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PAC-12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 25, 2018

Chip Kelly

Hollywood, California

Q. How does it feel to be back up on this stage?
CHIP KELLY: It's been a fun day. Enjoyable. Got a lot of things going on, so interesting questions, and a lot of fun. The good part for us is when we get to next Friday and get back to football itself.

Q. How are you adapting the program?
CHIP KELLY: I think when I first came into this league there weren't many spread offenses and we were the only team that had shiny helmets, and now everybody runs the spread offense and everybody has shiny helmets.

I think the game itself has changed. So I think you have to change with it. I've had great experience since I left Oregon from a football standpoint. So being in the NFL for four years, and then last year being out and getting a chance to study the game was -- I think will help me.

I think as a staff, when we put together, I think we're cognizant of how do we put our players in the best position to make plays.

Q. What did you learn sitting out? What was that like for you?
CHIP KELLY: That was interesting. It was my gap year. I had fun. I had always talked to our players about getting out of their comfort zone, so that was as far out of my comfort zone as I've been.

But I worked with really good people. It was a lot of fun. Got a chance to spend a lot of time during the week watching film. Had to break down college tape from different conferences to prepare for games on Saturday. Then did some work with the NFL and got a chance to break down their stuff.

So not focusing on one opponent, which you usually do during the week, but focusing on just the overall, taking a macro view of things was beneficial. I kind of enjoyed that. Where the game was headed. What people are doing. Some people at different schools, you're like, wow, how did New Mexico run for so many yards? You get a chance to take time.

In season, if you're at another school, you don't get to watch New Mexico film unless you're playing New Mexico. So you get a chance to watch people and see how they did things. Then you kind of put that in your folders and your resumÃ©s and everything that you look at and say when I get somewhere, do we have people that can run that. That's another way to do things.

Q. In your time with the Eagles, what did you learn that you're going to bring and implement with the Bruins here?
CHIP KELLY: I think it's everything. What good coaches do is implement based upon what their players can handle. So I was exposed to a lot of really good coaching in the National Football League. I got to learn from Pat Shurmur, who is the head coach of the Giants. He was my offensive coordinator when I was in Philadelphia, and I learned a lot from Shurm and the other guys on our staff there, and in San Francisco.

The biggest thing for us was getting to know the players that we have now at UCLA, and then what do we have that can put them in positions to make plays.

Q. How are you picking this year's QB?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, it's a wide-open deal right now. We had three quarterbacks compete for us in the spring, and we've added two more in the off-season, so we'll see how that plays itself out. But just who can move us and who has a command and an understanding of what we're trying to get accomplished on the offensive side of the ball. Can you put us in position to stay out of harm's way and not -- try to stay away from the self-inflicted wounds.

If we can have somebody that can put us in situations where we're always kind of in a positive. We understand that we don't have to throw for a home run. We can go from first and ten to second and five and get us into manageable situations and just keep us on the field to establish a rhythm. That's part of what we're going into now.

We're just a really young football team. As you know, you've been there. We have only eight seniors. So I think some people look at it as a negative. I see it as a positive. We have a lot of youth, and it will be fun to get them going in the right direction.

Q. How do you change the culture in the last 20 years being one of failure? What makes you think you can change it?
CHIP KELLY: I think the first thing is not to dwell on the past. I wasn't there, so I couldn't specifically say why things happen one way or why things happened in another way. Try to be a forward-thinking operation.

I think a lot of it comes from if you can help instill confidence in the players, and a lot of that is confidence based on demonstrated ability. So do you put them in situations that are going to occur in games on a continual basis in practice and trading sessions so when they come up during games it's not, What am I doing here? It's, I've done this before. I feel confident in what we're going to do. I feel confident in executing this plan.

I think the proper preparation from a training standpoint helps you eliminate some of those things. I think, again, sometimes people dwell too much on the past that this happened, this happened, this happened. A lot of those kids weren't there 20 years ago. Lot of people don't know who was on those teams and aren't concerned with that. What they're concerned with is what is going to happen in the future, and that's what we're going to try to focus on.

Q. What was it like bringing in Wilton Speight?
CHIP KELLY: I think he's a competitor. I talk to people around him and understand him. He also has 16 games' experience at the college level. We do not have a lot of experience at the quarterback level right now.

