Home Care In Kelly, LA

In his first attempt to explain his self-imposed demotion, Chip Kelly said he’s never thought about quitting anything.

That’s funny considering he was quiet quitting for most of his six seasons at UCLA.

He put in a minimal effort in recruiting. Barely engaged boosters. Did next to nothing to enhance his team’s name, image and likeness efforts.

Let that sink in. The highest-paid state employee in California did not want to do his job, so he left.

UCLA Sports

Feb. 9, 2024

Some have painted him as an offensive savant with a few quirks. Given what he said Tuesday in his first remarks in his new post, he’s an oddball who lacks honor.

Kelly said the jarring move from Bruins head coach to Ohio State’s offensive coordinator was rooted in a return to pure coaching. Well, he stunk in that department as well. Take out the wins over two Football Championship Subdivision teams and Kelly would have posted a losing record.

He never came close to winning a Pac-12 championship. His high point was winning the L.A. Bowl. His final record was 35-34. His teams were such a dud with fans that the Bruins posted their three lowest average home attendance figures in their four-plus decades at the Rose Bowl.

Kelly said coaching the Bruins quarterbacks in that December bowl game led to a realization that he wanted to get back to the essence of football.

“I think my wife remarked, she’s like, ‘I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time,’” Kelly told reporters at his introductory news conference in Columbus, Ohio.

How about Ethan Young? How is he feeling? The Bruins’ onetime director of player personnel is among the UCLA football staffers seeking other jobs after their boss left town without warning except for his repeated (and failed) efforts to land an NFL job.

Kelly is free to do what he wants, but he should have left the day after the bowl game if he realized he was unhappy. That would have allowed his staff not retained by new UCLA coach DeShaun Foster to seek other jobs when there were far more openings than there are on the eve of spring practice.

Saying he had no regrets about his departure because he was able to tell his players he was leaving before they read about it online — say what? — Kelly provided an equally nonsensical answer about his reasoning.

“I wasn’t leaving to take a head coaching job somewhere else, I wasn’t thinking that the grass was greener at another university,” Kelly said. “It was just, in my personal situation, this is what I wanted to do.”

He’s right, he wasn’t taking a head coaching job, he was taking a step down. And his comments about the grass not being greener at Ohio State are absurd given he spent much of his time with reporters lavishing praise on a program that annually competes for a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals as opposed to one that runs a firm No. 2 in Los Angeles.

“It would have taken a special place for me to leave UCLA because I love those players and I love that coaching staff,” Kelly said after leaving those players and coaches in limbo to reunite with longtime pal Ryan Day. “To be here with Ryan, I’ve had a great relationship, I’ve known Ryan since he was a little kid. I think a lot of things just fell into place that way.”

Dismissing the idea that he was moving on because he didn’t want to schmooze with boosters, Kelly compared college head coaches to corporate CEOs who must run all aspects of their organization.

“I can’t tell you how many coaches that have called me since I made this decision,” Kelly said, “who have said, ‘I’m two years behind you, brother’ that are thinking the exact same way.”

Hopefully, they’ll have the decency to leave at a time when they don’t put an entire athletic department in a fourth-and-25 bind.

As part of his justification for the move, Kelly cited John Lennon frustrating a teacher who asked the future Beatles icon what he wanted to be when he grew up.

“He said, ‘I want to be happy,’” Kelly said. “And then his teacher said, ‘I don’t think you understand the assignment.’ And [Lennon’s] mom said, ‘I don’t think you understand life.’ So, I just wanted to be happy.”

In doing so, when it comes to integrity, Kelly showed himself to be a real nowhere man.

For the final play of his sorry UCLA tenure, Chip Kelly finally ran something that fooled somebody.

A cowardly reverse.

Less than three months after the UCLA administration publicly embraced him, he flipped them off.

Less than three months after the UCLA players beat USC in his honor, he walked out on them.

Less than three months after praising his team for its resilient spirit in a comeback bowl victory over Boise State, he fled from the fight.

Look, this has to be some sort of sick joke, no?

UCLA football coach Chip Kelly is leaving the university for Big Ten rival Ohio State to serve as the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator.

Feb. 9, 2024

Chip Kelly is really leaving the UCLA head coaching job at the worst possible time to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State?

Not the NFL. Not another head coaching job in college. But a coordinator at one of UCLA’s future Big Ten rivals? He took a demotion in title to work at a lesser position for a school in the same league?

And he’s doing it now?

He’s doing it at such an unconscionably late date that most of the recruits had been signed, and many of the top transfers were gone, and now UCLA has essentially lost an entire season?

Classy. Professional. Disgusting.

