Kentucky
Chip Kelly to Kentucky? A Rumor That Could Be The Result of a Bad Game of Telephone
After a long day of waiting, we learned around 9:30 PM ET that Kentucky was moving on from Mark Stoops. KSR was prepared with a Hot Board of potential candidates for the job. A new name was thrown into the foray around midnight.
Mike Florio shared on Pro Football Talk that former Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly could be the next head football coach of the Kentucky Wildcats.
“Word is circulating among Kentucky players that Kelly could be the team’s next head coach,” Florio writes. “That doesn’t mean he will be. It doesn’t even mean he’s an official candidate. It means only that Kentucky players have somehow developed the impression that Kelly could be the new coach.”
Really!?!?!? Chip Kelly?
Florio is well-versed in the NFL rumor mill. His website burns and turns through them, and many of those rumors amount to nothing. There are many reasons why this rumor makes no sense, but there is an explanation for it.
Long after he was an offensive innovator at Oregon, or a head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Chip Kelly spent five years as UCLA’s head coach. They had moderate success during his tenure, with three straight 8+ win seasons, but he abruptly left in February of 2024 to become the Ohio State offensive coordinator. Why? The demands of the NIL era ahead of UCLA’s move to the Big Ten were too much. He’d rather call plays than organize NIL efforts as a head coach.
If Kelly didn’t want to be a head coach in Westwood, why would he want to be one in Lexington? There’s an explanation that connects all of the dots.
The Kelly That Should Be At Kentucky
A big reason Mark Stoops is no longer the Kentucky head coach is because of the program’s structure in the NIL and revenue-sharing era. His best years were before the changes in the sport. Kentucky fell behind, and now they’re playing catch-up.
Most schools around the SEC are hiring general managers to create an NFL front office structure in the college football ranks. On Sunday, Florida hired David Caldwell to be the Gators’ GM. The former Jacksonville Jaguars’ general manager has connections to the Florida program.
Kentucky can make a similar move, not with Chip Kelly, but with Champ Kelly. The latter played wide receiver and defensive back at Kentucky from 1998-01. He’s had a successful professional career in NFL front offices, rising through the ranks with the Broncos and Bears.
Kelly appears to have hit a hard ceiling in the NFL. Even though he served as an interim general manager for the Raiders for two years, and is currently the interim GM in Miami, for whatever reason, he’s not getting the full-time gigs.
In short, Champ Kelly is the perfect person to become the Kentucky football general manager. It’s easy to understand how Chip and Champ could be confused. Hopefully, this Florio rumor forecasts good news for the future of the Kentucky football front office.
We discussed Champ Kelly’s expertise and the potential addition of a general manager during Sunday night’s Rapid Reaction.
Kentucky
Is Kentucky basketball looking for a mid-year addition at backup point guard?
It’s clear that this Kentucky team relies very heavily on its starting point guard, Jaland Lowe. It has been evident that when he’s out, Kentucky struggles to create any offense, but when he’s in, it couldn’t flow any smoother. A big part of that is the fact that the Wildcats don’t really have a backup point guard. Denzel Aberdeen isn’t really a true point guard, and Jasper Johnson has flashy moments through a bunch of struggles as a young freshmen. But, it all comes down to Lowe’s health, who could go out any second with his shoulder injury.
We’ve already seen it multiple times this season, in the last two games specifically. Lowe went out against Indiana during the first half, playing just 9 minutes before following it up with a 16-minute second half, when the Wildcats rallied down the stretch. Then, Saturday against Rick Pitino and St. John’s, Lowe hurt his shoulder again just seven seconds after checking into the game. He then returned early in the second half before his team rallied yet again. He’s a difference-maker, clearly, but is Mark Pope interested in adding a mid-year player through the transfer portal to back him up in case things go south? He addressed those swirling rumors on his radio show Monday night.
First of all, Pope fully expects Lowe to remain healthy, or at least continue playing through the pain. “I have every expectation Jaland is going to be with us the whole season,” Pope said. As far as a mid-year addition goes as a backup for Lowe, Pope has the utmost confidence in his guys to get it done, in particular Denzel Aberdeen and Jasper Johnson, who he says are getting more and more comfortable at that position. “We have a great roster. I’m not sure we’re shopping a lot right now,” Pope said when asked about a possible addition to the roster. “We have an unbelievable amount of faith in our guys, first of all, with Jaland. Jasper is going to grow into a starring role. He’s been so good. D.A. is becoming more and more and more comfortable becoming a full-time point, but also being on the move at the two. …I think we have an incredible, incredible run ahead of us. That’s what we’re thinking about with this roster right now.”
