Report: Chip Kelly expected to be named new UCLA football coach

All signs point to Chip Kelly being the new head coach at UCLA and that should scare USC and the rest of college football.

After UCLA fired Jim Mora last Sunday, one day after the Bruins lost to rival USC, all signs pointed to Chip Kelly being their top target. Kelly was the top target for the Florida Gators who fired Jim McElwain earlier in the year and the administration and boosters went forward with their full court press of the former Oregon Ducks head coach before the Thanksgiving holiday. Now comes a pair of reports that point to Kelly being the next head coach of the UCLA Bruins.

First, Football Scoop’s Scott Roussel reports that Kelly was expected to choose UCLA over Florida. Then a report from Pat Forde at Yahoo that Kelly was out of the running for the Florida job.

That loud noise you hear is the celebration going on in Westwood with the thought that Kelly would bring his brand of offense and come to UCLA. The Bruins wrap up their season on Friday night with a game against Cal and a formal announcement could come shortly after. A bigger press conference would likely follow in the days ahead with Kelly meeting the assembled media.

UCLA seemed like a fit that Kelly would prefer to that of Florida because of his familiarity with the Pac-12 dating back to his time with Oregon and because of his familiarity with the state of California where he was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL for two seasons.

Kelly taking over UCLA would be a home run hire for the Bruins who have had a reputation in the past for not paying a premium for high-end college football coaches. That would go to bed if the Kelly hire comes to fruition.

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Further, it could signal a shift in the rivalry between USC and UCLA that the Bruins aren’t content being little brother. Kelly would be able to recruit Los Angeles and the state as he did at Oregon, but instead of convincing kids to come to Eugene for four years, he’d be selling them on playing in-state for UCLA. That’s a huge difference. Plus, he brings experience recruiting the state of Texas, which he used to stock his Oregon rosters.

Give Kelly a year or two to remake the roster and recruit his guys to fit his system and the Bruins should be right in the mix to compete for a College Football Playoff. If only he could convince Josh Rosen to stay for his senior year, that timetable could be accelerated, but UCLA can’t get too greedy. Getting Kelly and losing Rosen would be a fair trade they can live with.