Brian Kelly May Use the Eagles to Get a Raise

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The Eagles are probably getting used again.

According to numerous reports that surfaced last night, the Eagles interviewed Brian Kelly on Tuesday, a day after his Notre Dame squad was rolled by Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game, and continue to have interest in the 51-year-old coach, who is said to now be out of the country. But a Tweet from Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel hints at the likely reason for Kelly’s interest

Bingo.

Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman are like that girl you call when you want to make your ex jealous and get her to take you back. 

Hello there, you. I’ve been waiting for you to call. [Growl]

Hey, um, Sue… remember that crush you used to have on me and how you would sit at my desk like a fucking lunatic stalker and show me pictures of those scarves you knitted for wayward cats? I miss that. Can we fuck so my ex will suddenly find me hot again?

That’s what college coaches across the land are doing to the Eagles. They’re calling Sue.

Chip Kelly got himself a substantial raise (courtesy of Oregon alum and booster, and Nike co-founder, Phil Knight) after he turned down the Eagles and Browns. [Bill O’Brien has denied that he received a $1.3 million raise when he decided to return to Penn State.] Now it seems that the other Kelly, this of the Brian variety, may get himself an extra mil, or 10, just for batting his eyes at the increasingly pathetic Lurie and Roseman, the Kate and Leo of the NFL, who have, for the time being, cinched themselves to the top of the sinking ship, but eventually may wind up clinging to a bobbing door, at which time Lurie will slowly let go of Roseman as he fades into the deep, dark sea of shamed Eagles execs.

Anyway, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk agrees with that macabre thinking:

From Chip Kelly to Bill O’Brien to Jim Mora to, perhaps now, Brian Kelly, the script is becoming clear.  Flirt with the NFL, rattle your current employer, and sit back and wait for the concessions to come.

In Brian Kelly’s case, there has been zero discretion.  Within minutes, multiple reporters knew that he’d met with the Eagles.  From FOX’s Jay Glazer to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer to Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com to possibly even others who I’m forgetting or don’t particularly feel like mentioning because, yeah, I’m that guy sometimes.  (Or more often than that.)

And so it’s no surprise that Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated writes that “[a] Notre Dame source tells me that the expected result of Kelly’s NFL flirtation is a raise and an extension.”

Of course it is.  It’s the expected result because it was and is the intended result.

Unfortunately, everyone except the three folks who are searching for the next Eagles coach realize that.  Which means that, eventually, they may have to bite the bullet and call Jon Gruden.

 

Well said, Florio.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! disagrees:

You could argue this is a classic power play to use NFL interest – real or rumored – into a lucrative contract extension. Notre Dame is the king of those sucker jobs, having once handed Charlie Weis a ten-year deal just because gossip spread that an NFL team might want to talk to him at the end of the season.

The thing is that Kelly was already going to get paid. He was already in the perfect position. He restored Notre Dame, bringing joy to one of the wealthiest alumni bases in major college football. He'd earned his raise.

No, the interest in the NFL is real. It's always been real, the ultimate spot for an upwardly mobile coach.

 

We shall see.

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11 Responses

  1. If people really didn’t think Kelly using the Eagles to get a raise from ND was a very real possibility when this story originally came up, then you must be new to football.
    I could have told you this the second this story broke.

  2. Kelly wants upwardly mobile? You’d think he’d learned his lesson from sending that Notre Dame camera kid up on a massive stilt to fall to his death in 70 mph winds.
    That wasn’t his fault though, because.
    As for the job, I’m running with the theory that they’ve already decided on Mike McCoy or the Seattle guy and don’t want to tip their hand or look like idiots if their guy picks somewhere else. This is obviously giving the Eagles organization too much credit but it’s better using synapses on Gruden or Cowher.

  3. You’d think Jeff Lurie and Howie Roseman would’ve gotten a clue and figured out that going after college coaches is a sucker play after their failed attempts to land Bill O’Brien and Chip Kelly. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Those idiots are shooting for the trifecta by chasing after the other Kelly. And we as Eagles fans are supposed to trust those morons to find us a new head coach? Lord have mercy.

  4. You can yell at kids and get results. You can yell at Desean Jackson till you pass out with rage and it won’t do any good. The most disturbing part of this is Bill O’Brien, he’s been a successful oc in the nfl and he knows whats involved with motivating professional athletes. He also has the paterno legacy, a rabid alumni, recruiting challenges and sanctions to deal with. He would have easily made between 4.5 and 5 mil a year. He still went back to PSU. That says “I ain’t working with that fucking guy Roseman” loud and clear. WAKE UP LURIE, DUMBASS!!!!!

  5. 1. Gus Bradley
    2. Bruce Arians
    3. Mike McCoy
    4. Jon Gruden
    5. Bill Cowher
    Worst case scenario: Lovie Smith
    This is all you need Mr. Lurie. Now go make it happen.

  6. FACE: Leave off Gruden and Cowher for two reasons. One: chasing after retreads like them makes no more sense than lusting for college coaches currently playing the Birds for fools. Two: there’s no way in hell either of those guys will want to have boy GM Howie Roseman as their boss, they won’t put up with that dweeb, no even if Jeff Lurie gives them a blank check.

  7. I agree, that’s why they’re the bottom of the list. There’s no reason you can’t get one of the first three guys and if you can’t, you better throw a shit ton of money at a big name, otherwise this fan base is going to get real angry.

  8. Well, Lurie had better freaking hurry because the Eales aren’t the only team needing a head coach,and that list just got a little larger after Jacksonville canned Mike Mularkey. And Lord only knows when Jerry Jones might decide to ax Jason Garrett and go trolling with a boatload of cash.

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