Well, there you have it. Mark Pope is comfortable with guys he has. He likely doesn’t want to also take the chance of interrupting the team chemistry either, especially right now as Kentucky is coming off back-to-back wins over quality opponents and as soon as they’ve gotten healthy.
Kentucky
Midwest Equipment Manufacturing invests $15M in Northern Kentucky, creating 66 jobs
FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKRC) – Governor Andy Beshear announced a major expansion of Kentucky’s manufacturing sector as Midwest Equipment Manufacturing Inc. plans to invest $15 million to expand operations in Maysville, creating 66 skilled jobs.
“Kentucky’s thriving manufacturing sector has been an important component in our state’s recent economic momentum,” Beshear said. “We continue to see leaders in the manufacturing sector invest in the commonwealth and our communities, providing good-paying, quality job opportunities for Kentuckians, and this includes 66 new jobs being created by Midwest Equipment Manufacturing. I want to thank the company’s leaders for relocating and investing in Mason County, and I look forward to seeing their success in our New Kentucky Home.”
The project will transform the company’s Maysville facility into a new manufacturing hub, helping address labor shortages and production backlogs. Several key product lines, including the Tru-Cut Mower and the 500 Series Brown Bear Composter, will be relocated from Thorntown, Indiana, to Maysville.
Dan Kallevig, president of Tru-Cut Mowers, said the company is enthusiastic about the move. “I have been to Maysville a few times in the past few months, and I am very impressed with the kindness of the people I have met.”
“As part of the ongoing renaissance of residential and commercial activity in the city’s east end neighborhood, the city of Maysville is pleased to express its full support for the relocation of Midwest Equipment Manufacturing to Maysville. We remain committed to sustaining the positive momentum within our community and are excited to not only retain 16 valuable manufacturing jobs in our city but also welcome the creation of an additional 66 positions through Midwest Equipment Manufacturing’s expansion,” said Maysville Mayor Debra L. Cotterill.
Kentucky
‘My hero.’ George Clooney’s sister dies at 65 in Northern Kentucky
Beverly Hills fire: Nick Clooney recounts event that left 165 dead
Nick Clooney, who was a TV anchor at the time, remembers the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire 40 years later. He’s joined by state Sen. Julian Carroll, hospital administrator John Hoyle and volunteer Bill Klingenberg.
Meg Vogel, Cincinnati
George Clooney’s sister, Adelia “Ada” Zeidler, died on Friday in Northern Kentucky.
Zeidler died at St. Elizabeth Hospital on Dec. 19, according to her obituary. Clooney confirmed to People magazine his sister died after a battle with cancer. She was 65.
“My sister, Ada, was my hero,” Clooney told the magazine. “She faced down cancer with courage and humor. I’ve never met anyone so brave. Amal and I will miss her terribly.”
Zeidler was born in May 1960 to her parents, Nick and Nina Clooney in Los Angeles, her obituary says. She was an artist and worked as an elementary art teacher at Augusta Independent School for several years. She was a member of the Augusta Art Guild and was a past grand marshal of Augusta’s Annual White Christmas Parade.
Augusta, Kentucky, is a small town about an hour east of Cincinnati along the Ohio River. It was the childhood home of Clooney while his father, Nick Clooney, was a reporter for WKRC Local 12.
In a 2015 interview with “CBS This Morning,” Clooney noted he is really close with his family. “My sister, I’m very close to,” he said.
Zeidler was not a public figure like Clooney. But in 2012, she gave an interview to the New York Daily News, where she shared that she had dreams of becoming an actor herself.
“Yes, there is a part of me that would very much like to have become a famous actress or something like that,” she said at the time. “I enjoy acting and I was fairly OK at it, but I did not have a thick enough skin for it.”
She added that she instead prioritized raising her children, saying, “I really enjoyed being a wife and a mother and that kind of wound up taking precedence with me.”
Zeidler was preceded in death by her husband Norman Zeidler, who died in 2004.
She leaves behind her two children, Nick Zeidler and Allison Zeidler Herolaga and her husband, Kenny; her brother, Clooney and his wife, Amal; and several uncles, aunts, and cousins.
A funeral Mass will be offered at noon on Monday, Dec. 22, at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Maysville, Kentucky. Private interment will be in the St. Patrick Cemetery in Washington, Kentucky.
USA TODAY reporter Brendan Morrow contributed.
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