SMQB: Is UCLA Football Better Off Now Than It Was Six Years Ago?

You know the answer.

James Madison football coach Curt Cignetti is one of many up-and-coming coaching options for UCLA if Martin Jarmond should fire Chip Kelly. (Photo Credit: jmusports.com)

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I tried.

I really tried.

I said to myself that I wasn’t going to call for UCLA to fire Chip Kelly, Offensive Genius (O.G), until I either got the copy of his contract extension that I requested recently so I could see the exact date that his buyout drops from about $8 million to about $4 million or he lost to Southern Cal.

But last night’s offensive dumpster fire has made that absolutely impossible.

You see, as someone who graduated from the greatest university in the world with a degree in Political Science, I’m reminded of some of the phrases which have changed the direction of Presidential elections over the past 40 years.

Now, I’m not going to violate our own rules here by turning this into a political conversation, but those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Until last night, I was squarely in the “It’s the Economy, Stupid.” camp.

UCLA Athletics still has not recovered from the financial situation left behind by Dan Guerrero, Martin Jarmond’s predecessor as UCLA Athletic Director. In fact, a strong argument could be made that Dan’s financial acumen played a big part in the destruction of the Pac-12 Conference.

That’s not to say it was the only factor.

Former Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott’s lack of leadership certainly played a significant role in the conference’s demise as did the idiocy of the ASU professor who determined that the Pac-12 TV contract was worth a whole lot more than it really was.

The fact is that a lot of people keep referencing “all that Big Ten money” that UCLA is due to receive.

Let’s discuss that for a moment.

It’s fantastic that UCLA Athletics will be joining the Big Ten as it should solve the financial ills that have befallen the Athletic Department from Guerrero’s mismanagement to COVID and everything in between. But people are talking like the Big Ten has already cut UCLA a big fat check when the earliest the school will start to see any of that money is August 2024 when the Bruins officially become a part of the super conference.

So, all those “Chip Haters” (the term used by the “Chip Apologists” who think UCLA shouldn’t fire Kelly, OG), who want to fire him and pay him off with that windfall, need to realize that there isn’t just this magical pot of gold which has already shown up at the entrance to the Morgan Center.

And, that’s why the date Kelly’s buyout drops is relevant.

I did hear a suggestion this week that the date the buyout is cut in half is December 15th. That’s certainly not the best date it could have been, assuming it’s true. It would certainly be better if the date were December 1st, but it doesn’t put firing Chip Kelly, O.G., this year out of the realm of possibility, especially if Southern Cal takes weeks of frustration out on the Bruins next Saturday, and I do expect that to happen at this point.

Heck, Lincoln Riley could bring Alex Grinch back as his defensive coordinator for next week’s game and still shut out the Bruins we saw last night.

I will say that the speed at which Kelly’s fate is decided may be directly tied to the result of next weekend’s game. If UCLA gets crushed by a team which has lost four of their last five games and fired its defensive coordinator, Jarmond might even decide not to wait for the buyout to drop to pull the plug on the “Chip Kelly Experience” at UCLA.

But if it’s a close game or the Bruins should win, Chip Kelly, O.G., might even be able to escape the ax for one more year.

Frankly, you can count me in as someone who would support firing Chip Kelly, O.G., on the tarmac in Newark, New Jersey after he loses to Rutgers next October, if not for the fact that firing him in Jersey would give him a shorter trip back home to New Hampshire.

But I digress.

So, if we look past the “It’s the Economy, Stupid.” argument for keeping Chip Kelly, O.G., we might want to look to another political axiom. “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Applying it to the “Chip Kelly Experience” would change the question to “Is UCLA football better off now than it was six years ago?” If you watched last night’s offensive dumpster fire and are still enthusiastically saying, “Yes!”, I fear there is little hope of ever convincing you that it’s time to move on.

After six season, Jim Mora had a record of 46-30 when he was fired. After last night’s offensive dumpster fire, Chip Kelly, O.G., has a record of 33-33. And, that’s before next week’s game against the defensive dumpster fire across town. So, again, I ask, “Is UCLA football better off now than it was six years ago?”

For my final dive into the political realm for guidance on this situation, I’m reminded of another popular political quotation, “If not us, who? If not, when?” which is itself a modification of a quote from Rabbi Hillel’s “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?”

Well, I’m going to modify it again here for argument’s sake. “If not now, when? If so, who?”

Yeah, this one

is for everyone who is fond of saying, “Who are you going to replace him with?”

And, going back to the “those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” statement I made above, a few weeks ago, I saw this tweet:

It reminded me of an SMQB piece I wrote six years ago back on the old site. Of course, soon after I wrote that UCLA fired Jim Mora and hired Chip Kelly, O.G. and we, myself included, all went gaga over the new shiny head coach and football savior we now had.

So, the short answer is a young up-and-coming head coach.

Oh, you want names?

Well, with UCLA leaving the Pac-12, umm…Pac-2 for the Big Ten and leaving Oregon State behind, who says the Beavers head coach Jonathan Smith should be left behind too? After all, the last time UCLA hired a football coach who coached at Oregon State the previous season was when the Bruins hired Tommy Prothro and that worked out pretty well.

Not a fan of Smith? OK, how about Lance Leipold from Kansas then? The last time UCLA hired a Kansas head coach it worked out pretty good too. That was when the Bruins brought in Pepper Rodgers to replace Prothro who left Westwood to coach the Rams.

Not sold on Leipold? No problem. There’s Curt Cignetti. Who? Yeah, how’s that for an up-and-coming coach for you. Cignetti is the current head coach at James Madison. Here’s a guy who led Indiana University of Pennsylvania to the Division II playoffs three times in six years. That got him hired by Elon, an FCS school which plays in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Phoenix had endured six straight losing seasons before Cignetti arrived. In two seasons there, he went 14-9 and made the FCS playoffs both times. From there, Cignetti was hired by James Madison, where he has gone 51-8 in five seasons. His first three seasons at JMU, he took the team to the FCS playoffs each year. That’s seven straight seasons where he led his teams to the playoffs.

Last season, JMU started the process of upgrading to the FBS. The Dukes went 8-3. This season, they are 10-0 and trying to get the NCAA to let them go to a bowl game.

Those are just three of the options out there and none of them are unattainable. Are there more? Certainly. I wasn’t looking to present an exhaustive list. But it isn’t hard to put together a list of potential candidates.

Martin Jarmond, you’re on the clock. If not now, when?


Go Bruins.

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