The Pac-12 has their man back, as UCLA Bruins head coach Chip Kelly has become the biggest attraction in college
When Chip Kelly left the Oregon Ducks for the NFL, the Pac-12 really felt the impact of losing one of the best coaches in all of college football. For a conference that was trying to keep up with the rest, Kelly put them under a national spotlight each season with dominant Oregon teams. One of those teams went to a National Championship Game under his tenure, and after he departed they went to another based on the strength of the foundation he had built.
Kelly and the NFL wasn’t the perfect marriage at the time he joined and ultimately the transition didn’t carry over the way anyone had expected it to and he was let go by the San Francisco 49ers after one season in the bay and a few in Philadelphia.
While his career as a head coach in the NFL didn’t last, Kelly didn’t rush back to college football. He didn’t feel the need to just jump back into the landscape and prove that things are just fine with his coaching style. There wasn’t a bravado to have to prove himself right away to everyone to try to remove the bad taste that coaching in the NFL had left.
Instead, Kelly waited for the right opportunity to roll around and in the latter part of 2017, the UCLA Bruins’ head coaching position became available. After the team decided to move on past the tenure of Jim Mora Jr., Kelly made his way into Los Angeles to help revitalize a program that wasn’t performing up to expectation.
Now back in the fold, Kelly is back in the conference where he made a name for himself. He has all the tools he needs and a big market to help himself be successful. It might not be as quick of a turnaround, as the Bruins will certainly need a few strong recruiting classes, but this was the home run hire and situation that both sides needed.
With Kelly, UCLA has a hallmark coach that gives them National Championship aspirations. He’s a proven commodity and one that was sought after. He’s going to bring in top recruits and players that know they’ll excel under his system.
More importantly, the program knows they can compete with and perhaps succeed the USC Trojans in the Los Angeles market with Kelly. It might not be right away, but Kelly certainly comes into the conference rivaled by very few in hype alone.
The struggles of the Pac-12 as a whole aren’t unknown. They’re widespread on a national level and they’ve become an afterthought, given the success of other conferences. A lot of it is self-inflicted mistakes as well.
The failure to come to an agreement with DirecTV on their television deal has made it tough for widespread access to the Pac-12 network. They aren’t making as much as the other conferences; certainly not to the extent of the mighty SEC.
They’re coming off of a disastrous bowl season, where the conference won just one game and lost eight. Kelly watched from a box, as his soon-to-be program got obliterated by the Kansas State Wildcats in the Cactus Bowl.
Right now, the Pac-12 Conference needs some horses. They got one with Washington currently as their best playoff hope. They got three very good programs with Stanford, USC and Oregon. If one of those teams can emerge, then they’ll be in a better spot.
The pressure is on Kelly to turn UCLA into one of those horses. It’s going to come with patience and understanding of where the program is right now. They face a difficult schedule in 2018, and one that could see a lot of losses. On the plus side, there should be ample opportunity for growth and maybe the wizardry of Kelly pulls out a signature win that escalates the process. Regardless, he is the big attraction among head coaches this season.