Chip Kelly heads back to college football ... in a television role

Former Oregon coach Chip Kelly is joining ESPN.

The network announced Friday that Kelly would serve as an analyst for its college football coverage in 2017. Per ESPN, Kelly will serve as a studio analyst for pregame, halftime and postgame coverage on ESPN2. He’ll also be part of ESPN’s NFL coverage on Sundays.

“Over the last 30 years, I have experienced football from one perspective – as a coach,” Kelly said in an ESPN release. “Working in television will allow me to see the game from a different angle; simultaneously, I‘ll provide viewers an insight to the mindset of a coach and team while offering alternative views of various situations.

“Once I decided to make the move to TV, my familiarity with ESPN, combined with their high-quality production and vital role in college football, it was easily the best network suited for me.”

Kelly, 53, left Oregon to coach the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013. He was fired from the Eagles with one game left in the 2015 season and became the San Francisco 49ers coach in 2016. But that gig only lasted a season. The 49ers made a massive personnel overhaul after a 2-14 season, firing Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke.

In nearly three seasons with Philly he compiled a 26-21 record and went 10-6 in his first two seasons with the team. However the 2013 season was the only time Philadelphia went to the playoffs in Kelly’s tenure.

In four seasons as Oregon’s head coach Kelly went 46-7. His teams went to BCS games at the conclusion of each season and the 2010 team lost to Auburn on a last-second field goal in the National Championship Game.

Kelly came to the NFL after establishing an up-tempo, no-huddle attack at Oregon. The Ducks’ offense became one of the most potent in the country under his watch and continued to be one of the best after Kelly’s offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich was hired to succeed him in 2013.

But just like Kelly was fired at the end of 2016, so was Helfrich. Oregon parted ways with Helfrich after the school’s first losing season since 1994. The Ducks hired South Florida coach Willie Taggart to replace him – the first time Oregon had hired a football head coach from outside the program since 1976.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!