I think he's going to bring a maturity to him. It was interesting. I had never been in the grad transfer world. That's one thing we've talked about earlier that has changed in college football. It started in '11 or '12 when the rule first came in. There were like ten; now there are 200.

But it was enjoyable. When I talked to Wilton, he said the biggest thing when he was being recruited coming out of high school, there was a cookie in his room with his number on it. He thought that was the coolest thing. Now that he's a grad transfer, he wanted to talk about what course of study he was going to be and what type of offense we ran. Those were the only two things that concerned him.

So you're getting a guy that's got some maturity to him and has been there, done that. He's there for a reason. He wants to get a degree from UCLA from graduate school and he wants to play football. I'm excited about adding that experience to that room.

Q. Speaking of grad transfers, what's been your impression of Justin Murphy so far?
CHIP KELLY: Murph, from what I understand from our strength coaches, has been good. We can't work with those guys until next Friday. But it's another guy at a position that we're really young at that we brought in a veteran player that started a lot of football games at the college level that will add a little bit of veteran leadership to that room. I know, talking to our strength and conditioning staff, they've been excited about his work ethic and what he brings.

But there is a newness to a lot of the things that are going to hit us on next Friday because there are about 40 new faces that weren't with us in the spring that we're excited to get working with.

Q. Physically he's fine? His knee's fine?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, he's been, according to our guys, he's been really good in workouts and hasn't had any ill effects from that knee injury.

Q. Last season it seemed like in the second half the Bruins just didn't have the same energy as they did in the first half in a lot of the games. I'm wondering, from what you've seen so far, do you think this was a strength and conditioning issue or just mental discipline?
CHIP KELLY: I don't know. And I haven't spent a lot of time on what went on in the past because it wasn't here for me. Even if I came up with the answer, I don't know that that would help me.

Q. Are you doing anything different on strength and conditioning?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, everybody's new at our place. New strength and conditioning, new nutrition, new coaching staff, new everything. So we're not concerned with what went on there before we got there. We're concerned with what's going on moving forward.

Q. How disappointing was it to lose to Bryan Addison?
CHIP KELLY: I understand what happened, and we wish him the best of luck in his next stop. But I understand where our school stood on the situation. I'm a hundred percent behind our school in terms of what happened.

Q. Did you know where they stood academically?
CHIP KELLY: No, everybody has to get cleared by the clearinghouse and how that works. That's where the holdup was, was with the testing service.

Q. Past UCLA coaches have talked about trying to get out of the shadow of USC and have always addressed it. Have you felt that in the last six to eight months? How would you address that?
CHIP KELLY: I think you go back to Coach Wooden, and what you learn from Coach Wooden, who has been around a long time, and he didn't talk about other opponents. He was just concerned with his own team.

I think that's where sometimes we all have a certain amount of energy to expend on a daily basis. If our energy is going on somewhere else, I think we're wasting our energy, and how do we improve on a daily basis and continue to get these kids to develop from day one to day two to day three and not be concerned is there a shadow or not a shadow.

The short time I've been in Los Angeles, there aren't many shadows because there aren't many clouds in the skies. So we're not concerned about the shadow part of this deal.

Q. You've talked about conditioning and nutrition. You've done some things at Oregon that were new and cutting edge. How far has that evolved, or is it the same stuff?
CHIP KELLY: No, it's really evolved because that world has evolved. When you look everywhere from what is a new craze to Orangetheory to CrossFit to whatever's going on in the public sector, to how many people in this room are wearing Fitbits and counting their steps and trying to walk circles around their chairs to get to 10,000. So the world has changed in the last five years.

I think what you have to do, though, is you have to be what can we apply to our stuff. There is so much information out there that sometimes you can get overwhelmed by it and say you can do this, this, and this. And you can lose sight of what you're trying to do.

I think what we're trying to do is can we be at our best every Saturday that we have an opportunity to play, and that's where our training regimen is set so that how we train allows us to maximize our potential on a Saturday. At least give us a shot in the games that we're going to play.