I told UCLA to fire him. I begged UCLA to fire him. At the end of the season I wrote a column saying that UCLA had to fire him.

He had gone 35-34 in six seasons with one bowl win. He wasn’t interested in recruiting, as his current class was ranked 58th nationally by 247Sports.com. He wasn’t interested in schmoozing, as he generated little NIL money and few friends among the boosters.

He should have been fired long before he could pull this selfish stunt, long before his lame opportunism turned the program into steaming wreckage, long before now.

But no, athletic director Martin Jarmond inexplicably told me that Kelly had built a “strong and phenomenal culture.”

Not strong enough to keep the head coach from bailing, apparently.

Jarmond added, “I’m excited, I think there’s so many positives with the program.”

Oh yeah? Name one.

Ironically, Jarmond actually cited continuity and stability as reasons to keep Kelly as they entered the Big Ten, saying, “Continuity and stability are bedrocks of a successful program … you really want that continuity and stability to usher you into a new era.”

Consider those bedrocks crushed.

There is some thought that retiring chancellor Gene Block simply wouldn’t sign off on the $8.6 million required to buy out Kelly from his contract, but others insist that Jarmond never presented Block with the option.

Regardless, by leaving when he did, Kelly made Jarmond look like a fool. He made his players look like suckers. He made the Bruins fans look like bigger suckers.

And how about Casey Wasserman, one of the Bruins’ biggest boosters and the LA 28 Olympics chairman? How is he looking?

Wasserman offered full public support of Kelly and dismissed the firing talk when it arose, telling the Southern California News Group, “I think the noise and all that stuff is ridiculous and neither based in truth or reality.”

The truth is that the entire UCLA athletic community got played. The reality is that Chip Kelly was a complete phony.

After I wrote that he should be fired, and he wasn’t, I faced him following the team’s bowl victory and I wrote that he was classy and gracious. Little did I know he was plotting a late and unthinkable exit.

He preached about the importance of surviving tough times, yet he ran from those tough times.

He preached about the importance of community, yet he acted in his own self interests at great expense to a Bruins family that had blindly backed him.

It was well known that Kelly was uncomfortable with the changing role of a college head football coach. He clearly disliked raising money to pay players, and wasn’t keen on courting kids out of the transfer portal, and basically just didn’t like anything that didn’t involve scheming football plays.

Fine. That’s his prerogative. If he didn’t want to be the head coach at UCLA, he had every right to leave.

But surely he knew this three months ago, so why didn’t he leave then? Why didn’t he leave at the end of the regular season so the Bruins could have time to hire a new coach and recruit new players and get set up for next year?

Here’s why: Because he didn’t yet have a safe landing spot. Because he wasn’t going to spend one second being uncomfortable even if it meant basically lying to the entire UCLA family. Apparently a $6-million annual salary isn’t enough to buy simple decency.

UCLA Sports

Sept. 1, 2023

With him, it was Chip first, Chip all day, Chip every day, and he didn’t care who knew it.

It was embarrassing enough earlier this week when word leaked that Kelly was interviewing for the offensive coordinator position with the Seattle Seahawks. It is downright humiliating that he took a similar job at Ohio State, whose coach Ryan Day has been tied to Kelly at several previous stops.

Is UCLA football so hopeless that its head coach would accept a demotion at an opposing school than stick around and try to fix things?

Or is it just Chip Kelly who is hopeless?

The answer is probably both, and the question surely will be revisited many times as UCLA looks for a successor.

Jarmond will do the hiring, although the athletic director’s stock has surely nosedived in the wake of this debacle. Wasserman also will surely help fund the new hire and, well, don’t forget, he’s the one who bought into the Kelly mess in the first place.

There will be many names mentioned, from Pete Carroll to David Shaw to Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White, but all of the leading candidates in this current coaching cycle already have jobs. By leaving when he did, Kelly turned the UCLA job into a toxic waste dump that probably will require at least a season to clean up, and what a season it could be.

As if it’s not tough enough to have a late-arriving head coach and disappearing players entering a powerful new conference, the Bruins will play Louisiana State, Penn State, Oregon, Washington and, of course, USC.

Speaking of which, who’d have thought UCLA football would ever be so messed up that it makes USC football seem well-adjusted by comparison?

When Chip Kelly held his first UCLA news conference six years ago amid much celebration, he trumpeted, “Friendships, relationships and championships …”

When he fled a pile of blue-tinted ashes Friday, he was oh for three.

Farewell, genius. Don’t let the eight clap hit you on the way out.

It was a busy Friday for the Ohio State Buckeyes last week.

Not only did they lose offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien - who accepted the head coaching job at Boston College just three weeks after being hired by the Buckeyes - but they also had to move to find a new play caller.

