It's been over fourteen years since Chip left to coach in the NFL. After a few unsuccessful head coaching stops he went back to what has always been his natural calling as an Offensive Coordinator. After a few years back at OC, it looks like this is what he wants to do at this point.

Up until now I always scoffed at the idea of bringing him back both because I thought he'd bolt at the first chance to move up to head coach and also the power struggle he could create being one of the most successful coaches in UO history. But as he seems to be settling in with OC contentment, these concerns have faded with me.

Also after so many years of coaching different teams with different personnel types, he seems comfortable with changing his plan to match his players rather than forcing the players to match his plan. Watching Northwestern's offense come to life with him in charge, has been highly entertaining.

Chip always talks fondly of his time with the Ducks. His lack of enthusiasm for recruiting could be off set by the emergence of GMs and NIL. It seems like this would be a win win type of situation. Probably will never happen but it also kind of seems like it should. Thoughts?

Worth considering. Example…Texas DC is Will Muschamp, former HC. Will Venables at Oklahoma is a great DC. Hemay be available. Lots of folks over their skis as head coached but are great assistants.

If I recall correctly the Chipster was not particularly fond of living in Eugene.

Does anyone remember otherwise?

It would surprise me if Coach Lanning replaces Coach Mehringer or supersedes Mehringer’s role.

Mehringer had a rough start, but I thought he called pretty good games the last two weeks. As long as he keeps improving, Oregon will be fine.

If we determine we can't win the big one with our OC at some point, then sure, Riley or Kelly are great options if available.

We are only a quarter of a season through with our new OC who is showing a promising amount improvement though.

It’s not the worst idea. The last few years the most common thread behind OBD’s losses have been opposing coaches that were long in experience.

Chip coaches outside and inside zone well, but I'm not ready for a retread....

I'm honestly less concerned about bringing Chip Kelly back than I am about what is happening on the other side of the ball. I'm starting to wonder whether Chris Hampton may simply be in over his head as a full-time DC. Oregon is loaded with defensive talent, yet against its three FBS opponents this season the Ducks are giving up 31 points and nearly 425 yards per game. There are some bright spots, particularly third-down defense and turnovers, but this doesn't look like what a Dan Lanning defense with this much talent should look like.

If I were talking about making a coordinator change, defensive coordinator is where I'd be looking. And Oregon wouldn't exactly be short on possibilities. Bryant Haines at Indiana would be near the top of my list. Glenn Schumann would be the dream reunion with Lanning. Pete Kwiatkowski would be an incredibly interesting veteran hire. Zach Arnett is a proven SEC defensive mind. Phil Parker would be a home run if you could ever pry him away from Iowa. I'd even call retired Iowa State DC Jon Heacock and ask if one last run at a national championship sounded fun. And if Lanning wanted to dig into the FCS ranks, guys like Bobby Daly at Montana State deserve a serious look.

Chip Kelly would be fun to talk about, but offense isn't the side of the ball keeping me up at night right now.

1 hour ago, Solar said:

If we determine we can't win the big one with our OC at some point, then sure, Riley or Kelly are great options if available.

We are only a quarter of a season through with our new OC who is showing a promising amount improvement though.

Just my take, but under no circumstances should Riley be hired by Oregon. He does not fit in the culture Oregon has had for many, many years. For example Chip’s suspension of L. Blount.

Why would he come back?

He's closer to his New Hampshire home and is turning around a program instead of reporting to Dan and trying to match the top stats put up by the last two OCs, who are now head coaches.

Been there, done that.

It is certainly could be a fond recollection watching Chip and Northwestern run for 413 yards at 7.2 yards per carry against Penn State.

However, the week prior it was 32 yards at 1.2 yards per carry against a very good and well coached defense.

Eventually Chip finds some success throwing the ball in the game, but, too little too late. Seems like we have seen this movie before? With Oregon, Iowa, and Ohio State still on Northwestern's schedule, I would say there is a pretty good shot we see it at once or twice more this season?

Some heavy lifting done by that year as OC at Ohio State by Chip for sure; but, it was at Ohio State. It was good to see Chip put that all together; but, I mean, absolutely loaded offense. If one can pair Chip's running attack with a 5th year senior QB who ended up almost 10,000 career passing yards and Emeka Egbuka, Jeremiah Smith, and Carnell Tate, that might be the cheat code? Hard to replicate (even for Ohio State). 🤷‍♂️

This is going to sound crazy, but I would rather have his understudy, Jerry Neuheisel. He's young, he has some experience with play calling and he's a good QB coach.

17 minutes ago, DrJacksPlaidPants said:

This is going to sound crazy, but I would rather have his understudy, Jerry Neuheisel. He's young, he has some experience with play calling and he's a good QB coach.

There is something about the name Newweasel that I have a problem with.

I'd take Chip over Riley that's for sure!

For Chip to make a return to Oregon a couple things would need to happen. Mehringer would need to choose to move on to a new job, he has been fine with his play calls. Play calling and execution are different things and the biggest problems in weeks one and two was execution over play calling. I have some issues with the Oregon offense but those are more baked into the established Dan Lanning scheme than a coordinator, those issues have been with us since 2022.

The second thing that would need to happen for Chip to come back to Autzen as a Duck is for Lanning to want to change his offensive philosophy and want to bring in an older more expirenced coach. That has run counter to what Lanning has done with all his hires at coordinator and position coach (after the initial hires... coach Tuioti was one of his initial hires and is older than Lanning for instance).

Kelly is a good coordinator and I wouldn't mind him returning but he would also want to return. I don't know if he wants that. He has shown what he can do with more talent, see Ohio State, but Lanning would also have to build a recruiting structure around Kelly in a way that works for both parties. I'm not sure either side would want to make some of those compromises.

Yes, recruiting has never been better at Oregon and that is in large part because Lanning and co work their freaking butts off. In many ways recruiting is actually harder than ever even with good NIL backing because you have to cut through the noise of NIL to make that pitch.

Oregon was always a stepping stone for Chip.