Chip Kelly to Kentucky? A Rumor That Could Be The Result of a Bad Game of Telephone

After a long day of waiting, we learned around 9:30 PM ET that Kentucky was moving on from Mark Stoops. KSR was prepared with a Hot Board of potential candidates for the job. A new name was thrown into the foray around midnight.

Mike Florio shared on Pro Football Talk that former Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly could be the next head football coach of the Kentucky Wildcats.

“Word is circulating among Kentucky players that Kelly could be the team’s next head coach,” Florio writes. “That doesn’t mean he will be. It doesn’t even mean he’s an official candidate. It means only that Kentucky players have somehow developed the impression that Kelly could be the new coach.”

Really!?!?!? Chip Kelly?

Florio is well-versed in the NFL rumor mill. His website burns and turns through them, and many of those rumors amount to nothing. There are many reasons why this rumor makes no sense, but there is an explanation for it.

Long after he was an offensive innovator at Oregon, or a head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Chip Kelly spent five years as UCLA’s head coach. They had moderate success during his tenure, with three straight 8+ win seasons, but he abruptly left in February of 2024 to become the Ohio State offensive coordinator. Why? The demands of the NIL era ahead of UCLA’s move to the Big Ten were too much. He’d rather call plays than organize NIL efforts as a head coach.

If Kelly didn’t want to be a head coach in Westwood, why would he want to be one in Lexington? There’s an explanation that connects all of the dots.

The Kelly That Should Be At Kentucky

A big reason Mark Stoops is no longer the Kentucky head coach is because of the program’s structure in the NIL and revenue-sharing era. His best years were before the changes in the sport. Kentucky fell behind, and now they’re playing catch-up.

Most schools around the SEC are hiring general managers to create an NFL front office structure in the college football ranks. On Sunday, Florida hired David Caldwell to be the Gators’ GM. The former Jacksonville Jaguars’ general manager has connections to the Florida program.

Kentucky can make a similar move, not with Chip Kelly, but with Champ Kelly. The latter played wide receiver and defensive back at Kentucky from 1998-01. He’s had a successful professional career in NFL front offices, rising through the ranks with the Broncos and Bears.

Kelly appears to have hit a hard ceiling in the NFL. Even though he served as an interim general manager for the Raiders for two years, and is currently the interim GM in Miami, for whatever reason, he’s not getting the full-time gigs.

In short, Champ Kelly is the perfect person to become the Kentucky football general manager. It’s easy to understand how Chip and Champ could be confused. Hopefully, this Florio rumor forecasts good news for the future of the Kentucky football front office.

We discussed Champ Kelly’s expertise and the potential addition of a general manager during Sunday night’s Rapid Reaction.