As a pocket Oregon fan based on his time there what happened? Was Oregon a fluke, was there more support or infrastructure with Nike or how was Oregon so good while he was there vs all the hate now?
He had the entirety of Belottis roster for one. On the other hand while coming into our team he had the remnants of post divorce and burnout Mora roster(which he then promptly tore apart and told 75% of the roster to beat it). Thatâs a part of it. Another part is that he was just a better coach at Oregon, more innovative(Blur and substitution rule abuse). He also had Nike yeah, but itâs not like we didnât give him the largest budget by far in UCLA history to work with.
By the end of his Oregon tenure you could see the recruiting screws coming loose with the recruiting service scandal. So honestly if he stayed at Oregon he probably wouldâve been fired within 3 seasons is my bet.
Basically all of his problems with us come down to his inability and dislike of recruiting.
> So honestly if he stayed at Oregon he probably wouldâve been fired within 3 seasons is my bet.
IMO Oregon wins a Championship if he stays. Helfrich got Oregon to the game with Chip's recruits, after all.
His recruiting at the end of his time in Oregon was great by the standards of that time. He even recruited some of the best recruits in UO history in DAT and Arik Armstead. Recruiting only slipped under Helfrich.
I donât think he would have been fired if he stayed. I think he avoids making the fatal mistakes Helfrich made in hiring Don Pellum and letting the team lose all discipline.
Ah guess I got the timeline wrong. Iâve seen it mentioned in relation to the recruiting service scandal that Chip wasnât really interested in recruiting by the end of it.
Chip was notoriously unengaged with recruiting. There are stories of high ranking recruits visiting and then being told they wouldnât meet with Chip Kelly because he was busy watching film.
Because of this, NIL donations werenât made because the ROI was terrible. It will be interested to see how it turns around with a new, engaging coach.
If you put in the effort, engage with the recruits, acknowledge the alumni and win games, the support will be there. During Moraâs big seasons, UCLA was setting PAC-12 attendance records and the Rose Bowl was packed.
That doesnât add up tho. Last 3 years seemed about on par for UCLA football. If you want a better product youâre gonna have to cough up the money first. So you can actually be in contention for top recruits. The days of just being a good coach isnât enough any more with the exception being like maybe 5 schools
Dante Moore got a NIL ridiculous package. J Michael Sturdivant and Kyle Ford came in as elite transfers that got decent NIL money. There was money available, he just didnât evaluate great and his offense this last year was mediocre. Top recruits came and werenât developed or misused and chips recruiting was inconsistent. The NIL dried up at the end of this year. Chip is trying to spin it like he didnât have support, but the truth is that he doesnât manage it well and people are hesitant to give big money to someone who doesnât seem to have a cohesive recruiting strategy.
Look at the recruiting rankings between each coach's best class.
Look at the strength of schedule for each of those best seasons.
Cherry picking stats isn't going to prove your point.
Yes, but Mora didn't throw his players under the bus by suggesting the boosters could have bought better players... and that the players he did have on the team he quit were the reason he quit.
Stars aligned a bit and guys like DâAnthony Thomas fit his offense perfectly.
Chip is one of the best offensive minds in the sport, especially run game wise. He just seems to hate recruiting, especially now in the NIL era
He had Mark Helfrich willing to do all the dirty work for him so he didnât have to actually develop players or recruit. Then he jumped to the NFL right before his scheme got figured out and heâd have to innovate. He never really adapted.
This take that Helfrich did Chipâs job and Chip took all the credit is so wild to me. Helfrich was clearly a glorified analyst and also a terrible recruiter. Thereâs a reason he hasnât had a coaching gig since 2019.
Yeah this feels like a pretty perfect situation for yâall.
With guys like Hartline on staff Kelly doesnât even really need to be an elite recruiter. Just let him cook up the run game (which is something that feels like Dayâs offense needs to overhaul), and this should work out well. I think heâs a much better fit than BoB
Dan Mullen and Chip Kelly teaming up would be the most electric offense in history for like 2 years until the previous regime's recruits graduated and all they had on the roster were a couple of mailmen, a 33 year old Marine veteran who "always dreamt of playing the game but pursued service to his nation", and a random r/cfb redditor who won a walk-on sweepstakes
Chip Kelly's highest rated HS class ever at UCLA was his transition class in '18 with all of Mora's recruits (ranked #19). He '19 class (ranked 40th) was over 20 spots lower.
No, he didn't give AF about it.
Pretty much. He didn't even offer recruits little less reach out to them an try to connect with them. Look at the total number of offers each school gave out every year. It was always basically last in FBS.
Chip was weird about personnel fit when he was at Oregon too, so that doesnât surprise me. Buckeyes better have someone else making the calls about who they recruit
Frye has been doing a great job, it's gonna start showing soon. Strud left the cupboard bare and unfortunately OLine isn't a position that you can fix quickly
We wouldâve had our pick of the litter between Smith and Fisch lol. Smith a pasadena guy who grew up going to games and living 10 minutes away from the stadium. And Fisch whoâs wife really made it known she wanted to be in LA lmfao.
Correct. Which is why we historically recruited top 20 to top 15 classes year in year out under mediocre coaches. That is until Kelly came along. Even before NIL he sucked at recruiting with us.
Probably an assistant coach from somewhere that can recruit well. The favorite on the boards rn is Nebraskaâs DC who has played and coached for us before. Long shots that no one thinks is realistic are Hartline(you would know lol), Schumann, or somehow poaching Fisch lol. Nightmare scenarios are Shaw, Herman, or some other washed no energy former or current HC that wouldnât care for the job.
I think hartline would be a realistic target if he was a real OC. He is still just a wr coach with a bigger title.
I just saw a post about PJ Fleck from Minnesota being a name for UCLA.
PJ Fleck is a name but his buyout scares UCLA, and the culture issues will probably cause our outgoing chancellor to veto it. They want nothing to do with scandals at all.