Q. The discussion in other conferences about releasing an injury report and somebody mandating that. If the Pac-12 were to do that, how would you feel about that? I know you've been in the NFL where they require that and also at Oregon where they didn't. Where do you fall on that issue?
CHIP KELLY: Just tell me what to do.

Q. So if they mandated it --
CHIP KELLY: If they mandate it, what am I going to say, no? If they mandate it.

Q. But, if you had the choice?
CHIP KELLY: I don't care. That's just one extra thing for me to do during the week. If I don't have to do it, I don't have to do it. In the NFL, the coaches don't do it. The trainer does it anyways. People want to know who is playing, they're playing. I don't care. What do you want?

Q. What do I want?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah.

Q. I think it would be easier for us if there were injury reports.
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, because you wouldn't have to write stories about injuries, right?

Q. Yeah, we do write a lot of those.
CHIP KELLY: So help you out. I'm good to go on next Friday. We'll see how we do it. I really don't care. I know it's a big question, and I know it's about gambling, and they don't want to say it's about gambling, but it's about gambling.

So if you want to support gamblers, tell them who is injured. If you don't, don't tell them who is injured. Maybe they've got to figure it out on their own. But there's been gambling everywhere.

It's not like when they pass this new rule people are going to go: Oh, my God, we can gamble now? If you felt like that, you're living in a hole because there's been gambling going on for a long time.

Q. Are there other concerns when it comes to sports betting that crop up?
CHIP KELLY: People have bet on sports for a long time. Just because states made it legal to do it, I think some people, I'm guessing, may have been doing it illegally for a long time.

Q. What?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, exactly. So I don't think it's as big -- I don't think it's a controversy. But if the league tells us to, we will. The NFL, it wasn't an issue. Our trainer handled it: Who is probable, who is questionable. Whatever the numbers were. It's no big deal.

Q. Any plans for any new uniform changes?
CHIP KELLY: No. I think our uniforms are iconic. Sometimes I think the Penn States, the UCLAs, the Alabamas of the world are in -- people can easily identify them. So there are no plans now for us to do it. When I talk to the Troy Aikmans of the world, he likes our uniforms. So if Troy likes them, I like them.

Q. When it comes to injury, are there some guys that won't be able to start out?
CHIP KELLY: I haven't got anybody -- right now it sounds like everybody should be good. But I won't get that until we get back in the office on Monday to start to talk about it. There may be a couple guys.

Q. Was there something about the Pac-12 conference you missed?
CHIP KELLY: If you're not prepared when you go to Pullman, Washington, you're going to be beat. The one thing about this league that I love, there are a ton of coaches that have come and gone, but the competitive level from top to bottom in this league has always been fantastic. So I've enjoyed that part of it.

Q. UCLA has some upcoming out-of-conference games home at home with LSU, Georgia, Oklahoma. Are you in favor of out-of-conference?
CHIP KELLY: Our schedule this year we play Cincinnati at home at Oklahoma. Fresno State. We have an open day we're going to play the Tampa Bay Bucs, and then we're going to start the league conference schedule. No, I love it.

Q. Do you like the aggressive out of conference schedules playing LSU?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, we play LSU when I was at Oregon. We signed on for that. We played at Michigan. Played at Tennessee. I think when people talk about how to strategically schedule, I think the first time you start thinking about strategically scheduling, you've lost because you don't think you can compete with people. If you want to beat the best, you've got to be the best. So if they want to play us, I'll play anybody.

I'm excited when I looked at our schedule. I think UCLA, USC and Notre Dame are the only three schools that have never played a 1-AA team. That's part of something that they hang their hat on, and I agree with that.

I'd love to play all great teams. And I know teams want to come play in the Rose Bowl. All those games are really cool home and homes that have been set up. We got Michigan home and home, we have LSU home and home, Georgia home and home. I think Rutgers just dropped us, so they're trying to fill a hole for that one. It's a short window, but we're open to playing anybody.

Q. What's it going to be like returning to Autzen Stadium as a coach this time?
CHIP KELLY: It will be difficult, to be honest with you because it's a special place. It's one of the real hallowed grounds of college football. If you've ever played a game in the stadium, whether you were the home team or the visitor, you'll remember it. It's a special fan base.

