National Football League coach Chip Kelly and world football manager Jose Mourinho are one and the same. Will either man find long-term success with a single team?
San Francisco 49ers head coach Chip Kelly and new Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho really should get together and exchange ideas.
Kelly and Mourinho would probably get along well; that, or the two would come to blow within 10 minutes of speaking to each other. Both are strong personalities. Both have, over the years, been responsible for some interesting soundbites. Neither Kelly nor Mourinho have found themselves unable to consistently find work over the past several years.
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Mourinho’s latest departure from the Premier League, one that began last December when he and Chelsea had their latest falling out, did not last long. Manchester United introduced Mourinho as the club’s new manager on May 27.
Mourinho is a polarizing figure among passionate football/soccer fans. Some see him as a genius and “The Special One” who has proven himself capable of winning titles and guiding clubs to European glory. Critics, meanwhile, may point out that each of Mourinho’s latest jobs ended in disappointment and with Mourinho deserving the blame for his failures of his teams.
Remind you of any National Football League head coach?
Both Mourinho and Kelly found success early on in their managerial/coaching careers. Mourinho was a hit at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan, and it seemed at the beginning of his run at Real Madrid that Mourinho would lead the Spanish giants to numerous titles. Kelly, meanwhile, became a coveted commodity in the coaching world after he helped turn Oregon into a college football powerhouse.
Both Mourinho and Kelly did well to cash-in on their accomplishments. Mourinho won a trio of trophies in his last season at Inter before he negotiated himself the switch to Real Madrid. That move, per the Press Association/TheGuardian.com, cost Real roughly £6.8 million.
Conveniently before reported NCAA violations were made public in the spring of 2013, Kelly held meetings with several NFL clubs. One of those teams was the Cleveland Browns. Whatever exactly did and/or did not happen has been a debated topic on Cleveland sports talk radio over the years, but NFL.com reporter Ian Rappoport claimed at the time that Kelly and the Browns were close to a deal.
And then the two sides parted without a contract being signed. ESPN NFL guru Adam Schefter later took to his official Twitter account to report that that Kelly had passed on the Philadelphila Eagles and on the NFL, in general, and instead had decided to return to Oregon.
The perception, years after the fact, is that Kelly was merely negotiation the best possible deal for himself. Philadelphia, as you know, eventually landed Kelly, and the two sides began what both probably hoped would be a long and fruitful relationship.
Things began well enough for Mourinho at Real, and for Kelly at the Eagles. Real won the Copa del Rey in Mourinho’s first season with the club, and Real then won the La Liga title the following campaign. Kelly led the Eagles to a 10-6 record and a division title in his first season with the Eagles. The Eagles followed that up by going 10-6 the following year. While that was not good enough for Philadelphia to make the playoffs that time around, the belief was the Eagles were on the verge of doing something special.
It did not take all that long for things to deteriorate for either man. Mourinho failed to capitalize on his early Real titles and lead the club to an era of dominance as the best team in Europe and the best in the world. There were also reports of Mourinho clashing with players, most notably with superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
NFL fans probably don’t need reminders of what happened with Kelly and the Eagles. Kelly was ultimately given control of football decisions for the Eagles, and he responded by making curious roster moves that included dealing All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy, trading fan-favorite quarterback Nick Foles for the often-injured Sam Bradford and signing free agent running back DeMarco Murray.
The Eagles were a flop in 2015, and the club did not even wait until the end of the calendar year to show Kelly the door.
Mourinho and Kelly both have reputations for believing or at least acting as if they believe they are the smartest men in the room. That supposed ego cost Mourinho again during his second stint with Chelsea. Six months after Mourinho hoisted the Premier League trophy as Chelsea boss in May 2015, he and the club parted company.
The termination of that relationship occurred as Chelsea were threatening to be relegation candidates following an awful start to the season, and also amid reports that certain players in the Chelsea dressing room had staged a revolt against Mourinho.
Mourinho will probably never learn at this stage of his life and career. He is who he is, and he has a resume that will allow him to land gigs in the future.
Kelly cannot say that. Not yet, at least.
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Kelly did not have to wait long after he was fired by the Eagles before a NFL team came calling. The 49ers scooped Kelly up less than a month after he was first on the market. That’s all well and good, but Kelly may find himself looking to return to the college ranks if he fails to produce positive results while with San Francisco.
Call them mad geniuses. Call them men consumed by themselves, and say they are their own worst enemies. In many ways, Mourinho and Kelly have gone down similar career paths. The one thing Kelly is missing, however, is a big-time title, either a Super Bowl victory or a conference championship.
Kelly will need to add one of those to his personal trophy case if he is to become a “Special One” within the NFL.