Eagles

How That Chip Kelly Story Came To Be

By Kyle Scott

Published: Jul 31st, 2015 · 9:59 AM EDT

---

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.