Chip addressing the media today

Chip addressing the media today

When Jason Whitlock’s piece about Chip Kelly hit ESPN.com with the headline Chip Kelly’s Growth Problem and tags Philadelphia Eagles, Riley Cooper, you knew where things were headed.

Whitlock stopped short of calling Chip a racist and explained that, if anything, he typically gives Chip the benefit of the doubt. But, he still managed to make wild assumptions about Chip, his relationship with coaches and players, and even Brandon Boykin– the most recent player to imply that Chip doesn’t do well with black players.

Examples:

If Kelly is indeed uncomfortable with, as Boykin said, grown men of our culture, that discomfort would reveal itself in the grown men he chooses to work most closely with on a day-to-day basis — the high-priced coaching staff he constructed.

Whitlock goes off the theory that we should be able to tell if Chip’s uncomfortable around black men solely by looking at the skin color of Chip’s assistants (which, to me, seems like an overwhelming simplification). But even if you buy into it, the conclusions Whitlock draws are based on ridiculous assumptions:

There’s now smoke smoldering around Kelly. Boykin has a solid reputation on and off the field. He’s married to a biracial woman, which leads me to believe he’s likely given race/culture more thought and discussion than the average person. He’s a journalism major and weighs his words carefully.

So, because Boykin’s wife is half-white and he was a journalism major (communications studies are often token majors for college athletes and aspiring bloggers), he only texted Derrick Gunn his concerns about Chip after the utmost consideration? OK.

The Eagles’ official website lists 23 assistant coaches for Kelly. Six of those assistants are black. That’s 26 percent. Not an indefensible number. But here’s what’s interesting: None of Kelly’s assistant coaches of color have a significant position of authority. Five of the coaches are assistant position coaches. They’re assistants to an assistant.

…

Kelly’s most powerful black assistant coach is running backs coach Duce Staley, a popular former Eagles player who was a quality-control assistant under Andy Reid and promoted to position coach by Kelly in 2013. Staley has little coaching experience, and therefore he probably has a muted voice inside the coaching room.

Is that really the case? WHO KNOWS! But it works for the narrative so let’s go with it.

Like most everyone else, my [college] coach was well-intentioned but flawed. He didn’t know what he didn’t know. He struggled with self-awareness.

This is likely Chip Kelly’s problem.

Are you guys close, like you and your college coach were, Jason?

I have intentionally avoided using the word “racist” in connection to Chip Kelly. I don’t know him.

Oh, OK.

Philly owner Jeff Lurie deserves some blame here. It’s irresponsible for Lurie to allow Kelly to build a coaching staff this devoid of true diversity.

Is it really? Or is it possible that Chip just chose whom he felt were the best men for the very few jobs that carry those positions of authority? Is it really fair to indict Chip because he filled the, maybe, three really important coaching positions with white guys? Come on. And does any of that fall on the owner, who hired a rookie head coach who went 10-6 in each of his first two seasons in the NFL, both of which without what one might call a talented quarterback?

If Chip were struggling, and churning the team to consecutive 7-9 seasons with a bunch of white players and coaches, then maybe there’s an argument. But given his relative early success, wouldn’t it be more reasonable to assume that he’s just a no-nonsense hardass whose tactics – having a short leash with players, white and black – have proven largely effective over his college and pro careers?

Whatever the case, you can’t argue the fact that Chip now has an image problem.

Whitlock’s piece is otherwise decent, and he brings up good points about Chip not relating to any of this players. Chip’s a strict guy, concerned with football and football only. He’s not Andy Reid or Pete Carroll. Whitlock is certainly much more fair than Stephen A. Smith, who can just talk himself into a ridiculous lather. But the whole thing falls flat when it’s built upon lame assumptions. Chip’s coaches hold the key, Boykin is more measured, Staley has no power. It doesn’t seem like Whitlock knows any of that for sure.