Big news today in Evanston, as the Northwestern Wildcats announced a splash hire at Offensive Coordinator. Chip Kelly, who most recently held the same position with the Las Vegas Raiders, will now take over the NU offense. A change was certainly needed, given how much the offense has sputtered in the past two seasons. Quarterback Preston Stone flourished at SMU, but flopped in Evanston, which was the clearest sign yet that NU needed a switch at OC.
And Chip Kelly is about as good as it gets when it comes to upgrading the offensive coordinator position.
He previously held that position with Ohio State and Oregon. He also has 14 years of head coaching experience, at the likes of Oregon and UCLA at the collegiate level. And with the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL.
However, Peak Chip Kelly came when he led the Ducks program 2009-2012. The Dover, New Hampshire native led Oregon to a 46–7 overall record over that span, including three consecutive Pac 10 championships, and three straight 12-win seasons.
The “Quack Attack” was exciting and fun to watch, as the Ducks averaged 44.7 points per game (often rarely ever had to use their placekicker). Oregon appeared in a BCS bowl game each season under Kelly, earning victories in both the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl.
About that Rose Bowl win, it came on Jan. 2, 2012 after the 2011 season. And we covered that game, in Pasadena, which set Rose Bowl records for both total scoring and gametime kickoff temp. Chip Kelly was in a great mood after beating a Bret Bielema Wisconsin team, and winning his first BCS game win in three tries.
I’ve been told he usually doesn’t joke around much in press conferences, so my back and forth with him was a special treat.
Protocol dictates you state your name and affiliation before asking your question at these pressers, so when Chip Kelly heard “Paul Banks from The Sports Bank.net” this happened. (transcript from ASAP Sports)
PB: How does it feel…
Chip Kelly: You have a website named after you?
PB: I came up with the idea, yes.
Chip Kelly: That’s awesome.
PB: Thank you. I’ll take that as an endorsement for the site.
Chip Kelly: Write it down.
PB: How does it feel to get your first BCS win and to do it in a game that people will be talking about for a while, because this is really trending all over the internet all day?
Chip Kelly: Another internet word, trending. That’s good. We’re just excited for the win. I think a lot has been made out of we hadn’t won a BCS game before.
To be honest with you, I think that could be the case if we had been in seven or eight or nine of them. We’d only been in three.
We’re 1-2 right now, but we take each game individually, and that’s what we’ve always talked about. For us to go away from that, I think these guys would think I was crazy if we all of a sudden started to build it up as that.
We believe it’s on the line every day we step on the practice field. We believe it’s on the line every game we play in, and that formula works for us. We’re 34-6 in the last three years because we take every game like it’s the Super Bowl.
Some people don’t believe that, but you watch these guys practice every day and watch how they get after practice this past Tuesday, this past Wednesday, and it’s on the line every day for us. That’s what works for us, and we’re going to stick to that.
It feels great. Any time you win it feels unbelievable. And the thing that gets you excited is when you can share it with your players, and they see kind of the fruits of their labor pays off. I’ve never been around a harder working group of guys.
The “trending” term is in reference to the fact that earlier in the day “Rose Bowl,” “Rose Bowl 2012” and “Rose Parade” were 3 of the top 15 trending terms on Alexa.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.