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Kelly lasted just one season with the 49ers after being hired in January. This was after being fired by the Eagles in Week 16 last season, after his power play to control the roster backfired and resulted in a 7-9 season. In three years with the Eagles, he made the playoffs just once.
For Kelly, it sounds like he knows his future in the NFL is not as a head coach.
Speaking on Fox Sports' "Speak For Yourself," NFL insider Jay Glazer said Kelly told him personally that he knows his head coaching days are likely over.
"Chip is saying to me last night, 'I'll go be an offensive coordinator somewhere,'" Glazer said. "He wants to be a football guy."
According to Glazer, Kelly felt that Baalke tried to undermine him all season, but he decided to try to stick to coaching the team in hopes that the issues would work themselves out. Instead, 49ers ownership felt it was time to clean house and change the culture.
It's a disappointing finish for Kelly, who came into the NFL touted as a game-changing coach. After his success at Oregon, many felt Kelly could change NFL offenses and bring a more college-like style of quarterback read-options to the NFL. Instead, Kelly's offense often underwhelmed, and he wasn't able to transform quarterbacks with his system.
Throughout the season, Kelly denied having any interest in returning to college football. For now, he reportedly wants to stay in the NFL, but given his lack of success at running a team or an offense, it's hard to imagine another team putting him in charge of even one side of the ball.