Jim Alexander: First order of business today is a question to UCLA football fans. Are you mad at Chip Kelly for what his inaction did to the Bruins the past six seasons? Or are you happy that he finally got out of the way, leaving Westwood to take a demotion of sorts as offensive coordinator at soon-to-be conference rival Ohio State?
(Or are you happy that he left but mad that he took his own sweet time to do so, thus hampering the effort of new coach DeShaun Foster to build his own staff?)
Our friend Ben Bolch at the other paper in town came right out and accused Kelly of “quiet quitting,” basically doing the bare minimum in his role as CEO of the program. Substack columnist John Canzano, who knows Kelly from his days as Oregon coach (when Canzano was lead columnist for the Oregonian) and who seems to have maintained a good working relationship with him (far better than Kelly had with the media corps who cover UCLA), responded with a column headlined: “Chip Kelly is smiling … why does that make people unhappy?”
Basically, it can be broken down this way: Kelly had much the same distaste for schmoozing boosters and fundraising and promoting his program at Oregon as he did here. The difference: He won, big, at Oregon. (He also had Nike’s Phil Knight in his corner, which was a pretty good advantage). He was one game above .500 at UCLA, and that thanks to two victories over FCS squads. As I’ve noted before, the Bruins thought they were getting the Oregon Kelly but were actually getting the NFL Kelly, who was way less than a success with the Eagles and 49ers.
What say you, Mirjam?
Mirjam Swanson: I saw those dueling pieces this week … gotta love it.
Look, I’m not a huge fan of Kelly’s, but I’m also not as offended by him as others. I certainly didn’t cover him day in or day out, but generally, whenever I went out to practices or games, I found him to be much more forthcoming (and funny?) than his reputation led me to expect. For whatever…
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