for Urban Meyer. I can understand why Jeremy Foley would be interested. But what’s in it for Kelly? Why would he leave Oregon for Florida?

Kelly is a New Hampshire native who has been in Eugene for just four seasons. He’s in his second year as the Ducks’ head coach and he already has them in this year’s BCS title game.

If you think UF might be able to lure Kelly to Gainesville with money, remember that Nike founder Phil Knight is the one-man booster club for the Ducks. Oregon’s facilities are state of the art and the school (thansk to Knight) has the money to pay Kelly whatever it would take to keep him.

Do you believe the lure of SEC prestige might beckon Kelly? Currently he’s the king of a conference where the traditional power is just beginning a sentence in the NCAA hoosegow. He looks to be top duck in the Pac-12 for quite a while. Florida — with all it’s money and recruiting base and tradition — just went 7-5 with a coach who was considered to be one of the best in the game. The Pac-12 path to BCS bowl bids will continue to be easier than an SEC path.

Florida can’t offer better security, either. Kelly replaced Mike Bellotti at Oregon. Bellotti held the Ducks’ top job from 1995 through 2008. Before him, Rich Brooks held the job from 1977 to 1994. That means Kelly is Oregon’s third coach since 1977. Florida’s next coach will be its fourth since 2001. The reasons for those coaches’ departures don’t look too good on the Gators’ resume either:

Steve Spurrier — Stepped down saying he was tired of fans acting disappointed with one- and two-loss seasons.

Ron Zook — Fired after just three seasons.

Urban Meyer — Had great success but also had major health concerns and chose to walk away from the game at 46.

Believe me, I can see why Florida would have interest in Kelly. But I can’t figure out why anyone thinks Kelly might leave his cushy gig in Eugene for the pressure-cooker of Florida.

Then again, I once wrote that John Calipari would never leave his cushy job at Memphis for the pressure-cooker of Kentucky. So what do I know?

« All Eyes On Foley As Meyer’s Departure Might Brighten Title Hopes Across The SEC

Mississippi State An Easier Sell Post-Mullen »

21 comments

Newest | Oldest

Coastal Duck

All this says is that the University of Oregon is now a destination not a stop-over. Doubtful Kelly would make a parallel move like that.

joe

if you don't know Kelly or Oregon, you don't have a clue. these rumors are just fruitless attempts to sway recruits.

goldballs

yeah no way i would go from a 2 team conference to what is often an 8 team conference for anything less than a ridiculous pay increase. B/c this does not seem likely, I really doubt he will be leaving a cupcake path to a BCS bowl/NCG. Stress free life and he will probably live a little longer too. It seems like Harbaugh will only be around for so long too so he will be king of the mole hill for a while

Winston

Is it because, including this year, the SEC has had a team in the BCSCG 5 years in a row and the Pac-10 has 1.

Nate

USC played in it in 05 and 06 that is 2 times the Pac-10 was in the last 5 years.

Bruce

Nate,
Your math troubles seem to follow you everywhere.

Bruce

This isn't tough guys... think about it... think really hard and I bet you'll understand the flaw in the author's thinking eventually.

@gtimesbholloway

You're missing the point, Bruce.

By narrowing the scope to fewer years in which more turnover has occurred at Florida, the author's point that the UF situation is less stable is actually strengthened.

Surely, you can see this.

Bruce

I got his point loud and clear, and I said so in my first post above... but the author chose to fudge the numbers to make the point a little more extreme (3 coaches in 33 years v. 4 in 10 years) instead of actually using the same frame of reference (when the first coach was hired OR left) to compare the two.

If he were to do that, Oregon still shows as more stable.

3 coaches in 33 years vs. 4 coaches in 21 years (if you use the hire date)
OR
3 coaches 17 years vs. 4 coaches in 10 years (if you use the retire date)

But he didn't... he fudged the numbers to make it seem like a much larger gap of stability. He went with:

"That means Kelly is Oregon’s third coach since 1977. Florida’s next coach will be its fourth since 2001. "

And I'm not even getting into the fact that he's also counting a coach that hasn't been hired yet in his figures.

TJ1

I don't know that Kelly would fit into a Pay for Play type conference deal.

John

Whoops... that's since 1977, not 1997, on the Florida front.
John

John

Bruce...
How does that throw away journalistic integrity? I'm pretty sure I was simply making a point that Florida's had more turnover since 2001 than Oregon has since 1977. But I'll play by your rules. From 1977 to present Oregon has had -- as I stated -- just three coaches. Since 1997, Florida has had seven coaches (including Doug Dickey, Charley Pell and Galen Hall). Feel better? You just made my point even better than I'd originally hoped.
John

Bruce

John,
I'll tip my hat to you. You got caught fudging numbers so change the point of comparison. Well done.

Nate

I see no loss in journalistic integrity, you had numbers to match your point and the numbers were true.

Tim

how is he fudging the numbers? he was stating that Florida has gone through three coaches in less than ten years while it took over 30 for Oregon to go through three coaches. okay Bruce go do research and see how many coaches Florida has gone through since 1977. probably more than three. I see no lack of journalistic integrity by John

Bruce

"Florida can’t offer better security, either. Kelly replaced Mike Bellotti at Oregon. Bellotti held the Ducks’ top job from 1995 through 2008. Before him, Rich Brooks held the job from 1977 to 1994. That means Kelly is Oregon’s third coach since 1977. Florida’s next coach will be its four since 2001. "

So with Oregon, you want to start the timeline when Brooks was hired (1977)... but with Florida, you want to start the timeline when Spurrier left (2001).

I think it was a good enough point on stability of the two programs without you throwing away all journalistic integrity by fudging the numbers to make a point.

Nate

How is that point fudging the numbers, it was a fact to be pointed out and shows lack of job security at Florida. Oregon had had 3 head coaches in 33 years while Florida has had 4 in less then 10 years. You must be another moronic SEC fan.

Bruce

I already explained it but I'll do so again.

He wanted to point out that Oregon has had 3 coaches since 1977 (when Brooks was hired).
Then he compared it to Florida having 4 coaches (counting this next hire) since 2001 (when Spurrier left, NOT when he was hired).

To make his point and use the same guidelines, his argument would have to start at 1990 for Florida (when Spurrier was hired, just like he did with brooks), or at 1994 for Oregon (when Brooks left, just like he did with Spurrier).

Nothing like calling someone a moronic SEC fan when it's such an easy point to understand yet you still seem to have missed it.

Bruce

Nate,

Check your math... Florida has had 2 coaches in the last 8 years - Meyer and Zook.

The entire point the author is trying to make is to compare longevity, etc... if he can't get the basic math right and make the comparisons equal, the rest goes out the window.

It's a flawed argument by the author. Glad you finally got it, just disappointed that you don't care that it's flawed as long as it says what you want it to say.

Nate

I get the point your trying to make however weak it is. The writer was trying to point out coaching the instability at Florida vs the stability at Oregon. Point is Oregon has had 2 coaches in the last 16 years and Florida has had double that in almost half the time. The writer didn't fudge any numbers they are all facts.

bholloway

Kelly's contract is going to make him an exceedingly difficult hire.
http://espn.go.com/blog/pac10/post/_/id/16970/int...

Trackbacks

Alabama | MrSEC.com says:

December 9, 2010 at 2:27 pm

[...] wishes.So when we saying something like “Petrino/Mullen would never leave” of even “Chip Kelly would never go to Florida,” we need to follow that up with this: “But I could be wrong.”Every year coaches move [...]

Log in to Reply

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 9th, 2010 at 1:39 pm and is filed under Florida, Homepage . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.