We have finally heard from Chip Kelly.
The fired Eagles coach released a statement Wednesday night on his way out of town after being canned by Eagles owner Jeff Lurie, and just hours after the Birds' boss made it pretty clear that Kelly's arrogance and lack of people skills were a big factor in why he is no longer head coach.
Here is the text of Kelly's statement:
"I am deeply grateful to Jeffrey Lurie for allowing me to coach his Philadelphia Eagles for the past three seasons. I deeply regret that we did not bring this great city and its fans the championship they deserve. I was blessed to work with a gifted and hard-working coaching staff every day, and they will succeed wherever they go.
"Finally, my players mean the world to me. I will miss them very much and I will be rooting for them to achieve their dreams. Life is all about responding to challenges and seizing opportunities."
Maybe Kelly should have spent a little more time telling his charges that, instead of monitoring their sleep patterns and forcing smoothies and all manner of 'sports science' on them.
Slowly but surely a picture of Kelly as being someone who is unapproachable is emerging from the Eagles locker room.
Kelly was used to having it his way at Oregon. That's the way it is in college programs. The coach is king.
In the NFL, it's the other way around. The players rule - and talent usually wins.
Kelly was constantly preaching 'culture,' but it seems clear that the Eagles culture was increasingly poisoned by the head coach's attitude.
Kelly had lots of problems translating to the pro game.
But his lack of people skills - remember one player saying that Kelly would not even acknowledge him when passing in the hall? - probably led to his downfall.
And Lurie made it clear in his comments yesterday that his next coach will not fall into the arrogant category that seems too often to be the mantra of the NovaCare Complex.
Columnist Jack McCaffery offers his take on Lurie's reasons for firing Kelly here.
I don't doubt the Kelly will get another shot in the NFL. That seems to be what he wants, as opposed to returning to the college ranks.
One possible landing spot could be Tennessee, where he would be reunited with the one guy he really wanted, his old Oregon QB Marcus Mariota. It was the failed pursuit of Mariota that played a big part in why this season started spiraling out of control.
At the same time, it's equally clear Kelly will have to change to be successful if he wants to win in the NFL. It now seems pretty apparent that Kelly's up-tempo offense has a tendency to kill his defense.
But more than anything else, Kelly needs to improve his people skills.
Otherwise, he'll learn the hard way what Jerry Glanville once coined the NFL: Not For Long.
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