Yahoo! Report: Florida no longer considering Chip Kelly

A report from Yahoo! Sports states that the Florida Gators are no longer pursuing Chip Kelly. Kelly, who of course made a name for himself with the Oregon Ducks a way back, is no longer in consideration for the Gators’ head coaching vacancy.

The report, from Pat Forde, also states that UF is now going to key in on UCF Golden Knights coach Scott Frost. Ironically, both are former Oregon football coaches, with Frost having served under Kelly as a wide receivers coach before becoming their OC under former coach, Mark Helfrich.

Florida administrators met with Kelly on Sunday in New Hampshire and remained in contact with him earlier this week, but no deal was forthcoming between the two. Florida had kept its options open while engaged with Kelly and is now prepared to pursue those other candidates.

With Kelly out of the picture, the Gators likely will focus on Central Florida coach Scott Frost. All along, the second-year coach of the Knights has been on Florida’s radar and was considered within the industry to be the most likely successor to Jim McElwain in Gainesville. Frost’s undefeated UCF team is playing South Florida on Friday afternoon for the title in the American Athletic Conference East Division.

It appears that the inclination is that Chip will instead be surfing on back to the west coast. Instead of the mountainous Willamette Valley, Kelly is reportedly intending on changing things up, going for the bright lights of L.A. and the UCLA Bruins head coaching job.

Frost, of course, is rumored to also be a frontrunner for the Nebraska Cornhuskers job. He went to UNL, playing there from 1995-97 as a quarterback. It’s not likely that Mike Riley keeps his job, which is why so many people have linked Frost to the Husker job. The Gators will have to act quickly if they want him to be their man.