Fortunately for the Buckeyes, they were able to do just that, bringing in former UCLA and Oregon head coach Chip Kelly.

It was an unprecedented move, to say the least, with Kelly ostensibly taking a demotion to head from Los Angeles to Columbus.

It was such a shocking move, in fact, that long-time L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke went after Kelly for his decision in a recent column, calling him 'cowardly', 'selfish' and 'disgusting' among other criticisms.

"For the final play of his sorry UCLA tenure, Chip Kelly finally ran something that fooled somebody," Plaschke wrote. "A cowardly reverse. Less than three months after the UCLA administration publicly embraced him, he flipped them off. Less than three months after the UCLA players beat USC in his honor, he walked out on them."

When UCLA hired Kelly, the hope was that he would bring back shades of his 2009-2012 Oregon program - teams that had the nation's most explosive and dynamic offenses, and went 46-7, won 12 games in three-straight seasons, and made four-straight BCS games, including a national title game.

However, those plans never came to fruition. Instead, in six seasons with UCLA, Kelly went 35-34, winning 25 of those games and making three bowl games in the last three seasons.

Suffice it to say, that after six seasons of trying, Kelly was understandably ready for a change. Plaschke recognized that in his column.

What he too exception to more than anything was the timing of the move - a move, mind you, that likely would not have happened had Bill O'Brien stayed in Columbus.

OFFICIAL: Ohio State Hires Chip Kelly As Next Offensive Coordinator

Read More

"Look, this has to be some sort of sick joke, no?" Plaschke asked. "He took a demotion in title to work at a lesser position for a school in the same league? And he’s doing it now? Classy. Professional. Disgusting... He should have been fired long before he could pull this selfish stunt, long before his lame opportunism turned the program into steaming wreckage, long before now."

Whatever the case, Kelly is now with the Buckeyes, and the Bruins are on a search for a new head coach.

Fortunately for both teams, they are not scheduled to face off in the new-look Big Ten, which welcomes USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington to the fold next season.

It felt like so much of what had come before it under Chip Kelly.

A week after posting a riveting victory, UCLA sustained the sort of loss that made one question the whole operation.

Long, hard reflection was practically all that remained after the latest lurching left the Bruins with their most deflating defeat of the season Saturday night at the Rose Bowl.

Only seven days after pummeling its cross-town rival, UCLA fell flat during a 33-7 loss to California that left Kelly to answer for six seasons of one-step-forward, one-step-back results that put his record at an even .500 while serving as a sad senior night sendoff.

Was Kelly concerned about his job status? How would he evaluate his performance? Why didn’t he switch quarterbacks after Dante Moore committed three turnovers in relief of Ethan Garbers?

Did his team’s third loss in four games — and second at home in that stretch to a heavy underdog — make him worry school officials might rethink their recent show of support?

UCLA Sports

Nov. 18, 2023

“I don’t worry about that,” Kelly said after his team finished the regular season 7-5 overall and 4-5 in the Pac-12, leaving his record at the school at 34-34. “I don’t worry about that dynamic. I know this team’s 24-13 in the last three years, and they compete every single day, and I’m proud of every single kid in that locker room.

“I think they represent the school the right way. So we understand where we are and we understand that we have to win games, and I get that. That’s part of the deal. But I don’t think about those things. I don’t worry about those things. That’s never been my M.O.”

Kelly wasn’t in the mood for much self-reflection after his team fell into a tie with Cal (6-6, 4-5) for seventh place in the Pac-12 standings, possibly sending the Bruins to the Independence Bowl based on conference tiebreakers. A representative from the bowl matching teams from the Pac-12 and Big 12 attended Kelly’s postgame news conference.

“We didn’t do what we needed to do, and it’s disappointing because in phases I think we’ve played really, really well,” Kelly said when asked to evaluate the job he did this season. “But we got to put it together. And in five games we didn’t put it together.”

Stops and starts have been a staple of Kelly’s last three seasons. The Bruins started 2-0 in 2021, including a victory over Louisiana State, before dropping two of their next three games. An 8-1 start last season was largely offset by a 1-3 finish, including a fourth-quarter collapse against Pittsburgh in the Sun Bowl. This season, UCLA was nationally ranked heading into November before a loss to Arizona started another 1-3 slide.

UCLA’s final Pac-12 game started in promising fashion thanks to the hero of its victory over rival USC. Garbers completed seven of nine passes on the opening drive, leading the Bruins to Cal’s 20-yard line, before appearing to hurt his arm and departing the game.

