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Update: Chip Kelly has spoken to someone at Oregon this week, just not about replacing Mark Helfrich. In fact, Kelly says he reached out to Helfrich, his former offensive coordinator, this week after he was fired by Oregon. According to ESPN, Kelly stood by his comments from earlier this month in saying he is not interested in returning to college football.

Original Story

Oregon has fired Mark Helfrich after going 37-16 in four years and taking the Ducks to the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2014. The school made a move after the Ducks' worst record (4-8) in a season since 1991, a fate that was sealed with a 34-24 loss to Oregon State in the Civil War on Saturday.

Oregon athletics director Rob Mullens and the decision makers involved in the search are wading into uncharted waters. Ever since Rich Brooks was hired prior to the 1977 season, the Ducks have handled each coaching change by promoting the offensive coordinator to head coach. Brooks retired, Mike Bellotti stepped up. Bellotti retired, Chip Kelly stepped up. Kelly left for the NFL to coach the Philadelphia Eagles and then Mark Helfrich was promoted.

Oregon has not announced its plans for the search -- colleague Dennis Dodd has a list of potential candidates -- but you can bet that Kelly's potential return to Eugene will be a talking point during the week. Kelly went 46-7 in his four years as the Ducks' coach, finishing in the top-five every year from 2010-12. Mullens should certainly call Kelly (or his representatives) about the job, just in case, but odds are that conversation will end quickly.

Three reasons to think Kelly will pass on the Oregon job ...

1. Kelly said going back to college football is "not my goal": Kelly addressed the topic on Nov. 7 after ESPN reports about communication with colleges about open jobs.

"I don't have any representatives that are telling anybody anything," Kelly said. "I haven't talked to a college since I've been in the NFL and that's not my goal. My goal is to be the head coach of the 49ers and that's what I want to do. So, I don't know why that's a new -- it surprises me that that continues to be a new story. It's been the same story since I left four years ago. So, I'm not looking to go back and that's what I've always said. So, I don't know why it's still a story."

2. The timing isn't right: Timing can be everything in college football coaching searches. Since Oregon decided to move quickly on firing Helfrich, the indication is that the top candidates for the job are sill in college football and will have some time on their hands with the upcoming break before bowl games. Two of those supposed candidates, Florida's Jim McElwain and Western Michigan's P.J. Fleck, are in action this weekend in conference championship games. Seeing the Ducks clear the deck before the weekend indicates things could move quickly in Eugene.

Kelly's NFL career hasn't been great since winning the NFC East in his first year with the Eagles. That alone will make Kelly's return to college a talking point -- even if it's not a realistic expectation -- within some football circles until Oregon hires its next coach. Maybe if this was last offseason and Kelly had just been fired from the Eagles ... but that's not how the timing worked in this case.

3. Oregon won't be able to replicate the instant-impact and success of Kelly, so why try with Kelly? Kelly took over a stable program on the rise thanks to Mike Bellotti continuing tradition, and right now, Oregon is facing a recalibration of expectations because the fans want the Chip Kelly peak to be repeated. The Ducks have a promising quarterback in Justin Herbert but face an uphill battle to climb back over Washington and Stanford in the Pac-12 North. If you're Kelly, why not keep it Costanza and go out on a high note?