College Football: 25 greatest head coaches of the 21st century

Best college football coaches of 21st century: 25. Chip Kelly

• Oregon Ducks (2009-12)
• UCLA Bruins (2018-Present)

Although his time with UCLA has been lackluster so far, Chip Kelly still takes the last spot on this list. No matter what he does over the rest of his career, he will always be known for his success with Oregon.

In four years with the Ducks, he won at least 10 games a season. In his final three seasons, he won 12 each year. He had an impressive 86.8 percent win percentage in his short run with Oregon. In those four seasons, he made it to the BCS Championship once. He failed to win, but getting there that fast is impressive.

He also won two major bowl games in the final two years of his tenure. The Ducks won the Rose Bowl in 2011 and the Fiesta Bowl in 2012. Oregon almost made it to another BCS Championship appearance in his final year, but a loss to Stanford late in the year kept them out.

Kelly changed the offense in college football. With his innovation, offenses now look like they do today. He wasn’t able to parlay that into NFL success, but he still changed football at the college level.

It will take time to see if Chip Kelly can turn around UCLA, but a 3-9 record in his first year is worrisome. We will have to see how he is able to recruit the state of California. No matter what he does, he cemented his legacy at a small school with few recruiting ties, and he will always have his success at Oregon to fall back on. It’s close, but Kelly makes the top 25.