Chip Kelly often looks like he’d rather face a firing squad than reporters.
The UCLA coach parses questions, looking for any flaw in their logic. Injury inquiries lead nowhere. Facts are often dismissed as “true but useless.” Have a hypothetical question for Kelly? Don’t bother. He’s just trying to have a great fill-in-the-day-of-the-week-here.
All of which made the scene following UCLA’s 42-32 victory over then-No. 11 Utah on Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl all the more surreal.
Kelly literally asked for more questions, twice dismissing an athletic department spokesperson’s attempt to end the session so that he could spend more time with the media. The 15-minute interview was the longest since his introductory press conference in November 2017.
Kelly was gracious, engaging and even a touch humorous, apologizing to a columnist for not watching his appearances on television. Yes, the coach who started his career 7-18 with the Bruins is enjoying his team’s success every bit as much as his players. No. 11 UCLA (6-0 overall, 3-0 Pac-12) has won nine consecutive games going back to last season, giving Kelly a 24-25 record at the school.
Asked how this newfound success felt, Kelly referenced the Buddhist term “mudita,” saying he derived joy from others.
“When our players have success,” Kelly said, “I see the smiles on their faces, I watch that celebration in the locker room, those are the things that really get us going as people and the reasons we get up in the morning and go to work.”
Here are four takeaways from the most impressive victory of the Kelly era:
