The coaching carousel, motionless across the Pac-12 footprint during the regular season, began to spin Saturday morning when Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith accepted an offer from Michigan State.
Will the next turn come in Westwood?
UCLA coach Chip Kelly’s job security is the subject of intense speculation following a listless loss to Cal, which followed (by two weeks) a dreadful performance against Arizona State. However, a decisive victory at USC in between those defeats seemingly complicates the situation.
Kelly’s tenure started poorly in 2018 but gained steam following the pandemic. However, with the Bruins on the brink of a move to the Big Ten, momentum is lost.
While Kelly has posted a 24-13 overall record over the past three years, his success leans into a slew of second-tier victories inside and outside conference play.
This fall, for example, the Bruins beat just two teams with winning records: Coastal Carolina and USC.
It’s tough to make the case the program is well positioned for success in the Big Ten.
And Kelly’s contract, revised last winter, leaves the school with relatively modest buyout exposure. According to the L.A. Times, Kelly would “receive $8.5 million if he’s dismissed before December 2023 and $4.27 million if he is terminated before December 2024.”
But in our view, the central question isn’t whether the Bruins should terminate Kelly. It’s whether they have better options available and willing.
If you fire a coach following his third consecutive winning season … a coach who has beaten USC twice in the past three years … a coach who represents the program well and is likely to maintain a reasonable standard of success … you cannot end up with someone worse.
The Bruins have never paid top dollar, despite the cost of living in L.A., and there’s no indication they plan to start now.
It’s a basketball school with significant academic standards that isn’t fully committed to football the way USC, Oregon,…
Read the full article here