Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly hasn’t been out of a job for long – he’s been hired to replace Jim Tomsula at the San Francisco 49ers.
Niners CEO Jed York made the announcement on Thursday on Twitter:
Kelly beat off competition from former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan to land the coveted position in San Francisco. Kelly was controversially fired from his job at the Eagles on December 30 after three seasons with Philadelphia.
San Francisco went 5-11 this season under first-year coach Tomsula and missed the playoffs for the second straight time. Tomsula was fired on January 3 after taking over for Jim Harbaugh, who left after the 2014 season in what the team called a “mutual” parting.
Kelly made his NFL coaching debut with Philadelphia after a highly successful stint at the University of Oregon, leading a team that had gone 4-12 the previous year to a 10-6 record and an NFC East division title.
But the Eagles missed the playoffs the next year after a 9-3 start and stumbled to 6-9 this past season, Kelly’s first after wresting full control of personnel decisions during the off-season. Overall, they were 7-12 in his last 19 games.
Kelly will be formally introduced next week.
The 49ers are hopeful that Kelly, widely known as an offensive innovator, can help resurrect the career of quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has struggled mightily since coming off the bench midway through the 2012 season to lead the 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII.
Kaepernick, 28, was benched for former first-round pick Blaine Gabbert in November.
