One funny Chip Kelly quote shoots down any future crazy college rumors

It doesn't take much to rile up college football fans. Drop a name like Chip Kelly and away they go.

That happened this week, when Kelly's name started being rumored in connection with the then-vacant Florida job. Never mind that it made no sense. Once the name is tossed out, it doesn't take much to get the rumor train rolling.

Kelly had maybe the funniest line throughout the madness on Thursday.

"I don't think our pro offense would work at the college level," Kelly said, according to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

That's a great shot at the critics who said the offense he ran at Oregon wouldn't translate to the NFL (and the word is that Kelly heard that line from someone else and borrowed it for himself, but no matter). It speaks to a bigger point. Kelly has already proven himself in the NFL. Why would he go back?

Kelly has a 19-9 record, so this is no Nick Saban or Steve Spurrier situation in which an NFL failure prompts a quick return to school. After winning at Dallas last week, he has an inside track on winning a second NFC East title in two years. He has succeeded with three different quarterbacks in 28 games. He's not only one of the best coaches in the NFL, Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski wrote that right now "Kelly is as powerful as any coach in the NFL. He gets what he wants when he wants it with little pushback from anyone in the organization."

The only conceivable theory for a college return is that Kelly was slapped with an 18-month show-cause penalty by the NCAA, and it expires later this month. That the NFL was a way for him to pass the time until he could come back to college. That's ridiculous too, but at least it makes a little more sense than him simply leaving the highest level, where he is well paid and has the kind of power that all but a few coaches hope for, just to go back to trying to woo teenagers to come play for whatever university he was at. There will probably be Chip Kelly rumors as long as there are high-profile coaching vacancies, but it doesn't mean any of them include any logic.

Kelly said Wednesday he laughed at the "silly" rumors and wouldn't talk to Florida if they called (the Gators have already hired Jim McElwain from Colorado State). There's a reason. He's a successful NFL coach. He has no reason to take a step back now, not when things are just getting good in Philadelphia.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

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