Feb. 12, 2024

Enter Moore, whose first pass into heavy coverage was tipped by one Golden Bears defender to another in the end zone for an interception. It was a theme for the true freshman who struggled, having two passes intercepted and losing a fumble.

“Something I stand on is that God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. I know as of right now I’m going through a storm,” said Moore, who completed 23 of 38 passes for 266 yards with one touchdown in addition to the turnovers. “Right now I’m going through a tough battle. I know my faith and believe in the man upstairs and God and really my faith. A storm is going on, but at the end of the day I’m going to get through it. Things aren’t going my way.

“It kind of reminds me of my freshman year of high school. I had a lot of mistakes. I had a lot of picks, actually. My picks went down, lower and lower and lower, because I just learned the speed coming from Little League to high school, and of course going through the same thing in college. I just have to adapt and adjust to things.”

Kelly intimated that he contemplated a change at quarterback but didn’t make one, believing in the true freshman who was sacked six times even with liberal substitutions on the offensive line in an attempt to bolster the protection.

“I just didn’t think it was the right thing to do,” Kelly said.

Garbers’ absence was a reminder of his value to the Bruins given that the team went 4-2 in games he started this season, with both losses coming after he was knocked out with an injury.

“That’s just, that’s football.” Kelly said. “I mean, you can’t make an excuse that we lost a player. That’s just the way the game goes sometimes and you have to have next-man-up mentality, and that’s what we’ve done.”

Moore’s turnovers weren’t the only culprit Saturday. After Moore’s five-yard touchdown pass to Logan Loya in the front of the end zone momentarily gave UCLA a 7-6 lead in the second quarter, Cal’s Jaydn Ott returned the kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.

The Bruins also missed another field goal, making them eight for 17 on the season, fumbled a kickoff and helped the Golden Bears convert a fourth down when they were called for a “disconcerting signals” penalty.

“It just kind of snowballed on you, you know what I mean?” Kelly said.

Not even interceptions by Kamari Ramsey and Laiatu Latu could save the Bruins from another limp offensive showing two weeks after they had also managed just seven points during a home loss to Arizona State. UCLA’s previously unstoppable run game ran aground, producing just 71 yards and two yards per carry.

UCLA’s defense, which had been the best in the Pac-12 against the run, appeared to wear down and gave up 124 yards rushing on a night the Golden Bears became bowl eligible.

Kelly said it was too early to assess needs to address in the transfer portal that opens Dec. 4, noting he would first talk to seniors with remaining eligibility to find out how many intended to return. Offensive linemen and a kicker would figure to be at the top of the wish list.

Assuming Kelly remains the Bruins’ coach, one of his top priorities will be holding onto defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn. UCLA finished the regular season No. 11 in total defense by giving up 299 yards per game, earning Lynn a $50,000 bonus and probably a massive raise from the two-year contract that pays him $1 million annually if the Bruins intend to ward off potential suitors.

“Yeah, we definitely would love to keep D’Anton here,” Kelly said. “I’m not in charge of tearing anybody’s contracts up, so that’s not in my realm but I know — and I know our administration knows how valuable D’Anton is to us, he’s done a tremendous job and he’s a really, really good football coach, and he’s probably a better person than he is a football coach and he’s a really good football coach, so we’d love to keep D’Anton around here.”

Judging by the occasional boos from the crowd of 42,439 Saturday, there are at least some who would be happy to see Kelly go. It was a grim farewell to the Pac-12 and “Pac-12 After Dark,” not to mention an unhappy birthday for Kelly on the day he turned 60.

The last question Kelly took was about whether he felt any sense of melancholy given the end of the conference he had known for so long, going back to his first college head coaching job at Oregon.

“Melancholy’s not what I’m thinking about right now,” Kelly said. “I’d like to wax eloquent about the demise of the Pac-12, but that’s not on my mind right now.”

There were too many other topics to ponder, too many questions that remained unanswered.

A hush had fallen over the Rose Bowl in the final minute, the boos that serenaded UCLA players running into the locker room at halftime replaced by indifference among the few remaining fans.

Down to fourth-string quarterback Chase Griffin because of injuries, the Bruins were forced to run one last meaningless play against Arizona State. When Griffin’s pass fell incomplete, a teammate on the sideline threw up his hands in disgust and turned to leave the field.

As chants of “A-S-U!” filled one corner of the stadium near the end of the Bruins’ 17-7 loss, a UCLA fan behind the team’s bench rendered a different verdict.

“Figure it out, Chip!” he yelled.

The words raised two questions: How much longer will Chip Kelly be given? And is he the coach the Bruins really want to bring with them to the Big Ten?