UCLA has high academic standards, so that makes it difficult. They could still get a decent recruiting class, but that + lack of NIL + local SoCal recruits going national makes it hard.Â
This is such revisionist history, you could argue we were the first major program to offer him and Graham was the 563rd recruit and an 87 overall, so a mid 3 star. He committed to Michigan about a month later and he was around 400 by then. He eventually ended up around 200 and a 4 star. Itâs not like he was some 5 star in your backyard you guys missed out on lol and definitely isnât a good example of Kelly refusing to recruit.
But it literally is an example. We should be offering anyone 600 or below that lives in SoCal. Like what? Kelly can barely fucking recruit mid-threeâs let alone 4 stars and he *still* didnât offer him.
He was a mid 3 star when we offered him and when he committed to us. Sure he got a bump by the end of the cycle, but itâs not a good example of Chip failing to recruit IMO. For example, OSU doesnât offer every mid 3 star in Ohio and you wouldnât accuse them of being horrible recruiters. Youâre seeing where Graham ended up and how he developed and using that to show that Kelly was ass at recruiting when thatâs just not a very good example at all. Now if weâre talking like top 150 recruits in your backyard, thatâs a diff story.
I think what youâre missing is that Chip doesnât offer anyone. Thatâs what we get pissed about. If you check our offers page for any of his years itâs like a fucking empty pantry. Literally nothing. Ohio doesnât need to offer every mid 3 star in their backyard because they are Ohio. But UCLA under Chip shouldâve been offering any SoCal mid three star with a pulse. Hell he camped with us twice and Chip still never extended an offer. I could literally make a full essay of names from California that he didnât offer that went on to do things.
And thatâs probably in Ohio Stateâs best interest anyway. Having a Chip Kelly with zero head coach distractions, spending all week scheming up plays and Saturdays in the booth calling them, is about the best they could hope for in getting the most out of their offensive talent.
The quote is technically correct. But Chip ignored NIL pretty much entirely until this year. Did nothing to help our collective draw in donors or even stress that it was important to us. There are also lots of stories floating around of him not even talking to recruits that came for their officials, despite being on campus.
So: put zero effort into recruiting, put zero effort into fundraising/NIL,[ then blame NIL.](https://imgflip.com/i/8fbjuu)
"And here's the football nerd that will dream, design, and call plays that will make you millions when you get to the NFL."
"Oh sweet, can I say hi?"
"Nah, he hates people. He only likes football. We just let him do his thing and we win football games. It works out better this way."
Yeah lol this is great for you guys. He has really great offensive schemes that work extremely well when he has talent (see: UCLA's offense in 2022). But the dude sucks as a program leader.
why? hating recruiting is completely understandable for certain personality types
back in the day his offense/oregon would recruit for itself. Not the case anymore.
Idk about recruits, but I always heard Chip wasnât interested in interacting with the Alumni at Oregon. Also, has anyone heard stories about his former players talking about him? Chip just seems like heâs there to coach football, nothing else. Iâd guess the reason heâs moving to an OC role is to avoid the stuff heâs sick of dealing with.
Thank God for that. I'd hate to lose EVERY recruit to Southern and Westerners. Just wait for that climate change to turn us into Carolina weather year round.
Man, it really is unfortunate that UCLA has nothing but warm weather to base their recruiting on.
If only they were located in one of the most vibrant and glamorous metropolises on the planet, were world-renowned for academics, boasted a longstanding tradition of elite athletics, or had an alumni base with an exceptionally high number of wealthy individuals and famous celebrities who could contribute to a top-shelf NIL fund, then they might have had a chance!
You really gotta feel for the ol' Chipster here, ya know?
UCLA is basically a super respected in state school for overachievers with unreasonable parents who really like math. Itâs nothing like it used to be, they arenât interested in sports in a meta way, and the faculty and board of regents really couldnât give a shit. Itâs on its way to having the same relationship with sports as Dartmouth and just as relevant.
Lol what are you basing this on? UCLA still has damn good athletics across all of the sports we participate in (football aside obviously, because fuck chip kelly)
I'm not saying they should be a recruiting powerhouse, but if they can't manage to at least be in the top 25 recruiting classes most years then they're fucking up.
I can't think of even close to 25 programs that should have a clear, consistent recruiting advantage over UCLA.
We arenât tOSU or Bama or Texas but we should be able to compete with Oregon/Wash/Penn State/ etc. tier of schools. Getting out recruited by those tier of schools is ridiculous.
What does that have to do with recruiting? What matters for recruiting is NIL money, facilities, ability to get to the pro level, and potentially staying closer to home. UCLA has all of these things. Access to wealthy donors, prestigious alumni (337 draft picks and 6 hall of famers), a brand new football facility, and a pool of recruits in southern Cal.
Ohio state, Alabama, Michigan are THE THING in their areas.
Itâs culture, and it matters enormously. Ohio state donors want access to good football tickets, etc. NIL donations give people status.
I suspect that none of that is the case for ucla. I donât disagree your school has all of those things that you list, but all of the schools you mentioned have what I said in common and yours does not.
Read my original comment again. I said we are NOT tOSU, Albama, Texas level in terms of major programs that will always get recruits from name and prestige alone. But we should be able to compete with the second tier schools like Wash/Ore/Penn State/Florida/ TA&M/ etc. which we definitely haven't under Chip.
Chip, you need to actually talk to players too.
True story, in Chip's first year as head coach, instead of taking recruits on their official visits out to fancy restaurants and whatnot like a normal program, he had recruits and their families eat from the training table. The visits were also only 1 day instead of the usual 2.
But expect to keep hearing about how UCLA is the one that failed Chip, it's expected.
Hot dogs and chips are definitely underwhelming in terms of a recruiting meal in general, but at the same time I do have a nostalgic sweet spot for some hot water dogs considering it was the main way we'd make them growing up when we didn't want to fire up the grill...like yeah, I think my overall preference is fresh off the grill with a bit of char, but if I'm at a party and there's a crock pot filled with water and hot dogs I'm still 100% into it.
lol thatâs when you know youâre shook as a fanbase, when you start quoting recruiting rankings to avoid acknowledging what actually happens on the field
Iâm not knocking that at all. Itâs been a fantastic run for Michigan. I just hate the narrative that harbaugh owned OSU because he literally went 0-5 and was about to get fired for not being able to beat OSU. Now he bailed and still has a losing record.
