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Friday, January 4, 2013

The morning after

Well, the Tostitos Bowl is over, and the Ducks won. Yay, Ducks. Now the rank-and-file students (and probably the taxpayers) will wind up paying for a lot of the hoopla. Meanwhile, by all accounts, Coach Chip will be heading off the pro's, leaving behind an expensive recruiting scandal but no doubt taking with him a juicy public pension. Forgive us if we're not basking in the glow of the bowl game win.

Comments (20)

I thought it was awkward when he interviewed with a couple NFL teams during halftime.

I would remind you that Chip Kelly became a UO employee in 2007, long after Tier One and Tier Two PERS enrollment had been shut down. He will not be getting anything like the kind of retirement packages some other high profile university retirees have received.

It does seem like the people who love to complain about PERS would at least take the time to learn some of the basics of the system.

ANY PERS for a coach making millions is too much.

Disparate comments are often entertaining. Sometimes they are just an excuse to pee in the whiskey.

It does seem like the people who love to complain about PERS would at least take the time to learn some of the basics of the system.

Where's the fun in that?

I hope the Quack sycophants enjoyed their last meaningful game and Bowl for the next couple of years.....

Team owner Phil Knight will now have the daunting task of hiring his new head coach.

Chip Kelly is the Eddie Van Halen of college football coaches. Eddie came up with a way of playing the electric guitar that none of the millions of guitar players who came before him had though of. Not Jimi Hendrix. Not Eric Clapton. Van Halen was an innovator and when I heard the solo on "Beat It" I literally didn't know what he was doing. That is why I ventured to Memorial Coliseum back in the 80s to see the guitar wizard in action. His music will never mean as much to me as Jimi Hendrix's or Eric Clapton's but to do something differently - in a world of copycats? That is rare.

I have been watching football for decades. I think it combines our Stone Age instincts with the Space Age calculus of flight. It has continued to evolve from the power football of the early years - the sweep of Vince Lombardi - to the pass plays of the upstart AFL with Joe Namath.

In all my years of watching football, I have never seen an offense like Chip Kelly's. The idea that you essentially call the play during the play, and you expand the game, by minimizing the time between the action, is revolutionary. When it sputters, you're off the field too quickly. But if you ever have to score fast, boy, are you ready for that.

Maybe this was all invented by some other coach. I don't know. But as of right now, I credit Chip with being an innovator and that makes him great. The world is full of the same old, same old. Chip Kelly - like Eddie Van Halen - did it differently with spectacular results. Yes, it was flashy, but mainly it was different. Imagining a new way is good - especially when it produces like this.

If this was Chip Kelly's last game for the Oregon Ducks, I'll miss him. We need more innovators in the world, even if they wear a silly visor and won't kiss up to the boosters.

I drink your tears! I drink them up!

Bill McDonald has stated very well what many people think, but don't take the time to articulate. Yes, there are NCAA issues to contend with. Yes, he looks like Barney Rubble. Yes, the visor looks stupid. But damn that guy can coach. And the fact that NFL teams are following suit with their own variants of Kelly's spread option offense tells me that Bill is spot on with his analysis.

Along with your observations Bill I would add that their defense was stellar this year. I would worry just as much about losing Aliotti as Chip Kelly. Their Achilles heel this year was the kicking game and they lost their shot at the national championship because of it.

Yup UO is a great school with a wonderful football program. They do so much for the state. Just imagine if the folks at MIT could learn from that what they would be able to produce.

Chip Kelly is under contract, right? Anyone who breaks his contract should lose his pension. The knife should cut both ways.

"Just imagine if the folks at MIT could learn from that what they would be able to produce."

MIT runs a highlight thought of sports analytics conference every year.

http://www.sloansportsconference.com/

Maybe climb down from that high horse.

"Chip Kelly is under contract, right? Anyone who breaks his contract should lose his pension. The knife should cut both ways."

I don't know if he has any pension eligibility but I believe there is still an early-exit penalty in place that is substantial, like a couple o' mil. I don't know if he would be willing to pay that or if his new employer would.

The "vacation junkets" that UOMatters points out rather put the lie to the "self-supporting football program" charade. A lot of Oregon seats at that game went unfilled. Just too expensive for most people and the novelty of a big bowl has worn off -- that's a Chip legacy!

A lot of people don't "like" Chip particularly but like Bill McDonald says, they love his revolutionary coaching.

Me .... I'm still whining about the endlessly rotating glittery runway football fashions. And Bellotti's half-million-dollar annual pension which is an abomination.

Thanks Bill McDonald...well written.
And thanks Chip Kelly for bringing us another winning season.
Go Ducks !

I thought the most interesting part of the game was the 1 point safety.

What the heck? Never head of such a thing.

Seems like coach's contracts should come with a big penalty for recruiting and other violations.

Do you whine about Mike Riley's pension as well?

Mike Riley's not taking a pension.

Cross that bridge when I come to it.

And if he does I probably will.




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