Maryland University President Wallace Loh seems to be interested in targeting Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly for their football program in 2016, according to Kevin Trahan of sbnation.com.
Loh gave an interview to the editorial board of the Baltimore Sun, and gave some of his thoughts as to what direction the Terrapins football program may be heading after firing Randy Edsall.
"Harbaugh and Urban make seven million dollars a year. And Chip Kelly, who is not doing all that well with the Philadelphia Eagles, made far, far less than that at Oregon," said Loh, via sbnation.com.
Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, and Oklahoma have the highest paid coaches in college football, but they also have a history of winning. Prior to Kelly's arrival at Oregon they had a winning program, but it was nowhere near the powerhouse that he left.
"I mean, this is not going into a school with an established reputation like Michigan and Ohio State, but the potential for growth, the potential to be another Oregon," said Loh, via sbnation.com.
Maryland has gone to two bowl games in the past four seasons and has lost both of them. Comparing Maryland to Oregon might be a hard sell, as Chip Kelly was already part of the program as an offensive coordinator. Also Kelly didn't take over a program in turmoil, as head coach Mike Bellotti led them to a 10-3 season and a bowl game win before resigning to become the school's athletic director.
While it seems unlikely Maryland will land Kelly after this season, it shows the university wants a big name hire. But they don't want the price tag that comes with a big name coach, which will likely prove to be extremely difficult. After those comments about Kelly, it would almost be shocking if he landed in Maryland.
The Eagles are 2-3 this season, and while that may cause some concern the Eagles just came off a big win against the Saints this Sunday, 39-17. Rumors of Kelly going to USC, Maryland, and other schools will likely continue to come out this season, but if Kelly turns this Philadelphia group into a playoff team their likely won't be any more questions about his return to college football. Kelly has reportedly told people in the Eagles organization that he is not moving back to college, and with two consecutive 10-6 seasons as Philadelphia's head coach only a total meltdown would likely lead to that.
