:yep:
Chip Kelly turns down Bucs, GM says
Oregon coach Chip Kelly has decided not to take an offer from the Buccaneers to fill their head-coaching vacancy, Tampa Bay's general manager said.
"His heart is with college football and Oregon and he's no longer being considered,'' Mark Dominik said Monday, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Kelly and the Bucs had been deep in the process of finishing a deal Sunday night.
Kelly, who secretly interviewed with the Buccaneers last week, had been intrigued by the challenge of coaching at the highest level and not having to deal with parents and the NCAA oversights that are inherent to coaching in college, a source told ESPN's Joe Schad.
While former USC coach Pete Carroll left the Trojans to coach the Seattle Seahawks in January 2010 shortly before an NCAA report of sanctions under Carroll's watch was released, the source told Schad that Kelly and Oregon were not anticipating heavy sanctions from the NCAA's inquiry into the school's relationship with scouting service owner Willie Lyles.
After firing Raheem Morris the day after the regular season ended, Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer said the team would go through an exhaustive search. Most of the candidates have been older and that's apparently because the Bucs wanted to go in the opposite direction of Morris, who was the league's youngest head coach.
Among the candidates who have or will interview for the position are former head coaches Brad Childress, Marty Schottenheimer and Mike Sherman, current coordinators Rob Chudzinski (Carolina Panthers), Jerry Gray (Tennessee Titans) and Mike Zimmer (Cincinnati Bengals) and Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements.
The Buccaneers also interviewed Joe Philbin, but the former Packers offensive coordinator was hired by the Miami Dolphins as their new coach late last week.
Information from ESPN college football reporter Joe Schad and The Associated Press was used in this report.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7...mpa-bay-buccaneers-offer-general-manager-says