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UCLA Football: Bruins Fans Call For Immediate Firing Of Chip Kelly

Do they have a point?
Alex Kirschenbaum|
UCLA Football: Bruins Fans Call For Immediate Firing Of Chip Kelly
UCLA Football: Bruins Fans Call For Immediate Firing Of Chip Kelly

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UCLA Bruins

Following your favored UCLA Bruins' brutal 33-7 home loss to the Cal Bears on Saturday, fans have been utterly fed up with sixth-year head coach Chip Kelly.

The hashtag #FireChipKelly was trending all weekend, with the Bruins' season record dipping to 7-5 and the club now doomed to a mid-tier bowl game.

One fan tried to appeal directly to UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond:

Another fan is pining for a change:

This collective of UCLA fans is already annoyed Chip Kelly still has a job:

Kelly, who turned 60 on the day of the game, boasts a 34-34 record across his tenure with the program, earning a generous $5.6 million a year for his trouble.

Following decades of assistant work at Columbia, New Hampshire, Johns Hopkins, and finally Oregon, Kelly was promoted to a head gig with the Ducks from 2009-12, then moved on to an NFL opportunity with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2013-15. Kelly served one year as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers before returning to the college game, where he picked up with UCLA in 2018.

He won three Pac-12 Championships with Oregon from 2009-12, and was twice named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year. In 2010, while leading the Ducks to a 12-1 record (9-0 in the Pac-12), Kelly was named the Associated Press Coach of the Year, the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, the Walter Camp Coach of the Year, the Sporting News Coach of the Year and the AFCA Coach of the Year.

Things haven't been quite so rosy during his return to the NCAA. He guided the Bruins to just two bowl appearances in his first five seasons (and this year will mark his third in sixth), the Holiday Bowl in 2021 and the Sun Bowl in 2022. This season will mark just the third time he has gotten UCLA to a record better than .500 (7-5 in the regular season this year). His recruiting seems to be the biggest problem, as the Bruins' struggle on offense this season are pretty directly tied to lackluster quarterback play. The club's defense, on the other hand, has been absurdly great in 2023.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Alex likes slam dunks, take him to the hoop. His favorite play is the alley-oop.

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