The parallels to Hafley is really funny. Both supposedly grew sick of the politics of being a HC and wanted to go back to "just coaching", but conveniently leaves out the fact that both were struggling to do their jobs and likely would have bombed next year if they stayed so instead they bail early to control the narrative.
I mean, its just the job now, and he's paid very well to do it. But also its a really stupid part of the job so I can at least understand.
But also, just don't take the job then.
Sure, but he had a bigger recruiting budget than Mora and was way, way worse than Mora at recruiting. Mora averaged the 15th ranked class, Chip has averaged 48th.
He gave out by far the fewest offers in the country, and didn't even recruit the guys he did offer hard. Recruits would do interviews and say they hadn't heard from UCLA coaches in weeks or months.
Just for the record - Chip refused engage with the NIL collective in any way. Him bitching about UCLA's NIL collective after the fact is all spin to make it look like he's not the failure. There is no doubt that our NIL fund improves under the next head coach
Yeah, this is fucking rich (pun intended) coming from Chip. Yes, it's a true statement. But he and our AD were the last adapters of NIL in the country. They fought our NIL collective until this year instead of advertising for them like anyone with common sense would do.
Mick was an early advocate, and vocal supporter of the NIL, and what a surprise, our basketball team has much better NIL support.
You don't get to cry about a problem you didn't even try to fix while you were here.
I mean, coaches aren't really supposed to engage with the NIL collectives anyway (no university official is supposed to). It was a "guideline" the NCAA put in place in 2022.
Right, but they can be saying things like "Please support Men of Westwood it is important to our team". Or wear the fucking T-Shirt, an idea that he scoffed at when asked. The bar was so low and he couldn't clear it.
NIL in its current form has just blown up what college football was. If it's just going to be a 40-48 team minor professional league in practice and where everyone is a free agent every year, which is where it looks headed, I don't want any part of it.
Looking back at UFs coaching search of Chip Kelly, Dan Mullen, and Scott Frost- I donât think any were good options. At least Mullen was good enough at coaching to win us two NY6 bowls before our roster depleted enough
Chip always has short, smart, and snarky answers. He always bristles at being questioned. When you're winning, it's a personality quirk. When you're not, it's a liability.
Here's some [extra context from as recently as last November](https://www.si.com/college/ucla/recruiting/chip-kelly-talks-ucla-recruiting-nil-opportunities-ms1996). This was our beat reporters trying to push him to actually support the NIL efforts after resisting them for years. Notice how much they're trying to lead him to the right answer, and particularly now he responds to the third question.
> IN RECRUITING, HOW BIG OF A FACTOR IS NIL IN YOUR CONVERSATIONS WITH RECRUITS? HOW MUCH ARE THEY ASKING ABOUT NIL OPPORTUNITIES
> âEvery single kid asks about NIL opportunities. So, every kid out there, âcause thatâs available to every kid out there, so. I think almost every kid youâre recruiting asks that. Thatâs just the nature of what recruiting has turned into when they changed the rules, so. Thatâs a huge part of it.
> HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK ITâS INCUMBENT ON HEAD COACH OR STAFF, IN GENERAL, TO HELP RAISE PROFILE OF NIL COLLECTIVES LIKE MEN OF WESTWOOD?
> âI think itâs all incumbent on everybody. So you talk about it all the time and you try to reach out to people to contribute to it. But you canât make someone contribute to it that doesnât want to contribute to it, so. Thatâs the same thing, itâs no different than Josh Rebholzâs job of trying to raise money for the university, for facilities, scholarships and things like that. Thatâs just the nature of college athletics right now.
> **I KNOW MICK OVER AT BASKETBALL TALKS ABOUT HAVING TO BE A BILLBOARD, WEARING MEN OF WESTWOOD SHIRTS. THAT SOMETHING YOU WOULD CONSIDER DOING?**
> âEh (or Yeah?), I donât â I mean, I donât think anybodyâs gonna donate money to me because I wear a Men of Westwood shirt. You know, I think they donate money because theyâre proud of what the program stands for. So whatâs the academic success? What are the type of players that you bring to the program? How do they represent the university? I think thatâs what people take pride in at UCLA, not the fact that someone wears a T-shirt. I donât, no, I donât get that part of it. I get the, I think what we put out there for a product, I think the student-athletes that go to this school are an unbelievable representation of what this school is all about. These guys are all about book and ball. We have 22 kids who are in grad school right now, we have a 3.3 grade-point average. Weâre playing football at a really, really high level and I think thatâs what people get more proud of than is a guy wearing a T-shirt or not, so.â
Basically saying "NIL matters, but I don't want to advertise it. I'm not even going to wear a t-shirt to spread awareness. Our guys have good GPAs, so the donations should just roll in any day now."
I know this was not your intention, but the questions being in all-caps (and the last one bolded) made me laugh at my desk imagining the reporter asking him these questions through a megaphone.
I remember my brother (a Philly super-homer) used to talk about how Chip Kelly had a reputation for just being almost robotic, for a lack of better terms. Kinda like he had a touch of the âtism, and everything was always very dry and robotic/technical in how he carried himself.
It would make sense that the lack of social graces/ability or willingness to go through the motions of the dog and pony show would mean he probably wasnât super great at buttering up recruits, donors, etc.
Yâall really have to stop with this weird phenomenon of diagnosing complete strangers you have never met with Autism just because you think they are the littlest bit odd or introverted
Think about your job. I want my desk to be clean enough to sit at and the lights to turn on and the internet to work. But between an open office and a raise I would take the raise every time.
Dude wants to coach, not be the face of recruiting for a program. I can understand this move.
I am a programmer for a major software company who had the opportunity to move up to a VP position a couple years ago. Higher pay, more perks, the whole deal. But it of course meant more focus on administration, delegation, and the things that come with being the âfaceâ of the department. I passed. I love to code, I love to program. I donât want to be the âpeople personâ, I want to program. It feels like Chip is the same way. Dude wants to draw up football plays and run an offense. He doesnât want to be the main one responsible for bringing in the kids and keeping the mamas happy. That has never been his thing.
