It wouldn't be much of a surprise to see Chip Kelly return to the college ranks now that he's been canned by a second consecutive NFL team. In fact, it seems to be his expected next move.
His four stellar years at Oregon, where he went 46-7, are where his reputation as an offensive genius came from. But his four seasons in the NFL ended in misery after compiling a 2-14 record with the San Francisco 49ers this season.
But as tempting as it might have been to leave early and throw his hat in the ring for one of the many college head coaching vacancies that were available a couple of months ago, Kelly said he never even entertained the idea.
"...I will never leave my team when there are games left in the season," Kelly said. "So I never looked at college because all those jobs are filled when the NFL season is still going on...It's pretty simple for me: You can never leave your players during the season. How can you ask your players to be all in and then leave when you get a better deal?"
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That said, you can expect Kelly to still be an attractive option for many schools. And according to Fox Sports, there are a number that would be interested in bringing Kelly on if he made himself available.