Written by ESPN News Staff at ESPN.com
Representatives from the Florida Gators met with Chip Kelly about their vacant head-coaching job Sunday, The Associated Press has reported, citing a person familiar with the situation.
The person said athletic director Scott Stricklin and five key staffers met with Kelly in New Hampshire. The person spoke to The AP on the condition of anonymity because the Gators are not publicly discussing the coaching search.
Stricklin and his assistants flew in and out of Ocala, Florida, about a half-hour from Florida’s campus.
“We continue to have very productive conversations related to our football team,” Stricklin told reporters at the airport late Sunday. “We’ve got a process we’re going through. There will probably be some more productive conversations in the days ahead. Lot of interest in the job.”
Kelly, an analyst at ESPN, praised the Florida program when asked Sunday morning on SportsCenter about speculation connecting him with the Gators job.
Stricklin vowed to make Florida fun again when he parted ways with coach Jim McElwain last month.
Kelly’s high-octane, spread scheme would probably do it.
The 53-year-old Kelly went 46-7 in four years (2009-12) at Oregon, which averaged 44.7 points a game during that span. The Gators would welcome anything close to that after slogging through the post-Tim Tebow era.
Florida (4-6) will finish outside the top 100 nationally in total offense for the sixth time in the past seven years, including all three under McElwain.
Stricklin would be taking a chance on Kelly to rejuvenate the program’s most glaring deficiency. Kelly was fired from two NFL jobs in the past two years and left Oregon shortly before NCAA sanctions were handed down.
To continue reading this article, click here.
