After weeks of seemingly being spurned by their top head coaching candidates, the Eagles yesterday landed their man when they hired Oregon head coach Chip Kelly.
The news came as a bit of a shock considering Kelly, who already had turned down the Eagles and Browns, had told Oregon he was staying in college and he had been visiting recruits as early as a couple days ago.
But the Eagles, who most recently were turned down by Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, relented and kept after Chip Kelly until the package they offered was one he could not refuse. Terms were not disclosed.
Kelly, who will be introduced officially in a 1:30 p.m. press conference today, becomes the 21st coach in team history and replaces Andy Reid, who was fired Dec. 31 after a 4-12 season.
“Chip Kelly will be an outstanding head coach for the Eagles,” owner Jeffrey Lurie said in a statement. “He has a brilliant football mind. He motivates his team with his actions as well as his words. He will be a great leader for us and will bring a fresh, energetic approach to our team.”
Kelly was 46-7 in four years at Oregon and gained notoriety for the wide-open offense he runs, something that will be fascinating to see how well it translates to the pro game. It, too, opens an interesting debate about what role, if any, quarterback Michael Vick will play.
Kelly interviewed with the Eagles, Browns and Bills after leading Oregon to a victory over Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl. After those interviews, he told the powers at Oregon he was opting to remain at Oregon … until changing his mind.
The Eagles’ search was exhaustive, with at least 11 candidates interviewed, including two meetings with Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.
But the Eagles, after two straight seasons of missing the playoffs, clearly wanted to move in an offensive direction, and when Kelly changed his mind, Bradley was out. The Eagles had met with Kelly for nine hours in Arizona two days after the Fiesta Bowl.
It is not known how much the Eagles will pay Kelly, but it seems clear they got persuasive and sweetened the pot to lure him back. It could be a risky move for the Eagles considering the 49-year-old coach does not have any pro coaching experience.
There is a checkered history in the NFL of top college coaches failing miserably making the jump. Most recently, Nick Saban, the architect of the Alabama dynasty, was run out of Miami. Steve Spurrier did little to restore Redskins pride in Washington. Same for Bobby Petrino in Atlanta.
But elements of his up-tempo offense already are being used by some NFL teams, including the Patriots and Redskins. Patriots coach Bill Belichick has consulted Kelly on his offensive concepts for use with his team.
Upon his arrival, Kelly will be faced with no shortage of issues to deal with in Philadelphia, beginning on what to do at quarterback, where Vick has been injury-prone and prone to a lot of turnovers. He could try to develop second-year Nick Foles, who took over for Vick and had little success last season.
The Eagles have the fourth overall pick in the draft, so Kelly could opt to start anew at quarterback by taking a chance on a rookie.
Kelly must hire a staff of assistants, and the pot is getting thin with a lot of teams already having hired new head coaches since the end of the season. Undoubtedly he will be busy at next week’s Senior Bowl, which is an assistant coach breeding ground — a week-long job fair.
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com