How That Chip Kelly Story Came To Be
Kent Babb, who wrote the #SHOCKING story about Chip Kelly in the Washington Post last week, spoke to Mark Selig of Backstorysports.com about how the story came to be.* Selig explains:
First, [Babb] had to find out if there really was an ex-wife.
Friends of Kelly refused to talk to Babb.
Babb called a spokesman at Oregon, where Kelly used to coach. No help.
Babb tried to acquire a marriage record from New Hampshire, where Kelly also coached. The state, according to Babb, doesn’t make records available to journalists unless there’s a “compelling reason.” A feature story on Chip Kelly didn’t qualify.
Almost ready to give up, Babb checked a bio of Kelly in an old New Hampshire Wildcats media guide.
A-ha.
There it mentioned his then-wife, Jennifer, who eventually became the key component of Babb’s Washington Post feature.
Once Babb found out about her, it was easy for him to find her contact information through a public records search. And after some expected skepticism, she agreed to talk.
Meanwhile, Eagles beat reporter Les Bowen:
Can’t believe Les didn’t get the scoop.
*Babb using phrases like “my Spidey sense was going off that he was hiding something” is juuuuust a bit much for – let’s admit it – a relatively unimportant story. Good story, good reporting. But settle down there, Kent, you didn’t break Watergate.