UCLA Football: 3 ways Chip Kelly can keep job past 2020 season

Chip Kelly has come under fire lately after UCLA football players expressed distrust for him, but here’s how he could keep his job past 2020.

When UCLA hired Chip Kelly, it seemed like an absolute home run. The former Oregon head coach who left the national title-contending Ducks for the NFL had plenty of success in the Pac-12 over the years and the Bruins were hoping to finally get back to the top of the league.

It had been 20 years since UCLA won a conference title when Kelly was hired and that was all the way back when it was still called the Pac-10.

Since then, the Bruins have won two division titles (2011, 2012) but have been quiet since even with Josh Rosen at quarterback as one of the best passers in school history.

Jim L. Mora went 46-30 from 2012-17 and was let go after the 2017 season, making way for the hiring of Kelly. In two seasons, the head coach has gone just 7-17, missing a bowl game in back-to-back years.

The Bruins have made just one bowl game since 2015, losing the Cactus Bowl in 2017 and the program hasn’t won a postseason game since 2014 in the Alamo Bowl. That was one of the more successful periods of UCLA football in the past couple of decades as Mora recorded back-to-back 10-win seasons.

Kelly hasn’t lived up to the hype nor has he gotten UCLA to the postseason in his first two years and time might be running out.

A recent report stating that players don’t trust Kelly enough to keep them safe and healthy during a campus return during the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s concerning and could show that his days are numbered in Westwood.

Here’s what Kelly needs to do in order to secure his job past 2020.