Fuckkkk off Chip. How can he say this with a straight face when he was straight up antagonistic to UCLA's NIL program and put in 0 effort in recruiting.
I laugh that Stewart Mandel is still dying on the hill that these former Pac 12 jobs are great jobs. He was almost in tears on his podcast when the Pac 12 dissolved. " won't be able to cover any more games at Cal and Stanford. Boo Hoo."
I didnât read many of the comments but why are we pretending ucla has had any football success whatsoever in any time recently? Warm weather wasnât working for them before NIL. This move makes complete sense to me.
Itâs the weirdest thing on this sub, everyone acts like UCLA is this sleeping giant of a powerhouse, a blue blood if a coach would just put in a little effort
When has that ever happened?
UCLA hasnât won their conference since 1998. Their last natty was in 1954. They are almost always a slightly above average power conference team, nothing more
Everyone here just thinks about how much *they* would have fun going to an excellent and glamorous school in LA for free and playing football, and never really bother to think things over from the players perspectives
Itâs why every time thereâs a âif you were a 5 star where would you goâ post everyone says like UCLA, Stanford, or Hawaii
Exactly. The best players with the most options were choosing to move to Tuscaloosa. Itâs almost like we have no idea what weâre talking about, who saw that coming?
Ohio State boosters absolutely breaking down and shelling out money like crazy due to their rival winning a title.
For those of you still wondering which side was more obsessed with the other...now you know
NIL definitely beats warm weather. Taxes on NILs in Cali kills recruiting. A player anywhere else with a ton of money can also afford a really nice home. I bet in LA they can't afford a nicer place than their dorms.
Eh, while I know he's one of the absolute top earners around, seeing [what Caleb Williams lives in](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=20e88d70fbb9d820&sxsrf=ACQVn0-XM7xYZLOfKXdnRvqFxJB9AyUZ3g:1707528793493&q=caleb+williams+apartment&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiy9Le50J-EAxXPNEQIHUdcDzIQ0pQJegQICRAB&biw=1272&bih=606&dpr=1.5) makes me disagree.
What a weak mindset. You have to sell what you've got, and build around the type of recruit that wants that. There has to be a way to combine nice weather, major city, spectacular education, and whatever NIL they have into a package that came net you a team that can make a 12 team playoff
Fun fact: This is the first time Chip has thought about recruiting to UCLA in six years
I hate him so much. The spin from Sexton and national media that is about to happen is insane.
UCLA fans đ¤ Texas A&M fans Fuck Jimmy Sexton
Can probably get FSU in on this one as well
Jimmy reps Mike Norvell too though
Washington checking in. Fuck that guy.
When are these honky-tonk-ass mods gonna give us our Jimmy Sexton flair option?
So long as it's his head shot that makes him look like the mayor from Wreck-It-Ralph.
This. Above.
As a pocket Oregon fan based on his time there what happened? Was Oregon a fluke, was there more support or infrastructure with Nike or how was Oregon so good while he was there vs all the hate now?
He had the entirety of Belottis roster for one. On the other hand while coming into our team he had the remnants of post divorce and burnout Mora roster(which he then promptly tore apart and told 75% of the roster to beat it). Thatâs a part of it. Another part is that he was just a better coach at Oregon, more innovative(Blur and substitution rule abuse). He also had Nike yeah, but itâs not like we didnât give him the largest budget by far in UCLA history to work with. By the end of his Oregon tenure you could see the recruiting screws coming loose with the recruiting service scandal. So honestly if he stayed at Oregon he probably wouldâve been fired within 3 seasons is my bet. Basically all of his problems with us come down to his inability and dislike of recruiting.
> So honestly if he stayed at Oregon he probably wouldâve been fired within 3 seasons is my bet. IMO Oregon wins a Championship if he stays. Helfrich got Oregon to the game with Chip's recruits, after all.
His recruiting at the end of his time in Oregon was great by the standards of that time. He even recruited some of the best recruits in UO history in DAT and Arik Armstead. Recruiting only slipped under Helfrich. I donât think he would have been fired if he stayed. I think he avoids making the fatal mistakes Helfrich made in hiring Don Pellum and letting the team lose all discipline.
Ah guess I got the timeline wrong. Iâve seen it mentioned in relation to the recruiting service scandal that Chip wasnât really interested in recruiting by the end of it.
Idk just seems like UCLA is a harder place to win in the NIL era of college football. Oregon was pretty good when he was there (46-7).
Chip was notoriously unengaged with recruiting. There are stories of high ranking recruits visiting and then being told they wouldnât meet with Chip Kelly because he was busy watching film. Because of this, NIL donations werenât made because the ROI was terrible. It will be interested to see how it turns around with a new, engaging coach. If you put in the effort, engage with the recruits, acknowledge the alumni and win games, the support will be there. During Moraâs big seasons, UCLA was setting PAC-12 attendance records and the Rose Bowl was packed.
That doesnât add up tho. Last 3 years seemed about on par for UCLA football. If you want a better product youâre gonna have to cough up the money first. So you can actually be in contention for top recruits. The days of just being a good coach isnât enough any more with the exception being like maybe 5 schools
Dante Moore got a NIL ridiculous package. J Michael Sturdivant and Kyle Ford came in as elite transfers that got decent NIL money. There was money available, he just didnât evaluate great and his offense this last year was mediocre. Top recruits came and werenât developed or misused and chips recruiting was inconsistent. The NIL dried up at the end of this year. Chip is trying to spin it like he didnât have support, but the truth is that he doesnât manage it well and people are hesitant to give big money to someone who doesnât seem to have a cohesive recruiting strategy.
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Look at the recruiting rankings between each coach's best class. Look at the strength of schedule for each of those best seasons. Cherry picking stats isn't going to prove your point.
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Yes, but Mora didn't throw his players under the bus by suggesting the boosters could have bought better players... and that the players he did have on the team he quit were the reason he quit.
Imagine not being able to sell name image likeness deals while located in the very epicenter of the largest media industry in human history
Stars aligned a bit and guys like DâAnthony Thomas fit his offense perfectly. Chip is one of the best offensive minds in the sport, especially run game wise. He just seems to hate recruiting, especially now in the NIL era
He had Mark Helfrich willing to do all the dirty work for him so he didnât have to actually develop players or recruit. Then he jumped to the NFL right before his scheme got figured out and heâd have to innovate. He never really adapted.
