The Florida Gators reportedly met with Chip Kelly in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Sunday. While the two sides met, athletic director Scott Stricklin and his group, who joined him in the meeting, flew back to Florida without the heralded Head Coach.
Kelly is presently a college football and NFL analyst with ESPN. Despite reportedly receiving more than $60 million from the San Francisco 49ers after being fired following just one season in 2016, Kelly reportedly would like to get back into coaching.
Gators have struggled this season
Former Gators head coach Steve Spurrier, who also attended the institution, recently hinted that Kelly won't be the coach.
But what does he know? The Gators have struggled this season. After losing to the Georiga Bulldogs in Jacksonville, Florida, near the end of October, Stricklin decided to part ways with head coach Jim McElwain.
It also made things easier for Stricklin when McElwain reportedly lied about his family and his players receiving death threats. Florida could not find any substance to his claims.
Randy Shannon, who was named by Stricklin as the interim head coach for the final few games of the season, is a former head coach with the Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes. Yet, the team has continued its offensive struggles that hampered McElwain's campaign in the final few months at the school.
Kelly is an offensive genius
Kelly is an offensive genius. He is also considered the best coaching candidate available with several big-name jobs already available.
He could immediately help Feleipe Franks, who has definitely struggled in his freshman campaign at Florida. Franks went 15 of 30 for 152 yards and two touchdowns against the UAB Blazers this past Saturday.
The quarterback position has been a revolving door this season, as McElwain couldn't pick just one player to head the lead. He decided to switch between Luke Del Rion, the son of Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio, before he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, Franks, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish transfer Malik Zaire.
Prior to the season, Zaire was considered the favorite to start. But the offensive has been dreadful no matter who has started behind center this season.
A lot of people are going to think immediately that Kelly is going to be a bad fit because he struggled in four seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and the 49ers. Yet, in four seasons as the Oregon Ducks head coach, he went 46-7 and the Ducks were considered a top college football team in each of those seasons.
Kelly even guided the Ducks to the BCS National Champion in 2010, before losing to the Auburn Tigers. Darren Thomas was the Ducks quarterback for two of those seasons, He guided the team to the BCS National Championship, then to a 12-2 record during the 2011 season.
After Thomas decided to forgo his senior season, a young kid from Hawaii who little people knew of outside of the islands, took over the reigns. Marcus Mariota beat out Bryan Bennett and Dustin Haines for the starting job.
He would excel in his three seasons -- just one under Kelly -- as the Ducks' quarterback, including winning the 2014 Heisman Trophy ceremony.
The Gators have not had a good quarterback since Tim Tebow left following the 2009 season. Since then, the Gators have started 11 different quarterbacks in eight seasons since 2010.
The Gators have had only one 200-yardage passing game this season. That came from Franks in the thrilling game when Florida came-from-behind to defeat the Tennessee Volunteers.
The lowest yardage was by Zaire when he had 36 yards against the Bulldogs.
The Gators need an offensive minded coach. Jeremy Foley thought McElwain was the guy with that similar mindset, yet that did not work out. Florida cannot take that gamble once again. They need to make the bold move and hire Chip Kelly.
