Tennessee Vols: Chip Kelly On The Atmosphere At Neyland Stadium

Former Oregon Ducks head coach Chip Kelly is one of many coaches that Tennessee Vols fans would like to see in Knoxville next season.

If Butch Jones is indeed fired as the Tennessee Vols head football coach at some point this year, the name at the top of most fans’ wish lists will be former Oregon Ducks head coach Chip Kelly.

Kelly had remarkable success at Oregon during his four seasons in Eugene. He won 46 games and only lost seven.

One of those 46 wins came at Neyland Stadium in 2010. Oregon nearly won the national championship in 2010, but before they made the trip to Glendale to play the Cam Newton led Auburn Tigers, they traveled to Knoxville to take on Derek Dooley and the Volunteers.

The Ducks throttled Tennessee in that 2010 matchup, winning 48-13 in front of a near capacity crowd. Oregon was hitting their stride under Kelly at that point, and the Vols’ football program was in shambles after Lane Kiffin had abruptly left to take the job at USC.

So what did Kelly think of his experience in Neyland in 2010?

Well, even though the Ducks were clearly the better team that season, Kelly was still impressed after the game by the atmosphere in Knoxville.

"Kelly: “That’s an unbelievable environment to play in out there. I mean, this place is impressive. I tell my players all the time `Don’t look at the stadium,’ but I was looking at the stadium.”"

It’s actually quite humorous that Kelly told his players not to pay attention to the environment, while he ended up doing the opposite.

If Kelly does end up being a potential replacement for Butch Jones this off-season (if Jones is fired), then I can assure you that Kelly will remember what it was like playing in front of 100,000 plus fans that were going nuts for a football team that really wasn’t all that good.

Next: Potential Replacements For Butch Jones

Maybe it’ll be enough to make Kelly want to take up residence in Knoxville.