Reports: UCLA’s Chip Kelly Out of Running For Oregon Job, Ducks Hire Georgia’s Dan Lanning
Chip Kelly's quickest route out of Westwood has been closed off.
The UCLA football coach had been tied to the Oregon head coaching job for a week, even before the team lost Mario Cristobal to Miami. But now, after betting odds spiked in Kelly's favor, interviews were held and planes were tracked, the Ducks have ultimately landed on another candidate.
Multiple outlets have reported Oregon will be hiring Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning to be its next head coach. The Atlanta Journal Constitution initially reported the Lanning-to-Eugene connection Friday, but several sources within the Oregon athletic department refuted the report at the time and the search was apparently left open another day.
On Saturday, Lanning's hire was confirmed, meaning Kelly is set to stay with the Bruins for the time being.
According to 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, UCLA offered Kelly an extension Friday and was not expected to budge or counter whatever Oregon wound up offering. The Ducks had already conducted an interview with Kelly, but it is unknown whether an official offer was ever made.
Kelly has just one year left on the five-year contract he signed with the Bruins back in November 2017, and the final year starts Jan. 15, 2022. After that date, Kelly's current $9 million buyout drops to zero. Standard practice of the college football coaching carousel means Kelly is highly unlikely to coach in 2022 with his contract set to expire right after, so that date presumably stands as a deadline of sorts to extend or fire him.
That same report from Bruin Report Online said the two sides had reached an impasse in their extension talks, though, so it is unclear whether the Oregon job getting filled is a sign that Kelly has agreed to those terms or is simply continuing to hold out.
Kelly has gone 18-25 in four years with the Bruins, leading them to their first bowl this December after three straight losing seasons to kick off his tenure. From 2009 to 2012 with Oregon, Kelly went 46-7.
UCLA's coach spent the week on the road making recruiting visits, stopping in Arizona and Inglewood before returning to Westwood for the resumption of practice Saturday morning. Fans online pointed out that Kelly was not wearing UCLA or Jordan Brand gear in either of the photos taken of him with the recruits, fueling the speculation that he would be heading to Oregon.
It turns out he won't be going back to Eugene after all, and that he might just need a revamped wardrobe for future road trips he makes on the Bruins' behalf.
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