re: The UF HC search 2017 edition

@everyone

I have been confident for a few days now that Chip Kelly is going to be the next head coach at Florida.

I understand there is a lot of information floating out there about Kelly wanting to weigh options, wanting to hear from UCLA, etc. I am not worried by that based on all of the information I have now and have gotten at various points in the process. Some is hard fact from great sources, some is timeline related, some is putting pieces together here and there. I can say this: I don't know whether there's a contractual hang-up regarding Kelly's NFL buyout money or his ESPN deal, but I know that UF's lawyers were looking into those matters. You would expect there would be an abundance of caution there if they sensed any potential issues.

But whether the delay in an announcement is related to that, or as simple as Kelly and/or Florida wanting to wait until after the season out of respect for the job Randy Shannon has done, or previous precedent (see how Urban Meyer at Ohio State was basically a done deal but wasn't formally announced until after the regular season), it seems clear to me at this point that he will be announced as the head coach at some point shortly after the season ends (likely Sunday, though I cannot lock that down just yet).

Florida flew its A-team up there on Sunday night. I was told from a few sources that that meeting was to essentially finalize everything, whether via a signed agreement or a verbal agreement, I do not know and cannot confirm. I know that I got very solid information as that meeting was wrapping up from two different sources that things were good to go (No, not necessarily signed deal, but just good to go, everyone was confident it was "done" and Kelly would ultimately be the next coach). I also told you guys that Kelly wouldn't be on the plane back and that it wasn't a big deal and should not worry you.

@everyoneI can tell you the UAA team used an abundance of caution to avoid being tracked on that flight. Well, it got out, even despite a last-minute diversion from Bangor to Portsmouth. At that point, they knew full and well that this thing was being tracked. It was not until that point that things started to shift in terms of what people were hearing. The UCLA job coming open was certainly a new wrinkle, though the UAA was already on the plane to New Hampshire. But I would say that a guy as calculated as Chip Kelly with agents looking for his next stop in coaching for the last couple months probably had a better-than-decent idea that UCLA could come open well before he got into such an advanced stage with Florida. Immediately after certain things got out there Sunday night, things started sparking up about UCLA being a potential hurdle for Florida and that Chip Kelly either definitely did or maybe just wanted to see what UCLA had to say.

Now national guys are onto that storyline and the narrative is Kelly will decide between UCLA and Florida. All I can tell you is that I remain extremely confident. I understand the next few days are likely to carry more ups and downs as this or that gets reported. It is what it is. Just bear with us over the next few days. As before, I feel extremely confident this will work out with a very favorable ending for Florida fans.

I know you guys will want an update with every bit of news that surfaces, and I will do my best to address them as they pop up, but everything in my view is status quo from where I was at Sunday night. It's hard to report on each twist and turn when it doesn't really match my info. Try to be understanding of that, if you can.