Examining why UCLA is in no-win situation with Chip Kelly

Chip Kelly is in a no-win situation with UCLA at the moment, as On3’s Andy Staples and Jesse Simonton discussed.

The Bruins head coach arguably could’ve and should’ve been fired this year, according to Simonton. In the process, he won a bowl game with UCLA and interviewed multiple times for the Las Vegas Raiders OC opening.

So does Kelly want to get back to the NFL and avoid the “nonsense” of what college football is and is becoming? That remains to be seen considering Kelly was in the running for the Washington Commanders OC job before that went to Kliff Kingsbury.

Now, if you’re Kelly, what do you do at this point?

“It’s like, alright, we survived and in hindsight, they should have fired him,” Simonton said on Andy Staples On3. “Because now when you look at everything … they should have fired Chip Kelly, because he clearly wants out of Westwood. And now the Bruins are in a complete lose-lose situation. They’re in a union with a coach who doesn’t want to be there, but their top two targets are off the board. Jed Fisch and Jonathan Smith have now taken jobs elsewhere. 

“Those would have been easily their top two targets. Dante Moore, your five star quarterback, is now at Oregon. You just lost your defensive coordinator who completely turned around your unit. You had one of the best defenses in the country this past season. (He’s now at USC). So whether Chip stays or goes, they’re in a tough spot.”

It seems like some college coaches are being “chased” to or back to the NFL. For example, Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley is the new defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers. That seemingly came out of nowhere.

“We’ve talked about the argument of are these rules or is the situation of college football chasing coaches to the NFL? In some cases, yes. In some cases, no,” Staples said. “Like Liam Cohen was going to go back for the first play calling NFL OC job he could get. And so he did. He left Kentucky … And Liam Cohen goes to the Bucs because it’s a play calling NFL OC job which is what he wants. 

“But Jeff Hafley Leaving Boston College to be the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator probably had a lot to do with the rules and if Chip (Kelly) is going to be an NFL OC, it absolutely has to do with all the stuff going on in college football because he’s made it very clear. He doesn’t like it.”