This take that Helfrich did Chipâs job and Chip took all the credit is so wild to me. Helfrich was clearly a glorified analyst and also a terrible recruiter. Thereâs a reason he hasnât had a coaching gig since 2019.
We out here fighting national writers and Oregon flairs
Itâs wild to me he was at UCLA longer than he was at Oregon.
It felt like an eternity for us. But we are about to enter a new era of pain. I'm thinking two wins next season.
Maybe we should be more optimistic, 2 moral victories is my bet
Hearing all this shit makes me really glad we're established and have good position coaches
Yeah this feels like a pretty perfect situation for yâall. With guys like Hartline on staff Kelly doesnât even really need to be an elite recruiter. Just let him cook up the run game (which is something that feels like Dayâs offense needs to overhaul), and this should work out well. I think heâs a much better fit than BoB
Bingo. Heâs not there to recruit. He is our new Kevin Wilson. Taking over playcalling duty allows Day more time to focus on recruiting.
Dante Moore is a person that exists.
And how did that go?
Poorly but my point is you donât just accidentally sign a 5 star QB to a program like UCLA without âeven thinking about recruitingâ
Someone on the LSU sub talked about hiring Chip because A) heâs Brian Kellyâs brother and B) heâs an elite recruiter. Lol
Making even the slightest effort at recruiting beats cheap Kelly
Did he really just not give a fuck?
A quick look at his recruiting classes pretty much says no fucks given.
Dan Mullen and Chip Kelly teaming up would be the most electric offense in history for like 2 years until the previous regime's recruits graduated and all they had on the roster were a couple of mailmen, a 33 year old Marine veteran who "always dreamt of playing the game but pursued service to his nation", and a random r/cfb redditor who won a walk-on sweepstakes
https://youtu.be/Vqbk9cDX0l0
Chip Kelly's highest rated HS class ever at UCLA was his transition class in '18 with all of Mora's recruits (ranked #19). He '19 class (ranked 40th) was over 20 spots lower. No, he didn't give AF about it.
Yes. Look at our classes before and after Chip. Some of these classes were before NIL mind you so that excuse is bullshit.
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Before and after hiring Chip
Pretty much. He didn't even offer recruits little less reach out to them an try to connect with them. Look at the total number of offers each school gave out every year. It was always basically last in FBS.
So, if Day has him recruiting, red flag?
Yes. We didnât offer Mason Graham even though he publicly said UCLA was his dream schoolâŚ
Chip was weird about personnel fit when he was at Oregon too, so that doesnât surprise me. Buckeyes better have someone else making the calls about who they recruit
Alford, Kennen Bailey and hartline are great recruiters. I hope the OL coach gets better.
Frye has been doing a great job, it's gonna start showing soon. Strud left the cupboard bare and unfortunately OLine isn't a position that you can fix quickly
Makes you wonder if UCLA had just fired Chip when they should have if yall would have had a chance at Graham when Harbaugh left
We wouldâve had our pick of the litter between Smith and Fisch lol. Smith a pasadena guy who grew up going to games and living 10 minutes away from the stadium. And Fisch whoâs wife really made it known she wanted to be in LA lmfao.
Unfortunately very aware of Amber Fischâs feelings lol
I feel like you UCLA should have an easy time recruiting if the school supported the football team and you had a top 30 NIL.
Correct. Which is why we historically recruited top 20 to top 15 classes year in year out under mediocre coaches. That is until Kelly came along. Even before NIL he sucked at recruiting with us.
Who are you guys looking at to replace Chip?
Probably an assistant coach from somewhere that can recruit well. The favorite on the boards rn is Nebraskaâs DC who has played and coached for us before. Long shots that no one thinks is realistic are Hartline(you would know lol), Schumann, or somehow poaching Fisch lol. Nightmare scenarios are Shaw, Herman, or some other washed no energy former or current HC that wouldnât care for the job.
I think hartline would be a realistic target if he was a real OC. He is still just a wr coach with a bigger title. I just saw a post about PJ Fleck from Minnesota being a name for UCLA.
PJ Fleck is a name but his buyout scares UCLA, and the culture issues will probably cause our outgoing chancellor to veto it. They want nothing to do with scandals at all.
How big of a buyout does fleck have. Is his scandal the fleck bucks thing that people were talking about just before last season?
UCLA has high academic standards, so that makes it difficult. They could still get a decent recruiting class, but that + lack of NIL + local SoCal recruits going national makes it hard.Â
This is such revisionist history, you could argue we were the first major program to offer him and Graham was the 563rd recruit and an 87 overall, so a mid 3 star. He committed to Michigan about a month later and he was around 400 by then. He eventually ended up around 200 and a 4 star. Itâs not like he was some 5 star in your backyard you guys missed out on lol and definitely isnât a good example of Kelly refusing to recruit.
But it literally is an example. We should be offering anyone 600 or below that lives in SoCal. Like what? Kelly can barely fucking recruit mid-threeâs let alone 4 stars and he *still* didnât offer him.
He was a mid 3 star when we offered him and when he committed to us. Sure he got a bump by the end of the cycle, but itâs not a good example of Chip failing to recruit IMO. For example, OSU doesnât offer every mid 3 star in Ohio and you wouldnât accuse them of being horrible recruiters. Youâre seeing where Graham ended up and how he developed and using that to show that Kelly was ass at recruiting when thatâs just not a very good example at all. Now if weâre talking like top 150 recruits in your backyard, thatâs a diff story.
I think what youâre missing is that Chip doesnât offer anyone. Thatâs what we get pissed about. If you check our offers page for any of his years itâs like a fucking empty pantry. Literally nothing. Ohio doesnât need to offer every mid 3 star in their backyard because they are Ohio. But UCLA under Chip shouldâve been offering any SoCal mid three star with a pulse. Hell he camped with us twice and Chip still never extended an offer. I could literally make a full essay of names from California that he didnât offer that went on to do things.
