Why Chip Kelly might succeed or fail at UCLA

UCLA has hired Chip Kelly as the program's next coach. And while Kelly is the very definition of a splash hire, he will arrive in Westwood with pros and cons just like anyone else. Below, Rivals.com explores three reasons why Kelly may find success at UCLA and two reasons why things may not go as smoothly as the Bruins would like.

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He comes with cache

Recruits in the south love the idea of Oregon – the uniforms, the Nike affiliation, the fast-paced offense. That much is clear. They associate much of it with Kelly, who led an impressive Oregon program from 2009-12 and captured three Pac-12 titles in that time period. Point is, recruits know his name and can be made familiar with his accomplishments.

In that way, this is the opposite of UCLA’s decision to hire Jim Mora, whom the Bruins scooped up after he was fired by the Seattle Seahawks after just one season. Kelly will be able to sell himself and his name to recruits from the jump, which should help ease and expedite the rebuilding process.

He’s a proven commodity.

Kelly boasts a 46-7 record as a college head coach and it’s not as though he amassed his win in the 1990s. It’s not often a team gets to hire a coach that has won so handedly at the highest level of college football so, in that way, UCLA has to see this a slam dunk.

Kelly has won double-digit games in each of his four seasons as a head coach and was a massive part of Oregon’s success as an offensive coordinator before he took over head coaching duties. Kelly arrives in Westwood with multiple conference and national coach-of-the-year honors.

He’s a regional fit

Kelly made his name in the Pac-12 and knows how to recruit the region. He retains recruiting connections throughout California and in the Pacific Northwest. More important, however, is that he can use his track record and name in a city that values image. Going head-to-head with USC won’t be easy but a case can be made that Kelly’s name carries more clout than that if Trojans’ head coach Clay Helton as things stand now.

Kelly knows the ropes out west. Should he have accepted the Florida job or any job outside of the Pac-12 a recruiting learning curve would have come with the territory. This way, Kelly evades such a thing.

College football evolves … quickly

Kelly’s offense was innovative at Oregon in 2009 and the year surrounding it. Problem is, it’s almost 2018. The game has changed in recent years and Kelly’s wacky offense is now a more run-of-the-mill approach. There’s a reason sequels are rarely as good as the originals and that logic could apply here. Kelly only has four seasons of FBS head coaching experience and he hasn’t called a play on the college level since January of 2013. He’ll need to adjust to the always evolving college game and a conference that looks a lot different than the league he dominated for a short time half a decade ago.

He’s not a proven staff builder.

Kelly can have all the cache and an impressive offense, but that will matter not without a staff. It’s easy to forget that Kelly’s previous success came in the form of a short, dominant run that didn’t require him to make a ton of creative hires to maintain momentum. He hired Scott Frost, who was wildly successful as an Oregon assistant before parlaying that into success as UCF’s head coach. Beyond that, however, he’s not exactly a proven commodity when it comes to making hires and replacing departed assistants.

Kelly started at Oregon as an assistant himself and has never built an FBS staff from scratch. He’ll need to do so at UCLA and put an emphasis on recruiting while he does so. It may not seem like a big hurdle, but sustaining success at a place like UCLA isn’t easy. Kelly’s hires could mean everything.