Chip Kelly has been down this road before, and coaches say these things all the time. That said, here we are once again to put the word out that Chip Kelly says he is not going anywhere next fall and he anticipates coaching the San Francisco 49ers in 2017.
We’ll see.
The latest denial from Kelly comes in the aftermath of his successor at Oregon, Mark Helfrich, being shown the door by the Oregon football program this week. On the list of supposed replacements for Helfrich, it is not uncommon to hear Kelly’s name thrown around by some. Personally, I’d be willing to forgive and forget about the last few years if Kelly wanted to come home to Oregon (and if Oregon would welcome him back). But alas, the question has to be asked, right?
Kelly says he has had no contact with anyone from Oregon aside from Helfrich, and he says he plans on being in San Francisco again next season.
“I just felt bad for Mark, I love him like a brother,’' Kelly said Wednesday. ''He’s a tremendous person. He is a hell of a football coach but he’s even a better person. So I just felt for him and the rest of the guys on that staff. It’s an unfortunate thing that goes on in this profession, we all know when we sign up for it, but when it happens you’re still kind of taken aback by it.’'
As a head coach of Oregon, Kelly was constantly denying any rumors about him leaving for other jobs until he finally took up an offer from the Philadelphia Eagles. In his three seasons in Philadelphia, he continued to deny coaching rumors regarding college jobs, especially once his show cause expired. Once the Eagles cut him loose at the end of last season, the college rumors sparked a little bit, but Kelly jumped right to another NFL team with the 49ers. Things are not going well for the Niners this season, which has left plenty of speculation about what comes next for Kelly.
Keep them coming. He’ll be back some day. Maybe not at Oregon, but somewhere.