What easily qualified as the most crushing loss of Kelly’s six seasons given the opponent and its own significant issues left UCLA (6-4 overall, 3-4 Pac-12) with a second consecutive defeat. It also renewed concerns about Kelly’s ability to win in the Big Ten if his team can’t beat a Pac-12 foe that was so shorthanded it used a running back and converted tight end at quarterback.

Even Kelly’s reputation as an offensive guru continued to take a significant hit. Going with Collin Schlee as the starting quarterback for the first time this season because recuperating counterparts Dante Moore and Ethan Garbers were available only on an emergency basis, the Bruins relied heavily on their run game.

They rolled up 183 yards on the ground but went 0 for 4 on fourth-down conversion attempts, running up the middle on the first three. Two of the fourth-down failures came in the red zone. Was Kelly’s play calling in those situations getting a little predictable?

“Yeah,” Kelly acknowledged, “but there’s also the school of thought that we gotta be able to gain one yard if we can gain one yard. But we’ll go back, obviously it didn’t work, so like I said that’s on us.”

The list of embarrassments also included UCLA failing to score after having a first and goal at the Arizona State five-yard line and a first down at the Sun Devils’ 18. The Bruins failed to show much imagination in getting shut out in the first half and matching their season low for points.

“We told them it was on us as coaches,” Kelly said of the message to his players afterward. “We didn’t do a good enough job to prepare those guys to play this football game.”

Meanwhile, Arizona State (3-7, 2-5) effectively offset the absence of two quarterbacks and seven offensive lineman with creativity. Repeatedly using the swinging gate play that bunched most of their offensive lineman on one side of the field, the Sun Devils produced 250 yards of offense one week after managing just 83 yards during a 55-3 loss to Utah.

1

2

3

4

1. UCLA defenders tackle Arizona State wide receiver Troy Omeire after he makes a catch in the second half. 2. Pasadena, CA - UCLA defensive back Devin Kirkwood breaks a pass intended for Arizona State wide receiver Troy Omeire in the second half. 3. UCLA quarterback Colin Schlee passes during the second half. 4. UCLA wide receiver Logan Loya can’t hang on to a pass from quarterback Colin Schlee as Arizona State defensive back Shamari Simmons pulls him down in the second quarter. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Running back Cam Skattebo fired a 25-yard touchdown pass to Elijhah Badger to give Arizona State a 10-0 lead late in the third quarter.

UCLA appeared in danger of being shut out after its next drive ended with running back Carson Steele getting one yard on fourth and two, leading to a turnover on downs. But the Bruins got the ball back after the Sun Devils couldn’t get a first down and intentionally took penalties on four consecutive plays to burn time off the clock.

Backing up on purpose backfired when UCLA parlayed good field position after the punt into quick points. Schlee eventually threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Logan Loya, and there was suddenly some life among the crowd of 56,436.

It quickly got sucked out of the stadium after the Bruins twice sustained Arizona State’s next drive with penalties on third down. Edge rusher Grayson Murphy gave the Sun Devils one first down with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play and cornerback Devin Kirkwood gifted them another with pass interference.

“That hurts,” Kelly said. “That’s on us and you can’t do that, especially in a tight football game like that.”

1

2

3

1. UCLA defensive back Kenny Churchwell III (23) celebrates with a teammate after picking off a pass against Arizona State in the first half. 2. Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo celebrates after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter. 3. UCLA quarterback Colin Schlee scrambles out of the pocket in the second half. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

After later converting a fourth and four, the Sun Devils stuck a fork in the Bruins on the next play. Momentarily running into a wall of defenders, Skattebo cut outside for a 17-yard touchdown that gave Arizona State a 17-7 lead with 3:07 left.

Schlee left because of an unspecified injury two plays later, finishing a night in which he ran for 51 yards and completed 11 of 18 passes for 117 yards and one touchdown.

Barring a victory over USC next weekend at the Coliseum as part of a late-season surge that also involves triumphs over California and a bowl opponent, Kelly could face an unwelcome reckoning in the coming weeks, if not days.

His supporters can no longer point to a continued upward trajectory, the Bruins now unable to top last season’s 9-4 record. His overall record at UCLA is now 33-33, which would be below .500 if you take away two victories over Football Championship Subdivision teams.

There’s also concerns about Kelly’s lack of ambassadorship of the program further decimating an already lackluster showing in the name, image and likeness space, hurting not only the Bruins’ recruiting efforts but also their ability to retain their own players going into 2024.

What does Kelly see as the path forward amid a dramatic downturn?

“It’s us against the team, our rival, you know, next Saturday, and that’s what we talk about,” Kelly said, referring to the game against USC. “It’s always one game at a time.”

That is, assuming he gets there.