I know how difficult it is for opposing teams to go in there and win because that fan base is unbelievable. Even though it's not the biggest stadium in college football, it's the loudest stadium in college football. It's going to be a difficult task for us when we head over there.

Q. How are you expecting to be received by the fans?
CHIP KELLY: I don't know. We'll see.

Depends on where we are. If we don't have any wins, they'll be excited when we come showing up. Maybe if we go undefeated, they'll really like us. So you never know.

Q. Is this going to look like your Oregon team? That's what fans are asking.
CHIP KELLY: No, I think that's -- I think that's not fair to anybody, to be honest with you. Every team has a different dynamic, and I think it's based upon what your personnel is. So to say that this guy used to coach here so this is going to look like this, I understand that. Maybe that's a positive because they want to see what that looks like.

But our job is to put our players in position to make plays. And I'm not being evasive. We only have eight seniors. We didn't have a lot of guys in spring ball. So there are going to be a bunch of guys that just showed up that are going to play for us because of sheer numbers. So exactly how it's going to look, I'm not sure how it's going to look.

I'm excited. I think that is the fun part of coaching and what it's going to look like. But what we don't get caught up in is what does it look like, it's just how does it work. So whether we're driving a car that looks good on the outside, if it gets me to point A to point B, I'm happy. Whether we run for first down, throw for first down, have someone pick another person up and carry them for first down, it's still a first down.

That's what we're trying to do. Just trying to get first downs and stop people. If we're going to be successful at UCLA, it really starts on the defensive side of the ball.

One thing that people don't realize or maybe just kind of glossed over is when we were really good at Oregon is because we were really good on defense. Our offense got a ton of notoriety. But Dion Jordan, Kiko Alonso, Michael Clay, DeForest Buckner, Arik Armstead, Terrance Mitchell, all guys playing in the NFL right now were tremendous defensive football players. They just didn't get enough credit.

But we were really good because we were really good on defense. For us to be really good at UCLA, we're going to have to be good on the defensive side of the football.

Q. The personnel you've seen in the spring, do you think there is a chance?
CHIP KELLY: We have the makings of it. We have a ton of positions that we don't have depth at that I think some young kids are going to have to play because of the numbers.

I like our secondary. I think there is depth in the secondary. We have skilled linebackers. We have a few kids -- Josh Woods, Jaelan Phillips -- that didn't play in the spring that didn't see a snap out of those guys.

So it sounds like they'll be cleared to go when we get back. Caleb Wilson is the same way. Another kid that's talented at the tight end spot; that we didn't get a chance to see Caleb at all during the spring.

Colin Samuel is another kid we didn't see at all during the spring. So there are a few unknowns that we don't know about that are returning veteran players. They weren't cleared for spring ball, but hopefully knock on wood, they'll be cleared for August. So it will be interesting. I like the makings of what we have there. I just hope we can get some depth developed.

Q. How does Theo Howard fit in your offensive scheme given how explosive he is?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, I think Theo is a great fit for what we do. He is a threat that everybody has to be concerned with.

He's got outstanding speed. A great route runner. He's got tremendous hands. He's extremely consistent. So I think if you're a quarterback, he's going to be one of the guys that you become familiar with. Just because you can count on him to be where he's supposed to be when he's supposed to be there and to catch it. I'm excited to see what Theo's season looks like coming up.

Q. He's a quiet guy. Do you expect him to be more of a leader on the team?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, I don't think being a quiet guy or not a quiet guy has anything to do with being a leader. I think being a leader has to do with doing the right things. He's obviously a leader right now for us.

Q. If I was a coach and someone asked me how I felt about you coming back to the league, I'd be scared you know what. All the coaches have been asked about how they feel about you coming back. They've been glowing: It's great for the league, blah, blah, blah. They're pretty happy. I know you're friends with some of them, but do you believe all of them?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, I don't think -- I think in this deal, most of us are pretty close and have known each other for a long time.

There is inherent rivalries that go on in college sports all the time. When I was at Oregon, our rival is Oregon State. Mike Riley was the head coach at Oregon State, and I love Mike Riley. And everybody would get mad, How can you love Mike Riley? He's at Oregon State. Have you met him? He's a class man. One of the classiest guys in college football.

As coaches, we're competitors. It's like brothers. I want to beat the bag out of my brothers, but you love them.

