Chip Kelly isn't returning to the sidelines in the immediate future.
On Friday, ESPN announced it signed the former San Francisco 49ers head coach to a multiyear deal where he will serve as a studio analyst for college football pregame and halftime shows as well as do postgame breakdowns on Saturdays on ESPN 2. He will also provide NFL analysis on Sundays during SportsCenter.
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Kelly was dubbed as an offensive mastermind after revitalizing the Oregon football program and tasted a little bit of early success in the NFL with the Eagles. But the rest of the league caught up to his fast-paced offense and Kelly started making headlines for the wrong reasons. He tried his hand one more time in San Francisco and we all saw how that played out.
I'm not going to lie. This one feels a little bit strange to me. Kelly was never regarded as a bubbly, charismatic guy with a ton of personality so it's hard to see him as a regular presence on television. There's an old assumption that ESPN and other major networks chase good looking people with contagious personalities and it's hard for me to ever see Kelly fitting that mold.
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He's likely going to take on a more serious role anyway, hashing through in-depth breakdowns of plays and trying simplify things for the audience.
Will he be good? Who knows, but you better believe his name will start coming up when every college football vacancy opens. It happens every time.
