CHIP KELLY RETAINED BY UCLA THANKS TO BLOWOUT WIN OVER USC AND LINCOLN RILEY
Oh my goodness. When UCLA lost 33-7 to lowly Cal on Saturday, it seemed that any of the goodwill Chip Kelly had built at UCLA through the win over USC had been squandered. He was back on the hot seat. He undermined confidence in the UCLA fan base. He and his program looked weak and inconsistent. It seemed the pendulum had swung back the other way. He saved his job, and then Chip Kelly reversed himself and did a complete 180. He appeared to be in major trouble once again.
Monday afternoon, the word came down: Chip will get one more season in Westwood.
It might not rate as a huge surprise, but at the very least, it seems like a 50-50 call, something which was far from likely. Chip Kelly’s fate was up in the air, but now he’s safe for one more year. Chip Kelly will lead UCLA into the Big Ten in 2024, per 247Sports.
Reaction was instant and lively, from UCLA fans and elsewhere in the Pac-12 world and throughout the college football community:
247 REPORT
Breaking: Chip Kelly will remain at #UCLA, according to sources. https://t.co/zlGjZ4FCF4
— Bruin Report Online (@BruinReport) November 27, 2023
LINCOLN RILEY SUCCEEDS
Lincoln Riley kept Chip Kelly at #UCLA.
He has achieved something at #USC after all!
— USC Trojans Wire (@TrojansWire) November 27, 2023
UCLA PLAN FOILED!
#UCLA'S MASTER PLAN TO GET CHIP KELLY FIRED BY LOSING TO ASU AND CAL FAILED!
MWAHAHAHAHA! 😉 https://t.co/B7mD0Z0uD7
— Matt Zemek (@MattZemek) November 27, 2023
WHEN CAL FANS ARE HAPPY
As a Cal fan, I think they need to give Chip more time. He only just turned 60, he's still figuring out how to get it done, but I think he's a smart guy and he'll get there eventually. Patience is the order of the day.
— atoms (@atomsareenough) November 27, 2023
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
USC losing to UCLA, leading them keep Chip Kelly pic.twitter.com/ObdHwIHq6C
— Lorenzo Cortes ✈️ (@Hoyatexas) November 27, 2023
UCLA&M
Maybe UCLA fans should try the Texas A&M model and bully the AD into firing Chip Kelly
— Ucla Fans (@ucla_fans) November 27, 2023
BRUIN PAIN
I don't know how @UCLAFootball is ever going to recover from allowing Chip Kelly to coach this team in the Big 10. I don't understand how @MartinJarmond hasn't announced yet that the nightmare is over. I'm just… sad.
— Matty (@BlueBeardSpeaks) November 27, 2023
COLD!
UCLA taking the field in the B1G under Chip Kelly and Martin Jarmond pic.twitter.com/6Zwv2rolbc
— Andreas Papoutsis (@Blutman28) November 27, 2023
PODCAST
New POC episode with @insidetroy & @daviddavidwoods recapping the final #Pac12 regular season weekend (like, final ever) plus Jonathan Smith leaving for MSU and UCLA keeping Chip Kelly.
Watch/listen here: https://t.co/cIyBIzGdFF pic.twitter.com/fjc1x98WIG
— PodcastOfChampions (@Pac12Podcast) November 27, 2023
CONFIRMATION OF INITIAL REPORTS
Report: Chip Kelly to return at UCLA https://t.co/8n4DG6m0dY via @zach_barnett
— FootballScoop (@FootballScoop) November 27, 2023
MORE THAN USC? NOT ACCORDING TO UCLA ADMINISTRATION
Nice to know that UCLA will be mid in the PAC-12 but hey if no support makes the athletic department realize that keep Chip Kelly was bad then I don’t know what else. But hey at least they are happy that they beat USC in Coliseum and got the Victory Bell back 🤦🏾♂️ https://t.co/td8SYpIn07
— Camfrey15 (@cameronDwinfrey) November 27, 2023
THIS COULD GET BAD
The silence out of the Morgan Center tells me UCLA is going to retain Chip Kelly.
UCLA Football is on life support if that’s the case. Not kidding. No momentum with this program, many players will transfer out, and recruiting is dreadful. Attendance will somehow get even worse.
