When Chip Kelly left Oregon for the NFL, Duck fans voiced their opinions. Some ranted to their friends, others took to Twitter and, in an extreme case, some did doughnuts in the lawn of the former coach’s Eugene home. Whatever the situation was, the on-again, off-again relationship between Kelly and the NFL left Duck fans feeling betrayed.
The departure from Oregon was tough for fans to swallow, but there was a silver lining; as Kelly left, so did most of the blame for the major violations Oregon had committed.
Rumors started to swirl in the 2012 offseason about Kelly being in talks with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kelly eventually turned down the NFL offer, claiming to have “unfinished business” at the University of Oregon. After Oregon’s 2012 campaign, rumors again flooded the internet.
Kelly was linked heavily to the Browns and Bills, but eventually said that he would be returning to Oregon. Then he signed with the Philadelphia Eagles.
When the Committee on Infractions released its report on Wednesday, Oregon was hit with meager penalties amounting t0 three years probation and a loss of a scholarship for two years. The harshest part of the penalty, an 18-month show-cause penalty, was placed on Kelly.
Ironically, the show-cause penalty, which bans Kelly from coaching college football for 18-months, will likely bare no consequences because he fled to the NFL. However, had he stayed at Oregon, the penalties could have been more devastating. By hitting Kelly with the show-cause, the NCAA is placing most of the fault on him and not the Oregon football program.
Whether or not that factored into his decision to split for the Eagles is hard to say. In a press conference after the sanctions report had been released, Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said that Kelly called him earlier in the morning to apologize for his hand in the violations.
“He’s a genuine guy,” said Mullens. “He was disappointed, of course, but he did apologize and said, ‘Lets go forward from here.’”
Mullens also pleaded Kelly’s innocents, quickly reminding media that the report states that the infractions were unintentional and said that he doesn’t believe that Kelly’s reputation will be tarnished.
“We were very fortunate to work with Chip,” Mullens said. “You saw his statement today, I thought that was very genuine. He was a great coach. He was very committed to compliance and so I think that will be his legacy.”
Some fans might disagree with Mullens, claiming to still feel betrayed, but they would be forgetting something; that show-cause penalty wasn’t just tacked on because Kelly left for the NFL. Had he stayed, he would have been ineligible to coach for 18-months. Oregon would have been forced to fire him. Aside from that, the penalties might have been stiffer had he still been employed by Oregon.
Not only did Kelly create a culture and brand in Oregon in his short, four-year tenure, he took the blame off of the football program. It ended up being the best case scenario for both Oregon and Kelly.