Oregon admits "major violation" under Chip Kelly

The University of Oregon has agreed with the NCAA that it committed at least one "major violation" which came up during the course of an NCAA investigation on their recruiting practices from 2008-2011. Current Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly took over as head coach of the Oregon program in 2009.

"I am aware of the recent reports and of the ongoing investigation being conducted by the NCAA and the University of Oregon," Kelly said in a statement today. "While at Oregon, I know we were fully cooperative with all aspects of the investigation and I will continue to contribute in any way that I can. But until the NCAA rules on the matter, I will have no further comment."

This is certainly not new news as it was reported back when the Eagles were courting Kelly that the NCAA was in the midst of an investigation.

What does this mean for either Chip Kelly or the Eagles? Nothing whatsoever. It is, perhaps unfortunately, entirely Oregon's problem. This situation is similar to, but seemingly not nearly as severe as what happened when Pete Carroll jumped ship from USC to the Seahawks. He had been involved in the Reggie Bush recruiting affair and as a result the Trojans were hit with a 2 year bowl ban and forced to forfeit 30 football scholarships.

The violations at Oregon do not appear that they will rise to the level of that kind of punishment, but then again who ever knows what the NCAA will do? And at least in terms of Eagles fans, who cares? We could say that this impugnes Chip Kelly's character a bit, but when you read the actual charges it's really nothing all that sordid or nefarious. And as we've seen with Carroll, leaving behind sanctions in college obviously doesn't hurt your ability to coach in the NFL.

Further, the USC sanctions were crippling. You can see how that would motivate Carroll to get out of there. While it does remain to be seen what actually happens at Oregon, it doesn't seem like the penalties will be nearly as severe. So I'm not really sure we can say the sanctions are why Kelly left. His reasons are most likely still the same as we originally thought, he wanted to coach in the NFL (and make a LOT of money).

Oregon has offered to put it's football program on 2 year probation as a result of the violations. They will eventually have to appear in front of the NCAA's infractions committee for a hearing.