— Peter Eric (@4thGenBruin) November 27, 2023
USC IS THE ONLY REASON CHIP IS STILL AROUND
UCLA is going to retain Chip Kelly all because UCLA beat a 7-5 USC team that had the worst defense in college football.
This is an unserious athletic department that doesn’t care about success or winning. They are essentially turning UCLA Football into Northwestern or Indiana.
— Peter Eric (@4thGenBruin) November 27, 2023
USC IS THE ONLY GAME FOR UCLA
in my quick googling, it seems as if UCLA has only ever fired five head football coaches. all of them lost to USC their final season. UCLA has never fired a football coach in a season in which UCLA beat USC
— carlos: a pac-12 mourner 🍉 (@equitybruin) November 27, 2023
MISERY GROWS GREATER
chip kelly has been derided for years for his recruiting and seemingly exclusively recruiting ivy league players and on the day it becomes clear he’s staying, he offers a player from Harvard. i’m losing my mind, this man has me in a blender
— carlos: a pac-12 mourner 🍉 (@equitybruin) November 27, 2023
NOT BEING AGGRESSIVE ENOUGH
80% of the reason the Pac-12 died was because of TV networks maneuvering to extract as much money as they could out of CFB
the other 20%? that’s attributable to shit like what UCLA is doing by retaining Chip Kelly
— carlos: a pac-12 mourner 🍉 (@equitybruin) November 27, 2023
USC USED TO BE UNSERIOUS
it is wild to see UCLA fans, pretty much by consensus, call for a head coach’s firing. the last time i saw a Pac-12 fanbase coalesce this hard against a coach was USC fans in 2018 when Clay Helton went 5-7.
he got three more seasons after that.
— carlos: a pac-12 mourner 🍉 (@equitybruin) November 27, 2023
OMG
Looking forward to 2026 UCLA head coach Brett Venables
— bruinalytics (@bruinalytics) November 27, 2023
CLOWN CAR
it’s almost noon on Monday and UCLA still hasn’t fired Chip Kelly. which, to me, means it is not happening. and if it does, it’ll happen well after several coaching candidates have already been hired. you gotta respect UCLA’s commitment to being a clown program.
— carlos: a pac-12 mourner 🍉 (@equitybruin) November 27, 2023
NATIONAL RECRUITING ANALYST WEIGHS IN
Bold strategy 😂 Not sure another Pac12/Big 10 school would keep a coach with a .500 record after 6 years with zero Bowl wins and zero top 30 recruiting classes but guess that USC win superseded everything https://t.co/09BB7XG22v
— Greg Biggins (@GregBiggins) November 27, 2023
USC 3-DIMENSIONAL CHESS
USC season was over sharp of them to throw that game if it meant another couple years of chip Kelly
— Todd pierce (@Todd_Pierce04) November 27, 2023
BRUIN REPORT ONLINE
Live look at BRO: pic.twitter.com/82NuYqtM4N
— David Woods (@daviddavidwoods) November 27, 2023
LET'S NOT BE TOO DRAMATIC HERE
what does the death of hope feel like https://t.co/9tCqL5XNwY
— David Woods (@daviddavidwoods) November 27, 2023
NUMBERS
Chip Kelly is 26-26 in Pac-12 play at UCLA. He is 3-19 against Pac-12 teams that had a winning record in conference. So 23 of his 26 conference wins came against teams with a losing record in Pac-12 play.
— David Woods (@daviddavidwoods) November 27, 2023
MORE
In his last 16 games at UCLA, Chip Kelly is 8-8. Karl Dorrell was 9-7 in his final 16 games at UCLA. Bob Toledo was 8-8. Rick Neuheisel was only narrowly worse at 7-9.
— David Woods (@daviddavidwoods) November 27, 2023
HOLY MOLY
Through 68 games at UCLA:
Chip Kelly: 34-34
Jim Mora: 43-25 (fired at 46-30)
Bob Toledo: 41-27 (fired at 49-32)To get to the winning percentage Jim Mora or Bob Toledo had at time of firing, Chip Kelly would have to win his next 19 games in a row.
— David Woods (@daviddavidwoods) November 27, 2023
