Chip Kelly explains 2012 rejection of Bucs’ coaching offer

Chip Kelly explains 2012 rejection of Bucs’ coaching offer Chip Kelly, who left Oregon for the Eagles a year after passing on the Bucs, led Philly to two 10-6 seasons but has yet to win a playoff game. This year, the Eagles are 4-5. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS By Roy Cummings | Tribune Staff Published: November 18, 2015It is no doubt hard for fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to imagine what could have been.In January 2012, on the eve of the Senior Bowl, the Bucs were in search of a new coach, and for a few hours they thought they had landed one of the game’s true innovators.A deal was nearing completion, the Bucs said late on a Sunday night, with then-University of Orgeon coach Chip Kelly. Before dawn on the following Monday, though, the deal was dead.After strongly considering the offer the Glazer family had made to him, Kelly decided to go back to college, back to Oregon.On Wednesday, Kelly, now the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, explained why.“I just felt like the right move was to stay at Oregon,’’ Kelly told Tampa-area reporters during a morning conference call. “It really had nothing to do with Tampa.“The Glazers expressed an intriguing vision of what they wanted to get accomplished in Tampa and I know there’s a rich history form Coach (Tony) Dungy to (Jon) Gruden and how successful they’d been there.“I was really excited about the opportunity, but the longer I had to think about it, it was just staying at Oregon with that team and with those coaches, and my decision was all based upon that.’’The Bucs’ search for a new coach to replace the fired Raheem Morris continued for several weeks before they finally settled on another college coach, Greg Schiano of Rutgers.Schiano quickly fell out of favor with his players, though, and the Bucs opted after two years to hire former Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith, who is 6-19 as Tampa Bay’s coach.Kelly, who became the Eagles’ coach a year after passing on the Bucs’ offer, led Philly to two straight 10-6 seasons, but he has yet to win a playoff game and has the Eagles off to a 4-5 start this year.On Sunday, the Eagles and Bucs meet for the second time since Kelly joined the Eagles. Philadelphia won 31-20 in 2013 behind then-backup quarterback Nick Foles.“I had never interviewed or had any discussions with any NFL teams up until (the) point,” Kelly said of when the Glazers contacted him. “I never had really envisioned myself in the NFL. I was very content with the job I had. We had a really good thing going at Oregon, had a great administration there, a great bunch of players. I was very comfortable there.“When the opportunity to interview for (the Bucs) was presented, I was very impressed with the whole organization in terms of what they had to offer. But at the time my decision was more base on my ties to Oregon than anything do with the NFL.’’[email protected]Twitter: @RCummingsTBO