Chip Kelly hired as 49ers coach

Chip Kelly named new head coach for San Francisco 49ers.

Kelly was sacked by Philadelphia with one week remaining in the regular season, despite winning 10 games in each of the previous two years.

This comes just 11 days after the front office had elected to fire Jim Tomsula after just one season with the team collecting a 5-11 record, which was the fifth-worst in the league.

This his how the four-time Pro Bowl running back reacted Thursday to the 49ers’ hiring of Chip Kelly as head coach. “My immediate focus is to build the best coaching staff possible, one that will maximize the abilities of each of our players and put us in the best position to win football games”.

Kelly was at the 49ers facility on Thursday but his introductory press conference won’t be held until next week, the team citing scheduling conflicts and Kelly’s quest to hire assistants.

Kaepernick has been the face of San Francisco’s decline over the last two years, fairly or not. On the defensive side, the Eagles for the past three seasons were No. 29, No, 28 and No. 30, with certain players complaining the pace of the offense under Kelly meant the defense ended up on the field too often and too long. It was expected that Kelly would rejoin the college ranks, but the 49ers were able to persuade him otherwise.

Baalke doesn’t anticipate any issues working with Kelly but there was tension in his relationship with former coach Jim Harbaugh, who parted ways with the franchise after the 2014 campaign.

While the athletic Kaepernick appears to be a natural fit in Kelly’s up-tempo offense, there is question as to whether or not Kaepernick is accurate enough on short throws to be productive in the new system.

Kaepernick was discussed during Kelly’s meetings with the 49ers, and Kelly told team officials he liked both Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert, who has some of Kaepernick’s physical gifts and who took over as the starter after eight games a year ago.

Wide receiver Torrey Smith tweeted he would “have to start running right now to get in shape” for Kelly’s notoriously up-tempo style.

New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said he will retain all of his usual duties with the football team in 2016. A native of Union City, Tenn., Robinson’s first job will be helping the Titans hire a new coach – their third since Jeff Fisher left in January 2011. “It’s interesting that it’s come around and now Chip Kelly has the potential to coach Colin Kaepernick for the Red and Gold”.