Amidst reports that Chip Kelly is returning in 2017, the head coach wanted to thank the York family for how gracious they were during his time away with family to deal with the death of his father Paul. Private flights were scheduled at Kelly’s convenience.
“They had a plane ready for me when we landed in Chicago on Friday Night and I got an opportunity to fly to New Hampshire and be with my mom and then to be able to fly back for the game and then be able to fly back for the funeral and then be able to fly all the way back here and then to be able to fly Jill from here to Chicago to meet me so that we could go together,” Kelly said. “They were godsends, to be honest with you.”
Kelly was not willing to say the Yorks have given him a private vote of confidence. But the ownership group and Kelly do hold weekly meetings together. In fact, Kelly said he met with Jed York on Thursday, just not about his job status.
“I’ve never had anywhere else I’ve been, never had a conversation in-season about things going on,” Kelly said. “Obviously at the end of every year, you’ll sit down and evaluate everything, but I haven’t had anything nor would I expect to have anybody come to me during the season to talk about what’s going to go on in the following year.
“Our sole focus once we get going in-season is always week-to-week. So, whatever week you’re on. This week it’s the Jets and that’s really what, and the football discussions I had with Jed today was just about injuries. You know, who was out, what are we doing, here we had this situation, what’s your thought processes in terms of the Jets and things like that. Just the normal conversations that we do have on a weekly basis. But, nothing from that standpoint.”
You could say all of this is standard behavior for owners, but it’s good synergy to hear a head coach compliment the ownership group — in any type of context.