The Greatest Trick That Kelly Ever Pulled

He's supposed to be from New Hampshire, some say he was born in Flint, Michigan, nobody ever believed he'd stay at Oregon forever. Nobody ever got close to him or found out what made him tick, but to hear Mullen talk about it, anybody could take over the head coaching position.

You never knew what he was going to do, that was his power.

The greatest trick that Kelly ever pulled was convincing Oregon fans he was staying forever.

One story that fans tell me, and the story I believe, was from the time he talked to Philly. There was a gang of NFL execs that wanted to win Super Bowls. They realized to win you didn't need Bradys, or Mannings, you just needed the coach to do what the others in the NFL wouldn't.

After a while, they become GMs and they came after Kelly. He was small time then, just won a second BCS game.

They come to Glendale, after the Fiesta Bowl, looking to hire him. They take him out to lunch, they take him out to dinner and decide to wait for his decision. He comes back from the talks to find the offers didn't meet his standards.

The NFL execs knew that Kelly was tough and not to be trifled with. So they let him know they meant business. They offered him salaries and control higher than any coach in the league. They wanted him at the highest level.

Kelly looks over all he has and then he shows these men of will what WILL really was.

[Kelly kills the deal with Buffalo and Cleveland and then shuts down recruiting at Oregon]

He says to Philly that he would rather see his NFL dreams dead and Oregon suffer NCAA sanctions then live another day after this. He lets the Philly Exec go, he waits until the Oregon recruits are all satisfied he's coming back and then he goes after the Oregon fans. He kills the idea of coaching Tebow, he goes to the NCAA Coach's Convention in Nashville, he lets Mullen run a press conference telling the Oregon fans that he was told Kelly is remaining at Oregon.

And just before you're ready to believe that he's at Oregon forever... POOF... like that he is gone.

To the NFL, to the Eagles, Oregon has never see him since. He becomes a myth, a spook story that Uw fans tell their children, "hire Willingham and Chip Kelly will drop 50 on you after eight straight wins." And husky fans never really believe.

Sark always said, "I don't believe in the spread offense, but I'm afraid of it."

Well I believe in the spread offense, and the only thing that scares me is Chip Kelly.