The making of a beautiful mind: UCLA's Chip Kelly's early coaching days
DURHAM, N.H. - Chip Kelly veered away from the other young football coaches on that spring day three decades ago.
As 25 or so of his peers herded into one room at the University of New Hampshire to hear from Jack Bicknell Jr., a fledgling college assistant whose star power resulted largely from his once being Doug Flutie's teammate and his father being the head coach at Boston College, Kelly headed next-door.
Kelly wanted to learn from Gary Crowton, then a relatively anonymous offensive coordinator who would go on to design some of college football's most prolific offenses.
"Everybody went with Jack except for Chip," Crowton remembered.
Kelly had Crowton all to himself, which meant that Crowton had Kelly all to himself. The college coach found the offensive coordinator from nearby Manchester Central High to be engaging and inquisitive during their hour-long conversation, asking about the nuances of quarterback and receiver play at the college level.
Learning different positions gave Kelly a deeper understanding of the responsibilities and tendencies of more players. But it seemed he always wanted to know more. His yearning for football knowledge would lead him to make more stops than an early transcontinental airline route long before landing at UCLA late last year as Jim Mora's replacement.
