Eagles meet with Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, source confirms

THEY COULDN'T persuade Oregon's Chip Kelly to leave college, so the Eagles took a swing at the other Kelly - Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, whose luster faded substantially, at least in the eyes of fans, when the Fighting Irish got manhandled Monday night in the BCS national championship game, 42-14, by Alabama.

An NFL source confirmed Wednesday night that the Birds interviewed Brian Kelly on Tuesday - the day after the title game embarrassment. ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that Kelly is out of the country now, but that the sides plan to revisit the talks.

Eagles center Jason Kelce played three seasons for Kelly at Cincinnati. Wednesday night, Kelce called Kelly "an outstanding coach who manages his college teams very similarly to NFL organizations."

"I would be extremely excited to play for him again, and he is a proven winner," Kelce said.

One pattern from the Eagles' coaching search doesn't require Sherlock Holmes to deduce - they really like the college guys. Coming into this week, their two longest interviews were with Chip Kelly and with Penn State coach Bill O'Brien, who ultimately decided to stay at State College. The Birds scheduled an interview last weekend with Syracuse coach Doug Marrone, but he agreed to coach the Bills before they could meet.

Hard to imagine Brian Kelly's mind was really on what he would do with the Eagles fresh off the Monday night debacle, but then again, after seeing firsthand how the athleticism of Alabama and the Southeastern Conference might be poised to dominate college football for a while, Kelly could have been receptive to a new environment.

It will be a long time before anyone forgets that halftime interview Monday night, when Kelly was asked how his squad might turn the game around and he offered that the Irish's best chance would be for the Crimson Tide to not show up for the second half.

Kelly, 51, sent mixed signals when asked about the NFL during the run-up to the title game. The pregame quote that got the most traction was: "Leaving is not an option. I don't even think about it."

But Kelly also said things that seemed to leave a lot more wiggle room.

"How can you not be [intrigued]?" Kelly said. "When you've coached football, you look at everything - you look at high school film and you watch coaches there, college, Division III to Division I, it doesn't matter, college, NFL. All of that stuff intrigues me. I still think it comes down to time and place. What is the right time, and what is the right place? I never take any of that off the board."

At one news conference, Kelly recalled that when he left Cincinnati for Notre Dame in December 2009, he called Notre Dame his "dream job." He said that hasn't changed.

"I think, from my perspective, I've got the best job in the country - NFL, college, high school, whatever," he said.

Kelly is 28-11 at Notre Dame after going 34-6 in four seasons at Cincinnati.

The Eagles said they had no comment on their session with Kelly, but general manager Howie Roseman did update the team's website Wednesday on the mechanics of the coaching search.

Prospective coaches "know we have a great owner" in Jeffrey Lurie, Roseman told interviewer Dave Spadaro. "Who's going to support and give as much resources as possible to make sure we succeed. They know that we have just supported a coach for 14 years. We're built that way. This whole organization is built to support a head coach. They know that, not only in actions, but it words. All they have to do is call Andy Reid and know that that's how we do it.

"We develop family here. People who have been here have been here for a long time, they've grown together . . . It's been a very positive experience. I'm not saying we're the perfect franchise, by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a great tribute to Jeffrey and what he's building here."

Roseman said lengthy, 9-hour interviews like the ones with O'Brien and Chip Kelly touch on every detail of a potential coach's operation.

"How they run meetings, how they run training camp, what they're looking for in players, what they're looking for in coaches, getting an overall picture, because being a head coach in the National Football League, that's a big job, and you're a CEO. You have to have a plan and know what you're doing in every area," Roseman said. "You'd be surprised at how detailed these people are, when it comes to strength and conditioning, or a training staff, or video, they have the answers, and it's very interesting to hear."

The Eagles never promised a quick resolution to the search - in fact, Lurie sketched out exactly the opposite last week when he spoke with reporters,

"Jeffrey's been very adamant with us, that the key is getting the right guy. The key isn't getting the right guy as quickly as possible," Roseman said. "So that's what we're going to do."

As the Eagles prepared for Thursday's interview with former Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith, Mike McCoy, a candidate they interviewed last weekend in Denver, met with reporters in anticipation of the Broncos' playoff game Saturday against Baltimore.

McCoy, Denver's offensive coordinator, has been linked to several vacancies, including the one created when Smith was fired in Chicago. The Bears' quarterback is former Broncos QB Jay Cutler, though Cutler indicated Wednesday he didn't get to know McCoy very well before being traded to Chicago, a few months after McCoy became Denver's quarterbacks coach in 2009.

McCoy said Wednesday that interviewing for head-coaching jobs "is always interesting, but now we're focused on this weekend and we're moving ahead." He said he would "see what happens" after the Broncos host the Ravens. As is typical in such cases, McCoy made a big show of gushing about the job he has now.

"I've got the greatest job here; I work for the best organization in football . . . I could stay here for a long time and not worry about another job," McCoy said.

McCoy, 40, is in demand because he has built successful, but very different offenses around Tim Tebow and then Peyton Manning the past 2 years.

Smith, 54, seems maybe a bit too much like Andy Reid, the coach the Eagles just fired, who now runs the Chiefs. Chicago observers describe Smith as a players' coach who always took the blame, and a coach who was often criticized for game and clock management. Reid is an offensive coach who never got a grip on the defensive side after his original Eagles defensive coordinator, Jim Johnson, passed away. Smith is a defensive coach who was roundly criticized in Chicago for never coming up with a strong offensive coordinator.

The Eagles still are expected to interview Cincinnati offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, Indianapolis offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, and Seattle defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.

Meanwhile, the Eagles acknowledged Wednesday that head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder is visiting Reid in Kansas City and might join the former coach.

An Eagles spokesman said: "He's under contract. We're honoring the contract, but allowing him to seek an opportunity with Andy Reid in Kansas City if that is what's in Rick's best interest."