Florida Football: Is Chip Kelly a good fit for the Gators?

Why Chip Kelly fits at Florida

Chip Kelly is a good fit at Florida. The Gators are used to high ego, high profile coaches from their time dealing with Steve Spurrier on his meteoric rise as the ol’ ball coach to Urban Meyer’s climb to the pinnacle of college football. Lately, the Gators have been coached by also ran types like Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain. Muschamp was in over his head as a first time head coach and McElwain never seemed to fit in Gainesville.

Chip Kelly has served as a head coach at multiple levels and stops and would bring experience to the position. He’s also used to high profile and high stakes coaching from Oregon, backed by Nike and to the NFL and their high powered PR machine.

Kelly has been under the microscope the Philadelphia Eagles head coach has to be accountable for and the amount of money and media coverage in the NFL. He’s used to much more than even the SEC stage can set for him and likely wouldn’t crack under the pressure like other, younger coaches Florida could have in mind.

Kelly is also an offensive minded head coach, which is where the Gators have had their greatest success- including McElwain who did win two SEC East division titles. While Feleipe Franks is still a work in progress, the 6-foot-6 inch 220 pounds quarterback has NFL size and ability. Kelly may be the perfect coach to groom a young stud like Franks.

Florida is a recruiting hotbed that Oregon wasn’t. Kelly had to dig deep to create those Oregon Ducks teams mostly by importing Texas and California talent. Kelly now won’t have to import anything at all — he’s in central Florida where talent grows on playgrounds every few miles.