What Does Chip Kelly’s Departure Mean For USC?

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Chip Kelly’s departure to the Philadelphia Eagles seems like a boon to USC and other Pacific-12 Conference powers.

But don’t be surprised if Oregon remains just as good as it is today if offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich is promoted to head coach.

If Oregon is good at something, it is promoting from within and not skipping a beat. The transition from Rich Brooks to Mike Bellotti to Kelly got better each time. And Oregon is now a bona-fide national power so don’t expect the Ducks to go into a tailspin.

USC should be so lucky to have an ascension plan this smooth when a coach departs. The Trojans couldn’t even fill their defensive coordinator position from within when Monte Kiffin resigned after a poor season.

Kelly’s departure affects USC in another way because it robs Trojans coach Lane Kiffin of his mentor. Kiffin’s followed Kelly’s lead by instituting morning practices, banning injury reports and switching to flashy-colored cleats.

Although Kiffin is associated with Pete Carroll, Kelly might influence him more with his ideas. No one exerted more influence than Kelly among Pac-12 coaches. Some Washington fans were upset when Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian embraced him this season.

USC might keep a recruit or two with Kelly gone but most of his skill players were guys ignored by the Trojans. Think of Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota? Not recruited by USC.

When Nike founder Phil Knight stops supporting Oregon that will have more impact than whoever coaches the Ducks.

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  • Independent_George

    The lack of an ascension plan is Garrett and Carroll’s fault. Garrett was too lazy to plan for ascension. After Carroll, his entire coaching search seemed to consisted of one question — Did you coach in the NFL/NBA/MLB. If so, you were approved. It’s the reason we got stuck with Kreuter and are stuck with Lame.

    Carroll’s is complicit because, like Monte, he disliked pushback, wanted Yes Men, and at the end of his reign hired winners like Jeremy Bates and Rocky Seto.

    Lame, young and insecure, isn’t exactly going to hire his eventual replacement.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Doverz/1423558008 Ben Doverz

      Had his idiot son run the recruiting, rehired Nick Holt, Yogi Roth, etc.

      • gotroy22

        You mean Spaulding?

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Doverz/1423558008 Ben Doverz

          More like Fredo

    • http://4chan.org/ m00t

      Kiffin was a pretty safe choice at the time – head coaching experience at both levels (not exactly successful experience, whatever), good recruiter, relationships with current players, USC loyalty (or perceived loyalty), and a super hot wife. Nobody could have predicted what happened last year, and nobody (intelligent) predicted what happened this year.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Doverz/1423558008 Ben Doverz

    USC has had shit assistants since Chow and Davis left. PC surrounded himself with yes men idiots, Kiffin isn’t much different. Oregon looks for bright young minds and keeps them. Look at Belotti’s coaching tree ( Petersen, Kelly, Tedford ) compared to PC’s ( Kiffin, Sark ). Oregon has it all over USC when it comes to it’s assistants.

    • marvgoux1

      Pete got jealous of all the media acclaim for Norm after the Oklahoma slaughter. He decided he could replace Norm with two flunkies in Sark and Kiffin. SC football began a long, slow decline until where we are here now at 7-6 and losing to mediocrity like Arizona, fucla and Georgia Tech. Pete’s original business model with Ed and Norm was brilliant but he was done in by hubris.

  • Golden Trojan

    Wolf you continue with this Lane following Kelly crap. It doesn’t work, every program is going to flashy unis, and not reporting injuries of students (ever hear of HIPPAA compliance in healthcare), Trojans are going to PM practice enough. USC still has to figure out how to beat Stanford, Arizona, Notre Dame and UCLA. Let’s see if they can win on the road in Corvallis as well. The Ducks may lose half a step. USC doesn’t have a lack of talent. They need coaches. Garret wasn’t getting them. Let’s see what Haden can do.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Doverz/1423558008 Ben Doverz

      Yeah, Alabama has real flashy unis and they have won what, 3 of the last 4 NC’s ? It’s not the uni’s, it’s the coaching, you putz.

  • TroyFan52

    They need to buck up and steal Pat Fitzgerald from Northwestern. He’s young, successful, doesnt have an ego, and gets players to give 100% EVERY week…..problem is he’s signed long term and loves his alma mater……we could only be so lucky to get someone like that……

    • marvgoux1

      FitzGerald is a great candidate for the job, TroyFan52. He wins and can handle high academic standards. I bet those egghead administrators at Northwestern pays him peanuts. Haden should tell him we’ll triple his salary and give him the house Kiffin got. He’ll come then.

      • TroyFan52

        He signed a ten year extension in may of 2011 so he has eight years left. It would take a lot but would be worth it…..

        • marvgoux1

          Our deep pocket alums like Jerry Buss and Roski could buy that contract out without batting an eyelid. We’d be back in the McKay Era of 15 years of being on top of the football world with a great young coach like FitzGerald. He’s the kind of guy Pat Haden could trot out to the national media as a symbol of “winning the right way”>

  • Amir

    Who do you look up to? Piles of shit?

  • dtksr1 @dslextreme.com

    Ben & George, you have good points. The issue today though is how does this program get turned around. NSD looms in the immediate future and does Pendergast excite the recruits coming for a visit these next 2-weekends? I want to see a revamped and aggressive Defense and a fully balanced offense that has a punishing running game. Is James Cregg ever going to prove himself a good enough O-line coach, with the talent he has to work with? If he can, maybe Kiffin won’t call on Wittek to keep overthrowing recievers throughout the game…

    • Golden Trojan

      You mean over throwing to Lee only.

      • gotroy22

        LOL!

    • gotroy22

      Good points. The OL showed it’s lack of depth and cost us the Stanford game when Stanford defenders were leaping over the line to sack poor Matt.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Doverz/1423558008 Ben Doverz

      Kiffin has shown NO inclination to abandon the sideways pass, none, and he will do everyting in his power to try and get Lee the Heisman. Kiffin passes to set up the run, which means your offense has no toughness. Do you think Kiffin miraculously learned how to manage the clock better over the winter ? Will Teddy Pendergast be an upgrade ? Who knows, but most people think not. The upcoming season has 7-6, 8-5 written all over it, if the team quits on him like it did this year, it could be even worse.

      The big question is, how soon and how often will Kiffin embarrass USC with his childish actions.

      • Cheap seats

        “Kiffin passes to set up the run, which means your offense has no toughness. ”

        Agreed. It also means your offensive linemen aren’t taking the fight to the defense. Those darn WR screens will be VERY dangerous plays with Wittek behind center!

        The odd thing is, when Kiffin was coaching the Raiders, he actually went run heavy with Justin Fargas, McFadden and Bush. He’d even run on 3rd and 4 with success. Now I wonder if it had more to do with Tom Cable than it did with Kiffin.

        Pendergast will NOT be an upgrade if he focuses too much on X’s and O’s like Kiffin does. There has to be a bigger emphasis on toughness and winning in the trenches.

      • http://www.facebook.com/arturo.barajas.1800 Arturo Barajas

        They cant run the football because they have no offensive line..PC left did not recruit for depth across the OLine..Oregon is a system team that doesn’t produce a lot of NFL talent..

  • TrojanFan

    How convenient on the wolfman’s part he over looks the elephant in the room, pending sanctions

    He’s comments are pointless and just another countless attempt to degrade Kiffin and the program

    ….and some of you guys praise Wolfman for the work he does on this blog