Cal Football Fans Pray Chip Kelly Is New Coach

Cal head football coach Sonny Dykes, arguably the worst hire the school history, has finally been canned. Unfortunately, it's four years too late. He's had time to post a rotten 19-30 record and run the program into the ground.

Cal athletic director Mike Williams was fed up with Dykes, who kept looking for other jobs in the off-season, even after signing a four-year-extension last year. During last season, there was interest in him from Baylor and Houston. If either had offered Dykes a job he would have been out the door instantly. Williams finally had enough.

With Dykes out of the way,  who is No.1 on the wish list of every knowledgeable Bear fan?

Chip Kelly, of course.

He's the innovator who helped revolutionize offensive football, accelerating the pace and the number of plays, while at the University of Oregon. He wasn't as successful as a pro coach but clearly he can still be a winner at the college level, which is less demanding. He's certainly a significant upgrade over Dykes.

Happily, Kelly is available.

After just one season, he was recently fired by the San Francisco 49ers.  He was doomed from the start, inheriting a horrible team and having to work with general manger Trent Baakle, an infamous jerk who's famed for helping run a great coach, Jim Harbaugh, out of town.

Niner head man Jed York just gave Baalke the boot, so it was likely that Kelly would follow him out the door. So Kelly is now free and has said he's open to anything, which means he wouldn't mind returning to college.

More good news, Because of contracts with the Niners and his previous employer, the Philadelphia Eagles, he is set to earn $6.5 million next year. So Cal wouldn't have to offer him a pile of money and could structure a deal that would be favorable to the athletic department budget. That's good because Cal can't offer much, considering Dykes' buyout is nearly $6 million,

Cal has to sign a new coach and fast. Williams is saying he would like to have one in place by the end of the week.

Word from the inside is that the AD is already on the Kelly case, that dumping Dykes now, rather than weeks ago, is due to Kelly's sudden availability. National Signing Day is just a few weeks away, on Feb.1. Cal has a sixteen-player class that could bolt if the Bears sign the wrong coach.

Other names have been mentioned for the job, including Cal offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, Washington offensive coordinator Jonathan Smith and Wisconsin defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox, who was an assistant at Cal in the Jeff-Tedford era..

Those guys would be OK but none has the clout of Kelly, who would be the best thing to happen to the Cal program in many decades.