Although Kelly signed a four-year contract in January, rumors have swirled over the past month or more that he might return to the University of Oregon, where he coached before leaving for the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013. Kelly said he never discussed a potential return to an Oregon job that instead went Wednesday to Willie Taggart, who’s left the University of South Florida and has close ties with former 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, Taggart’s best man when he got married.
“With all those questions, and hopefully this is the end of it for me, I will never leave my job for another job while the season is going on,” Kelly said. “I don’t think that’s fair. I didn’t do it while in college. I never talked to anybody in the National Football League until after our bowl game was over. In the NFL, they have a great rule: you’re not allowed to leave your job, if your in the playoffs, you can’t go until your season is done. It’s tough with the cycle that goes on in college.
“When I’ve said I’m not going to go back to college, there’s never going to be an opportunity for me to go back to college, because I have a job.”
Kelly asked reporters if any NFL coach has ever left during a season to coach in college, and when told of Bobby Petrino’s desertion from the Atlanta Falcons during the 2007 season with a 3-10 record, Kelly asked for other examples.
“I will not leave a team with three games to go because I got a bigger and better deal somewhere, because that’s not the way I’m wired and that’s not what I would ever do,” Kelly said. “I could never look (49ers veterans) Antoine Bethea or Joe Staley in the face again, and talk to them about commitment, and then if I was the guy that had a job offer that I thought that was better than the one I had, and I took off with three games to go, that’s just not the way I’m wired. Some guys do it. I would never do it.”
Were he offered the Oregon job?
“Nope,” Kelly responded. “Everybody knows, if you want to contact me, there is no contact. I’m not talking to anybody about another job. I have a job. That’s one thing I did learn from my dad: they made a commitment to me, and I made a commitment to them, and I’m not searching around looking for another job when I have a job. I have a job to take care of.”
Full story: The Mercury News
“With all those questions, and hopefully this is the end of it for me, I will never leave my job for another job while the season is going on,” Kelly said. “I don’t think that’s fair. I didn’t do it while in college. I never talked to anybody in the National Football League until after our bowl game was over. In the NFL, they have a great rule: you’re not allowed to leave your job, if your in the playoffs, you can’t go until your season is done. It’s tough with the cycle that goes on in college.
“When I’ve said I’m not going to go back to college, there’s never going to be an opportunity for me to go back to college, because I have a job.”
Kelly asked reporters if any NFL coach has ever left during a season to coach in college, and when told of Bobby Petrino’s desertion from the Atlanta Falcons during the 2007 season with a 3-10 record, Kelly asked for other examples.
“I will not leave a team with three games to go because I got a bigger and better deal somewhere, because that’s not the way I’m wired and that’s not what I would ever do,” Kelly said. “I could never look (49ers veterans) Antoine Bethea or Joe Staley in the face again, and talk to them about commitment, and then if I was the guy that had a job offer that I thought that was better than the one I had, and I took off with three games to go, that’s just not the way I’m wired. Some guys do it. I would never do it.”
Were he offered the Oregon job?
“Nope,” Kelly responded. “Everybody knows, if you want to contact me, there is no contact. I’m not talking to anybody about another job. I have a job. That’s one thing I did learn from my dad: they made a commitment to me, and I made a commitment to them, and I’m not searching around looking for another job when I have a job. I have a job to take care of.”
Full story: The Mercury News
