Chip Kelly press conference clears up misconceptions about Eagles coaching search

Now that the Eagles have made their decision, all the players involved the coaching search are opening up and talking about the process. That means some misconceptions and misreports are being cleared up.

Here are a few things we learned the truth about today.

Chip Kelly was never "close" to joining the Browns as was initially reported. He was always going to take all of his scheduled interviews. He also said that after the interviews, the Browns were not a factor, "It was either Eagles or Oregon."

Jon Gruden was not interested in the Eagles job as was reported (by Ron Jaworski). The Eagles did speak with Jon Gruden, but did not interview him because as Lurie said, "Jon made it clear he's not coming back to the NFL this year." When they talked to Gruden, it was about Chip Kelly.

Chip Kelly was not looking for total control over the organization. "Control was never an issue," Kelly said. "I'm a football coach, not a GM or a salary cap guy. I have no delusion about wanting all these different titles. I just want to coach."

On the criticism that started to bubble up from unnamed sources about Howie Roseman?

Lurie said #Eagles "knew what was going on strategically" when reports surfaced critical of Roseman during search process. #Banner

— Bob Grotz (@BobGrotz) January 17, 2013

Now, Grotz added the #Banner hashtag because he thinks it was Joe Banner (and it is a very Banner thing to do), but it's very interesting that the Lurie seems to have some information that someone was actively trying to discredit Roseman. Obviously it didn't work.

Gus Bradley was a finalist for the job. Lurie told him when they ended their meeting that he was in the final 2 with "a guy with head coaching experience." Lurie said that the next day he called Gus to encourage him to take the Jacksonville job.

Chip Kelly told his players and coaches that he was leaving before anyone else knew. There was an early report floating around Oregon that he just bolted and everyone found out on ESPN. That wasn't the case, he made it clear to the Eagles that he didn't want to see anything on the news until he told his players.