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Big Ten Conference, Bruin Nation, Bruins, college football, College Football Playoff, football, NFL, Pac-12 Conference, Rose Bowl, Super Bowl, UCLA, UCLA Bruins, UCLA Football, University of California Los Angeles, Victory Bell, Westwood
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The now former head football coach at UCLA after six seasons. RECORD: 35-34
THIS JUST IN – and I mean that literally as I found out about this roughly a couple of hours ago while on Facebook…
The speculation was there and increasing the past week or so;
Reports were that he was interviewing for various coordinator jobs in both the NFL and at the college level.
And as it turned out, he has done it as Chip Kelly informed his Bruin football team during a meeting this morning (as of this writing) that he will no longer be their coach;
He will be in Columbus next year as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State.
Everyone else will be writing about how his record was one of the worst in UCLA football history and how more than anything else, he had the air of someone who didn’t really want to be in Westwood,
Someone who, as a friend said more than once, was “Just there to collect a paycheck”.
Someone who never really fit in Bruin Nation and its culture.
Which is why I won’t dwell on that.
As for my personal feelings about Chip Kelly being gone and Chip Kelly in general…
Like more or less every other Bruin, I was excited when he was hired at the end of the 2017 season, reckoning that the success he had at Oregon would be duplicated at UCLA with visions of Pac-12 Championships, Rose Bowl games, and – I dare say it – appearances in the College Football Playoff dancing in my head.
That changed after his very first game – Cincinnati at home,
Which an underdog Bearcats team won 26-17 over a Bruin team that except for a 75-yard touchdown run by Kazmeir Allen looked very sluggish and made stupid mistakes that Pop Warner teams full of ten-year olds wouldn’t make, like getting penalized for having too many players on the field AFTER they had called a time out.
I was one very upset Bruin leaving the Rose Bowl that evening.
The fact that Kelly had ended the tradition of the team walking through the tailgaters on the way to the Rose Bowl,
And not keeping the Victory Bell in the Morgan Center for everyone to enjoy,
Said to me that he didn’t give a care about Bruin Nation, that we – the students, fans, and alums – didn’t matter.
That the Bruins record of 10-21 his first three seasons – the worst three year span in nearly 100 years, which included among other things a loss to San Diego State for the first time ever (I should know – I was there),
Only solidified my not necessarily being a big fan of his.
This past November after UCLA’s despicable loss to Cal, two weeks after their despicable loss to Arizona State, both of those disasters coming at home (and book ending the win over USC, but that was both besides the point and an aberration),
I posted on this blog two people who I would very much like to see as the next Bruin football coach as I had joined everyone else in calling for Kelly’s dismissal;
Here’s the link: http://www.socalsportschronicles.wordpress.com/2023/11/27/a-bruin-view-who-i-feel-should-replace-chip-kelly-as-ucla-football-coach/
With all the speculating talk this past week or so,
I re-posted this piece on X (formerly Twitter) and a few of UCLA’s fan pages on Facebook, getting a lot of reads and comments disagreeing with my choices.
Which is okay, as that hasn’t changed my opinion of who I want as the next head man in Westwood;
To find out who those two choices are, click on the above link and read on.
Anyhow…
The deed is done.
Chip Kelly is gone and moving on.
And while it would be great if whoever is hired to take over can galvanize the program and lead them to a successful first Big Ten season,
The way things are going, it’s too difficult for me to guarantee such.
In fact,
I will soon write an opinion post explaining my view of why, after over three and a half decades as an official member of Bruin Nation, four decades as a plain old fan, and over five decades being connected to UCLA in some form as my mother is an alum, which means I was a Bruin legacy since the age of two,
I’ve at long last realized that UCLA is not a true football school, has never been one, and will never really be one on the level of the Alabamas, Michigans, Ohio States, Georgias, and USCs out there.
And why it would be surprising but not a complete 100,000% shock to me if I saw a certain article regarding the future of Bruin football,
Which I will specify when I write and post the article on this blog.
Until then,
I and the rest of Bruin Nation can officially say goodbye to Chip;
Most people will say good riddance.
But strangely enough, I won’t.
That kind of “Ding dong, the witch is (gone)” animosity is simply not worth it to me.
Instead, I’ll wish him well and God Bless.
And in the meantime, continue to look forward to pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training in the next few days; the Dodgers’ pitchers and catchers reporting on the 9th at Camelback Ranch while the Angels’ pitchers and catchers report to Tempe on the 14th.
I reckon you thought I would say I was looking forward to watching the Super Bowl, did you?
FOR THE RECORD: I have the Kansas City Chiefs winning, because it’s too hard to disregard Patrick Mahomes, his abilities, and the impact that he has had as the Chiefs’ QB.
Plus as well as Brock Purdy as played for the San Francisco 49ers, Mahomes is simply better.
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