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Did USC refuse to offer Chip Kelly their coaching job for fear of rejection?
USC is one of college football's most disappointing teams this season. In addition to an embarrassing 1-2 start, there are now all kinds of crazy rumors popping up about the program away from the field. Just yesterday, coach Clay Helton had to deny rumors that a player punched him in the face.
Sadly, this whole thing isn't Helton's fault, even if he's the one getting blamed. Remember, USC has had a staggering six different head coaching transitions since 2012 (which has included two separate stints as an interim head coach for Helton, before getting the gig) leading to massive instability.
According to FOX Sports' Joel Klatt, that all could have been avoided when the job opened up last winter. Klatt dropped an insane nugget on 'The Herd with Colin Cowherd' Wednesday: Chip Kelly was interested in the job.
Before he could continue, Cowherd asked him to clarify the comment. The video can be seen above, but Klatt didn't hesitate: Kelly was interested in the job.
Klatt went on to explain why the Trojans never seriously pursued Kelly. It wasn't so much that they weren't interested, and it certainly wasn't that Kelly was interested. Instead, it was because of the ego of former USC athletic director Pat Haden.
If true, this is an absolutely staggering revelation. While Haden had more than his fair share of blunders while serving as the athletic director at USC, not seriously pursuing Kelly for the vacant head coaching job would be the worst. Given what Kelly was able to do at Oregon (with a bunch of recruits USC mostly passed on), could you imagine what he could do with some of the best players in the country?
And as far as the timing goes, when USC's job opened last fall, Kelly was in the midst of a disastrous 6-9 season (with one game left in the year) which ultimately cost him his job in Philadelphia. Could he have been trying to get back into the college game, at one of the sport's premiere programs as things fell apart with the Eagles?
Only a few people know, but it does seem feasible.
And although Clay Helton hasn't gotten a very fair shake at USC so far, if you're new AD Lynn Swann, don't you have to at least have to make a phone call to see if Kelly would reconsider?
