Seth Vigdor
Much has been made about Chip Kelly’s personality and how he was perceived in the locker room. But, a new report by Jason La Canfora really illustrates the strain that Kelly’s personality caused on most noticeably owner Jeff Lurie.
Here’s what La Canfora had to say regarding the Eagles holiday party this year. Mind you, holiday parties are generally light in nature and a nice way for people to come together, but apparently not for the Eagles.
The report, courtesy of CBSSports.com.
The “relationship” between Kelly and former general manager Howie Roseman was already beyond repair — “strained” would be an understatement — and Lurie has always held Roseman in the highest regard (he is again atop the team’s football operations structure with Kelly jettisoned). Lurie already worried about the long-term ability of the team to function given that divide and also grew weary of having to, in essence, hand his franchise over to Kelly in all regards and placate him on all matters.
For instance, Lurie has always taken considerable pride in the team’s holiday party, going to great expense to throw the large gathering, with it becoming something of a prized tradition with him. According to numerous sources with knowledge of the situation, Kelly basically refused to attend it this year on its normal Monday night, and ultimately Lurie had to move it to a Friday afternoon onsite to facilitate Kelly’s schedule. Kelly argued Monday night would disrupt the coach’s planning for the week — a fair enough claim — but Lurie apologized to the organization for the haphazard way the party was conducted this year and told others it would not happen in that fashion ever again.”
If this report is true, it’s no wonder Lurie came to the decision that he did. It’s not because Kelly is a bad guy, but if something so simple was so difficult for this organization to pull off with no issues, then you could only imagine how much of a problem the bigger issues were within this organization.