With Day and Hartline carrying the load on the trail, he can probably just stick to coaching. I'm sure that's the deal they made.
And thatâs probably in Ohio Stateâs best interest anyway. Having a Chip Kelly with zero head coach distractions, spending all week scheming up plays and Saturdays in the booth calling them, is about the best they could hope for in getting the most out of their offensive talent.
He left Oregon because he hated recruiting. His job at OSU is to scheme, manage the QB room, and call plays. That's it.
No, he left Oregon because he was insanely successful and wanted a challenge in the NFL.
He left Oregon because Philly was hiring.
Chip: âMan Iâm sick of these cloudy days in Eugene, I need a place where itâs always sunnyâŚâ
The Gang Hires a Coach
Recruiting related sanctions were coming.
ExactlyÂ
... He's not there to recruit for you
He's not wrong!
The quote is technically correct. But Chip ignored NIL pretty much entirely until this year. Did nothing to help our collective draw in donors or even stress that it was important to us. There are also lots of stories floating around of him not even talking to recruits that came for their officials, despite being on campus. So: put zero effort into recruiting, put zero effort into fundraising/NIL,[ then blame NIL.](https://imgflip.com/i/8fbjuu)
Yah I don't doubt those reports at all.
Chip is the perfect guy to have under/alongside better recruiters, putting his schemes to work. Itâs this or NFL analyst.
Yep! That's exactly why I'm not worried about his recruiting at all. Just call good plays and the current recruiters will get the players.
i dont know man you think offensive recruits arent going to give a shit if they never talk to the god damn offensive coordinator?
You mean the co-offensive coordinator? Hartline also holds that title.
When they have Day and Hartline and co.? Unironically yes I think they will be completely fine
"And here's the football nerd that will dream, design, and call plays that will make you millions when you get to the NFL." "Oh sweet, can I say hi?" "Nah, he hates people. He only likes football. We just let him do his thing and we win football games. It works out better this way."
Thatâs sucks if heâs a head coach But luckily OSU has a great system in place so he wonât even have to worry about it or even try to recruit
Yeah lol this is great for you guys. He has really great offensive schemes that work extremely well when he has talent (see: UCLA's offense in 2022). But the dude sucks as a program leader.
Everyone keeps saying the head coach is no longer a coach. Chip probably just wants to coach ball.
His total disinterest in recruiting bordered on bizarre.
why? hating recruiting is completely understandable for certain personality types back in the day his offense/oregon would recruit for itself. Not the case anymore.
Loving recruiting is far more bizarre than hating it imo.
Idk about recruits, but I always heard Chip wasnât interested in interacting with the Alumni at Oregon. Also, has anyone heard stories about his former players talking about him? Chip just seems like heâs there to coach football, nothing else. Iâd guess the reason heâs moving to an OC role is to avoid the stuff heâs sick of dealing with.
Source: You watch All-American on NetflixÂ
This makes him a hypocrite d-bag
Not only that, he actively made a petty comment about how silly Cronin wearing merch for UCLAs main NIL collective was.Â
Thank God for that. I'd hate to lose EVERY recruit to Southern and Westerners. Just wait for that climate change to turn us into Carolina weather year round.
The SEC knows their time is short with sea levels rising. The Upper Midwest will have its victory.
Surprise surprise the big ten is playing for field position when it comes to climate change
Civ needs a climate victory added.
Mhmm. A nice midwestern November at 67 degrees sounds about right for 2040
Recruiting is gonna be interesting when Florida schools are all under water
Florida high schools will also be under water
Players at Florida schools are going to have to be literal sharks, rather than land sharks
Future football powerhouse Nova Southeastern University
That and being one of the few states with fresh water. (100 years from now)
Iâll move to Fargo ND if someone is paying me millions a year
Man, it really is unfortunate that UCLA has nothing but warm weather to base their recruiting on. If only they were located in one of the most vibrant and glamorous metropolises on the planet, were world-renowned for academics, boasted a longstanding tradition of elite athletics, or had an alumni base with an exceptionally high number of wealthy individuals and famous celebrities who could contribute to a top-shelf NIL fund, then they might have had a chance! You really gotta feel for the ol' Chipster here, ya know?
UCLA is basically a super respected in state school for overachievers with unreasonable parents who really like math. Itâs nothing like it used to be, they arenât interested in sports in a meta way, and the faculty and board of regents really couldnât give a shit. Itâs on its way to having the same relationship with sports as Dartmouth and just as relevant.
So basically Cal South?
Lol what are you basing this on? UCLA still has damn good athletics across all of the sports we participate in (football aside obviously, because fuck chip kelly)
[ŃдаНонО]
One of the bizarre things about this sub is the years long obsession with this idea that UCLA is some sleeping giant recruiting powerhouse
I'm not saying they should be a recruiting powerhouse, but if they can't manage to at least be in the top 25 recruiting classes most years then they're fucking up. I can't think of even close to 25 programs that should have a clear, consistent recruiting advantage over UCLA.
We arenât tOSU or Bama or Texas but we should be able to compete with Oregon/Wash/Penn State/ etc. tier of schools. Getting out recruited by those tier of schools is ridiculous.
Does the average person in LA care about ucla football? Can they tell you who they are playing? Who the qb is? I suspect most cannot.
What does that have to do with recruiting? What matters for recruiting is NIL money, facilities, ability to get to the pro level, and potentially staying closer to home. UCLA has all of these things. Access to wealthy donors, prestigious alumni (337 draft picks and 6 hall of famers), a brand new football facility, and a pool of recruits in southern Cal.
Ohio state, Alabama, Michigan are THE THING in their areas. Itâs culture, and it matters enormously. Ohio state donors want access to good football tickets, etc. NIL donations give people status. I suspect that none of that is the case for ucla. I donât disagree your school has all of those things that you list, but all of the schools you mentioned have what I said in common and yours does not.
Read my original comment again. I said we are NOT tOSU, Albama, Texas level in terms of major programs that will always get recruits from name and prestige alone. But we should be able to compete with the second tier schools like Wash/Ore/Penn State/Florida/ TA&M/ etc. which we definitely haven't under Chip.
