USC Trojans have reportedly reached out to Chip Kelly
By John Buhler
The USC Trojans could reportedly try to persuade Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly to return to the Pac-12.
According to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, the USC Trojans have reached out to Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly about becoming the Pac-12 program’s newest head coach.
USC parted ways with former head coach Steve Sarkisian earlier this year. His replacement Clay Helton has won six games en route to USC winning the Pac-12 South, and his team will face Stanford in the Pac-12 Championship in Santa Clara next week.
Since hiring Pete Carroll, the USC Trojans have typically opted to go with a high-profile hire for their head football coach. Carroll had coached in the NFL with the New England Patriots and the New York Jets. Lane Kiffin was a former USC offensive coordinator, coached in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders, and led the Tennessee Volunteers for a year. Sarkisian was another former USC offensive coordinator and led the Washington Huskies for several years.
Chip Kelly coached at the University of Oregon for four years, helping elevate the program to new heights from 2009 to 2012. Kelly prefers to recruit his own players for his unique offensive system, which doesn’t always translate in the NFL. He may want to go back to the college ranks and coach in a conference he still is familiar with recruiting in. If Kelly were to join the Trojans it would present a break from USC shaking the Carroll tree and trying to recapture the early 2000s magic
USC is one of the few head coaching gigs in college football that is awful hard to say no to. Should Chip Kelly grow tired of his current situation in Philadelphia (or vice versa), he may leave the Eagles in favor of sunny California at the end of the season.