And there are a lot of guys here that I've known for a long time. Me and David Shaw are very good friends. David came over when I was at the 49ers. I'd go to his practices. He'd come to my practices.

When Chris was at Boise, he'd come visit us, and we'd spend time talking football. I was at Texas A&M with Kevin Sumlin, talking football with him and coaching with him.

We're in a big fraternity. We're at different schools. I know our schools are rivals and compete against each other, but we have a healthy respect for each other.

Q. No, I didn't mean it like that.
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, yeah, I understand that.

Q. Just a follow-up. Who was the first coach to text you when you did make it? Do you remember?
CHIP KELLY: I don't know. We jumped on a plane right after I took the job. It was fun because we had no Wifi, so I didn't talk to anybody. Then we got off the plane, and my phone had blown up.

So I couldn't tell you who was number one. But there were a lot of good ones. Especially the ones tied to UCLA, the Terry Donahues and Dick Vermeils. I got to know Coach Vermeil really well when I was at Philadelphia. So to hear from those guys was special.

Q. Your arrival in L.A. has been equated to LeBron James coming, Manny Machado coming --
CHIP KELLY: Oh, no, let's slow down there. Me and Bron? Let's not. I'm not sure about that one.

Q. But all the stars. L.A. is bringing the stars. Do you sense that at all or not?
CHIP KELLY: No, I think the cool thing about L.A. is that there are so many cool people here is that everybody kind of fits in.

The other good thing about L.A. is I know for a fact that I am not the prettiest person in the room. So there's a lot of other people that they could look at. We just want to keep our heads down and go to work. We're very insulated in the world we live in. So you leave your house 5:30, go to work, on campus all day long, and then go home. So we don't get exposed.

Q. You've heard of LeBron James?
CHIP KELLY: I know that. That's why I know exactly who LeBron James is. So to put me and LeBron in the same sentence, the fact that we're both residents of Los Angeles is about as far as that one goes.

Q. It's been a while since you've been in New Hampshire, but Colorado plays them right before you play Colorado.
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, I was talking to Mike about that.

Q. What can Colorado expect out of Coach McDonald's team?
CHIP KELLY: They're going to be well-coached, fundamentally sound, and they're going to play their tails off. That's been his hallmark since he's been there. They've been in the national playoffs 14 times in a row. He's probably the most consistent performer at the FCS level, and they've had a history of beating 1-A teams when they play up.

But they know Mike's got a really talented team this year too. It's going to be a heck of a game.

Q. Second part of that is are you looking forward to breaking down that film and seeing New Hampshire on that other side?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, hopefully they can do something to him so we can learn from it. I know I'll talk to them after they play him.

Q. Do you think Wilton's experience put him ahead of the quarterback competition. Do you feel like everybody's kind of coming in?
CHIP KELLY: I think everybody's equal. But I think he has experience because he's played. So I think there is not a newness. If he were to take a snap in a game, it's not the first time he's taken a snap in a game. I think all of us are by-products of experience. There's a lot of times we have a plan, and then all of a sudden you're like, if I could do that over again, I'd be a little bit different.

But I think he fits in really well with what our room is like right now, and I'm excited to see how it plays itself out. I think a lot of times you go into things and you'd like to really know going into year two with Marcus red-shirting, year two we knew Marcus was our quarterback and you don't have to worry about it. But every other year I've been in quarterback competitions, and I think it brings out the best in him. We're excited to see how it plays itself out.

Q. Are you excited to have coach Derek Sage with you?
CHIP KELLY: I had coached with Derek before at New Hampshire, so I had a great understanding of what he's all about. So whenever I got a job at the college level, he was someone I knew I wanted to reach out to, and we're really excited that he's coaching our tight ends.

Roy came really highly recommended from Alex Grinch, who was another guy that I coached with that was at Washington State. Really needed a special teams coordinator, and he's a rising star in this profession. So I was excited to get both those guys.

Q. There are three times as many media here as normal for UCLA. Are you okay with that?
CHIP KELLY: I don't know what it was like. That means we're doing good things. So I know if we go 0 for 5 there's not going to be that many. Let's just hope we have this turnout again. We're excited about it.

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