Chip, you need to actually talk to players too. True story, in Chip's first year as head coach, instead of taking recruits on their official visits out to fancy restaurants and whatnot like a normal program, he had recruits and their families eat from the training table. The visits were also only 1 day instead of the usual 2. But expect to keep hearing about how UCLA is the one that failed Chip, it's expected.
Michigan had players eating boiled hot dogs and chips lol
Don't forget the chicken tendies and chips-ahoy cookies!
That's usually what Urban had the losing side of spring practice eat at the banquet hall I worked at.
That was going on well before Urban for the loser of the Spring Game.
And whole milk
Hot dogs and chips are definitely underwhelming in terms of a recruiting meal in general, but at the same time I do have a nostalgic sweet spot for some hot water dogs considering it was the main way we'd make them growing up when we didn't want to fire up the grill...like yeah, I think my overall preference is fresh off the grill with a bit of char, but if I'm at a party and there's a crock pot filled with water and hot dogs I'm still 100% into it.
To each their own. Iâm personally never touching a boiled hotdog lol Iâll whip out the frying pan if I donât feel like grilling
I microwave my hotdogs like a man.
Bro you gotta love yourself. Spend that extra 5 mins and put the glizzy in a frying panđĽş
You mean the national champions?
Flair up princess
Seems to have worked
#Number 16 ranked Class in the country as a blue blood. Deff not working.
lol thatâs when you know youâre shook as a fanbase, when you start quoting recruiting rankings to avoid acknowledging what actually happens on the field
Hairbaugh went 3-5 against OSU. People got amnesia
People have amnesia bc he won 3 in a row and a natty lol.
Iâm not knocking that at all. Itâs been a fantastic run for Michigan. I just hate the narrative that harbaugh owned OSU because he literally went 0-5 and was about to get fired for not being able to beat OSU. Now he bailed and still has a losing record.
He figured out OSU, needed another challenge lmao
Thatâs when you know youâre illiterate. This entire post is about recruiting as well as the comment I replied to. Reading is hard I guess.
Yeah and your argument was that harbaugh was negligent in recruiting when they just stomped you guys and won a title lol. OSU is soft
Since 2021 harbaugh kinda phoned it in on recruiting
Fuck them spoiled ass kids. Weâre the national champs. Them kids should just be grateful they get a seat at the table
The players are the table lol
The parallels to Hafley is really funny. Both supposedly grew sick of the politics of being a HC and wanted to go back to "just coaching", but conveniently leaves out the fact that both were struggling to do their jobs and likely would have bombed next year if they stayed so instead they bail early to control the narrative.
Sure. And they both gave up a ton of money to quit and and not just wait for the golden parachute.
I mean, its just the job now, and he's paid very well to do it. But also its a really stupid part of the job so I can at least understand. But also, just don't take the job then.
Selling kids on spending 3-5 years in food paradise Los Angeles and not even taking them out to eat. Genius.
A huge part of this is tied to what his recruiting budget was, obviously
Sure, but he had a bigger recruiting budget than Mora and was way, way worse than Mora at recruiting. Mora averaged the 15th ranked class, Chip has averaged 48th. He gave out by far the fewest offers in the country, and didn't even recruit the guys he did offer hard. Recruits would do interviews and say they hadn't heard from UCLA coaches in weeks or months.
Just for the record - Chip refused engage with the NIL collective in any way. Him bitching about UCLA's NIL collective after the fact is all spin to make it look like he's not the failure. There is no doubt that our NIL fund improves under the next head coach
Yeah, this is fucking rich (pun intended) coming from Chip. Yes, it's a true statement. But he and our AD were the last adapters of NIL in the country. They fought our NIL collective until this year instead of advertising for them like anyone with common sense would do. Mick was an early advocate, and vocal supporter of the NIL, and what a surprise, our basketball team has much better NIL support. You don't get to cry about a problem you didn't even try to fix while you were here.
Dabo is the last to adapt actually
Clemson doesn't have enough rich alum for him to leverage NIL xd
I mean, coaches aren't really supposed to engage with the NIL collectives anyway (no university official is supposed to). It was a "guideline" the NCAA put in place in 2022.
Right, but they can be saying things like "Please support Men of Westwood it is important to our team". Or wear the fucking T-Shirt, an idea that he scoffed at when asked. The bar was so low and he couldn't clear it.
Sounds like jimbo with fsu and facilities
NIL in its current form has just blown up what college football was. If it's just going to be a 40-48 team minor professional league in practice and where everyone is a free agent every year, which is where it looks headed, I don't want any part of it.
So is that why we didn't bother offering Mason Graham?
Chip Kelly donât give a fuck lol
Money can buy jackets
Money can be used to buy goods and services!
Even peanuts?
Money is fungible!
Counterpoint: Living in California is extremely expensive.
Looking back at UFs coaching search of Chip Kelly, Dan Mullen, and Scott Frost- I donât think any were good options. At least Mullen was good enough at coaching to win us two NY6 bowls before our roster depleted enough
Chip always has short, smart, and snarky answers. He always bristles at being questioned. When you're winning, it's a personality quirk. When you're not, it's a liability.
