Guest column by Robert “Stroupinator” Stroup, Oregon grad and architecture student at Lehigh University
[editor’s note: periodically we give this space to our East Coast correspondent, who weighs in today on Chip Kelly, Will Lyles and the media. Opinions expressed here, as well as choice of subject matter, are entirely his own. Personally, I’m tired of talking about this stuff.]Chip Kelly and the Media – Both Smart and Absolutely Clueless
It’s time to admit something here: there’s a war going on. A cold war. It’s been brewing between the journalists and the fans, both of which think they’ve got a one-up on the other. The fans are, according to the journalists, “naturally biased.” The journalists, to the fans, are “lazy.” Both sides are somewhat correct. The national media has been shirking its journalistic duties. In a way, it has to. Anger sells. And the more shock and vulgarity someone can post, the likelier that someone, and not something, is to be read.
But the journalists (or columnists) also fail to see that the fans, which follow the team and the underpinnings that build their team, have gained a much deeper knowledge of their team through sheer obsession. The journalists may disagree with this all they want, but with social networking sites like Twitter and online chat rooms such as Duck Territory, the difference of knowledge between a licensed professional and an ardent follower is razor thin.
Case in point: everyone’s favorite subject, Will Lyles.
Journalists say Lyles is a bad guy. Some fans also say Lyles is a bad guy. Both are saying that with different agendas in mind. But those who’ve read Barking Carnival and Recruitocosm for the past three years know that this is most likely a falsehood. If one reads between the lines, it seems as though Lyles is two things only: (1) a complete business idiot and (2) someone who had a good eye for under-the-radar talent.
Lyles was obviously successful at some point. He had worked for a credentialed scouting service and then tried to strike it out on his own. No businessperson ever tries to entrepreneur without some prior experience in his/her industry, and from all accounts, Lyles had considerable experience working for others.
That he is derided as a “street agent” rings loudly with our president not being able to pass legislation without overwhelming intransigence from Congress. The term has no meaning, never did, and remains, to this moment, blatantly transparent backhanded racism at work. In a place like Texas, which upheld slavery rights even beyond the Civil War, a term like “street agent” is a clever device to slur someone into infamy.
So if the national media thinks for a second that the fans don’t know their stuff, I enjoin them to try again. If Chip Kelly, who for all accounts has been nothing but accountable, is ultimately fired, it is highly likely that he will, not unlike Mike Leach, fight back vehemently against these allegations. They are not entirely fabricated but, as Jason Whitlock has said, they do not come in the light of cleaning up college football. This is a hit job. Its sole purpose is to destroy a team that succeeded with Texan talent that didn’t go to Texas. And the source of this is most likely, as Lyles has already admitted, a school aiming to corner the market – the University of Texas.
Similarly, just as the media misses what most fans already know, the coach in question, Kelly, has also missed a great deal which has put him a precarious position. Kelly has proved, time and again, a masterful coach capable of attaining previously unheard of heights at Oregon. But he’s also been unbelievably oblivious. For the last two years, he was so focused on his product – Oregon Duck football – that he failed to see the competition around him, ganging up.
A year before Lyles became a name, those who saw the big picture (mostly followers from SB Nation) were pointing to Texas, warning Kelly and others that they should be aware of the Longhorns. Texas was already bullying out other in-state threats on the recruiting front. In 2009, Texas managed to secure 24 of 25 visitors into their recruiting class. Many said the haul was a monumental success and strangely no one ever questioned why an absurdly high number of visitors committed. Lyles recently has mentioned it was highly likely that high school coaches were paid for talent and outside threats were eliminated, both of which if proven, would have been devastating to the Texas program. But unfortunately, as this was not investigated, the only semblance of corruption came to light one year later when Nebraska and Colorado left, both citing displeasure with Texas. Suddenly, people knew something was up.
Kelly might say that he was aware to this. But he also has said that he has blocked out emotion, doesn’t consider other’s expectations seriously and constantly fights against himself. While all of these things are great to say, they also reek of a perfectionist, who is too preoccupied with his craft. He must have known, at some point, that he was being played just like Lyles was being played. To this day, Kelly has to wake up to a world in which outside influences do matter. It was never Auburn vs. Oregon to Kelly. It was Oregon vs. Oregon. And that was perfect for a coach to say but completely absurd to believe. There was, in fact, another team on the field. They were capable, and because of Kelly’s refusal to acknowledge them, they also won. Until Kelly can fully admit to a situation like this, where there are other teams and other forces at work – and not just the forces that work in Autzen Stadium – Kelly will struggle to adapt to the reality: that he is a big time coach in a big time program. And the offseasons, which he has struggled to navigate, will only get worse.
Until then, he remains no different than the media: very smart and absolutely clueless. And in an era when college football is escalating in corruption (as well as the reporting of it), he needs someone to show him context. Who is your ally? Who is your enemy? These questions, while seemingly trivial, are going to become more important should the Pac-12 figure itself as a national player.
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