49ers Find Their Man, Hire Chip Kelly As Head Coach

Chip Kelly is coming off a three-year stint as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Team chief executive Jed York tweeted the news that he and 49ers general manager Trent Baalke had selected Kelly, whose Eagles went 7-9 last season, to replace the fired Jim Tomsula.

Last season, the 49ers went 5-11 under first year head coach Jim Tomsula and missed the postseason two years in a row.

To sum it up: I thought Kelly was the most talented coach available to the 49ers at this point (after Sean Payton, David Shaw, Adam Gase and Hue Jackson found reasons not to take the job or quietly said no thanks).

Most teams hold an introductory news conference with their new coach soon after the hire is announced, but the 49ers do not plan to do so until next week as Kelly hires his new staff. But we’ll see how quickly Kelly can get that team changed up after a very rough 2015. Coughlin’s former offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, who the Eagles interviewed last week, was named the New York Giants’ 17th head coach. “What Kelly did not have in Philadelphia was a quarterback that could handle the second part of a zone read”.

Kaepernick might not be the best “true quarterback” in the world, but he’s about to be coached by a guy who turned Nick Foles into a Pro Bowl quarterback (with 27 touchdowns and two interceptions in a single season, no less) while with the Eagles. Between injuries and his play, headlines wondering if he was done in San Francisco were swirling. The Eagles released a statement Thursday evening confirming they have concluded their search for a head coach.

Because Kelly was rumored to be looking to sign quarterback Colin Kaepernick before he left Philadelphia, many are theorizing this could mean the return of the QB. The hiring could be good news for quarterback Colin Kaepernick, as Kelly might stick with him and try to help revive his career after a rough season a year ago.

York, in a statement, described the 49ers as “thrilled” to have hired Kelly, citing his “proven track record” in previous stops with the Eagles and Oregon.

“I look forward to watching Trent and Chip work closely to build a team that will make us all proud”. Kelly is known for using players with speed and endurance and while it might take some time to transform this franchise into a winning team again, one thing is clear, this squad will be in much better shape after an off season of conditioning. That could allow Kelly to focus only on coaching.