Seahawks rival Brings Chip Kelly back to West Coast
By Keith Myers
The Seattle Seahawks’ biggest rival is bringing a familiar face into the rivalry. Chip Kelly has been announced as the San Francisco 49ers next head coach.
The Chip Kelly and Pete Carroll rivalry gets another chapter. The former Oregon Duck coach is taking over in San Francisco.
After a thorough search, Trent & I are thrilled to announce Chip Kelly as the new #HeadCoach of the @49ers
— Jed York (@JedYork) January 14, 2016
Kelly was recently fired by the Philadelphia Eagles after three mediocre seasons. While things didn’t work out for him there, the 49ers are hoping he learned from his mistakes and will be better this time around.
This story has many interesting angles. “What does this mean for Colin Kaepernick?” is the most interesting of the questions that’ll have to be answered quickly.
Of course, that also points to the fact that Chip Kelly won’t have any personnel control in San Francisco. He won’t have final say on who his QB is. What could possibly go wrong there?
So Chip Kelly goes from all the control to no control at all. I'm sure he'll adjust well to Trent Baalke and Jed York.
— Arif Hasan, but NFL 🏈 (@ArifHasanNFL) January 14, 2016
If Kelly does succeed, what does that mean for Trent Baalke? Kelly fought for, and got, personnel control in Philadelphia. He also brought Tom Gamble in to help him. Gamble then moved on the the 49ers, and was instrumental in getting Kelly this opportunity in San Francisco.
For the Seahawks, this represents a chance for their rivalry with the 49ers to become interesting again. The rivalry just about died when Jim Harbaugh left San Francisco.
Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly some some very fun duels when both were Pac 12 coaches. Hopefully we’ll see the return of that. If Kelly cannot replication some of his Oregon success, the Seattle-San Francisco rivalry may never recover.