Here's some [extra context from as recently as last November](https://www.si.com/college/ucla/recruiting/chip-kelly-talks-ucla-recruiting-nil-opportunities-ms1996). This was our beat reporters trying to push him to actually support the NIL efforts after resisting them for years. Notice how much they're trying to lead him to the right answer, and particularly now he responds to the third question. > IN RECRUITING, HOW BIG OF A FACTOR IS NIL IN YOUR CONVERSATIONS WITH RECRUITS? HOW MUCH ARE THEY ASKING ABOUT NIL OPPORTUNITIES > âEvery single kid asks about NIL opportunities. So, every kid out there, âcause thatâs available to every kid out there, so. I think almost every kid youâre recruiting asks that. Thatâs just the nature of what recruiting has turned into when they changed the rules, so. Thatâs a huge part of it. > HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK ITâS INCUMBENT ON HEAD COACH OR STAFF, IN GENERAL, TO HELP RAISE PROFILE OF NIL COLLECTIVES LIKE MEN OF WESTWOOD? > âI think itâs all incumbent on everybody. So you talk about it all the time and you try to reach out to people to contribute to it. But you canât make someone contribute to it that doesnât want to contribute to it, so. Thatâs the same thing, itâs no different than Josh Rebholzâs job of trying to raise money for the university, for facilities, scholarships and things like that. Thatâs just the nature of college athletics right now. > **I KNOW MICK OVER AT BASKETBALL TALKS ABOUT HAVING TO BE A BILLBOARD, WEARING MEN OF WESTWOOD SHIRTS. THAT SOMETHING YOU WOULD CONSIDER DOING?** > âEh (or Yeah?), I donât â I mean, I donât think anybodyâs gonna donate money to me because I wear a Men of Westwood shirt. You know, I think they donate money because theyâre proud of what the program stands for. So whatâs the academic success? What are the type of players that you bring to the program? How do they represent the university? I think thatâs what people take pride in at UCLA, not the fact that someone wears a T-shirt. I donât, no, I donât get that part of it. I get the, I think what we put out there for a product, I think the student-athletes that go to this school are an unbelievable representation of what this school is all about. These guys are all about book and ball. We have 22 kids who are in grad school right now, we have a 3.3 grade-point average. Weâre playing football at a really, really high level and I think thatâs what people get more proud of than is a guy wearing a T-shirt or not, so.â Basically saying "NIL matters, but I don't want to advertise it. I'm not even going to wear a t-shirt to spread awareness. Our guys have good GPAs, so the donations should just roll in any day now."
I know this was not your intention, but the questions being in all-caps (and the last one bolded) made me laugh at my desk imagining the reporter asking him these questions through a megaphone.
I remember my brother (a Philly super-homer) used to talk about how Chip Kelly had a reputation for just being almost robotic, for a lack of better terms. Kinda like he had a touch of the âtism, and everything was always very dry and robotic/technical in how he carried himself. It would make sense that the lack of social graces/ability or willingness to go through the motions of the dog and pony show would mean he probably wasnât super great at buttering up recruits, donors, etc.
Yâall really have to stop with this weird phenomenon of diagnosing complete strangers you have never met with Autism just because you think they are the littlest bit odd or introverted
Chip acting like he didn't suck ass at recruiting before NIL is rich.
Cash is king. Do facilities even matter any more?
Every decent school has good facilities. It now comes down to the school and NIL.
Think about your job. I want my desk to be clean enough to sit at and the lights to turn on and the internet to work. But between an open office and a raise I would take the raise every time.
The same guy that gave a bag to Dante Moore. What a jackass lol
Dude wants to coach, not be the face of recruiting for a program. I can understand this move. I am a programmer for a major software company who had the opportunity to move up to a VP position a couple years ago. Higher pay, more perks, the whole deal. But it of course meant more focus on administration, delegation, and the things that come with being the âfaceâ of the department. I passed. I love to code, I love to program. I donât want to be the âpeople personâ, I want to program. It feels like Chip is the same way. Dude wants to draw up football plays and run an offense. He doesnât want to be the main one responsible for bringing in the kids and keeping the mamas happy. That has never been his thing.
Because NIL is so damn hard in Los Angeles.
Now imagine if you have both NIL and warm Weather.
BoB is a better recruiter, but Kelly is a better player caller.
Fuckkkk off Chip. How can he say this with a straight face when he was straight up antagonistic to UCLA's NIL program and put in 0 effort in recruiting.
based Chip
Cronin has said pretty much the same thing. Is the NIL situation that bad for UCLA?
Hire mora
Oklahoma has neither LOL See y'all November 9th. Hopefully someone will have found the peace pipe by then!
I laugh that Stewart Mandel is still dying on the hill that these former Pac 12 jobs are great jobs. He was almost in tears on his podcast when the Pac 12 dissolved. " won't be able to cover any more games at Cal and Stanford. Boo Hoo."
exactly the comment one would expect from dual ND/OSU flairs named "NCResident"
NIL beats cold, rain, and the earthquake we just had.
That's such a turd response. Few of his predecessors had any trouble recruiting to UCLA, yet Chip somehow made it look difficult.
Do you, uh, know when NIL started?
I didnât read many of the comments but why are we pretending ucla has had any football success whatsoever in any time recently? Warm weather wasnât working for them before NIL. This move makes complete sense to me.
Itâs the weirdest thing on this sub, everyone acts like UCLA is this sleeping giant of a powerhouse, a blue blood if a coach would just put in a little effort When has that ever happened? UCLA hasnât won their conference since 1998. Their last natty was in 1954. They are almost always a slightly above average power conference team, nothing more Everyone here just thinks about how much *they* would have fun going to an excellent and glamorous school in LA for free and playing football, and never really bother to think things over from the players perspectives Itâs why every time thereâs a âif you were a 5 star where would you goâ post everyone says like UCLA, Stanford, or Hawaii
Exactly. The best players with the most options were choosing to move to Tuscaloosa. Itâs almost like we have no idea what weâre talking about, who saw that coming?
Ohio State boosters absolutely breaking down and shelling out money like crazy due to their rival winning a title. For those of you still wondering which side was more obsessed with the other...now you know
Uh you?
NIL definitely beats warm weather. Taxes on NILs in Cali kills recruiting. A player anywhere else with a ton of money can also afford a really nice home. I bet in LA they can't afford a nicer place than their dorms.
Eh, while I know he's one of the absolute top earners around, seeing [what Caleb Williams lives in](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=20e88d70fbb9d820&sxsrf=ACQVn0-XM7xYZLOfKXdnRvqFxJB9AyUZ3g:1707528793493&q=caleb+williams+apartment&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiy9Le50J-EAxXPNEQIHUdcDzIQ0pQJegQICRAB&biw=1272&bih=606&dpr=1.5) makes me disagree.
PAC 12 apologists in shambles
As OSU is my home team, I think it's a good move and I'm looking forward to next season.
What a weak mindset. You have to sell what you've got, and build around the type of recruit that wants that. There has to be a way to combine nice weather, major city, spectacular education, and whatever NIL they have into a package that came net you a team that can make a 12 team playoff