GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Amid swirling reports that Florida is ready to move on from Chip Kelly, ESPN has now chimed in with a report that Florida plans to meet with representatives of UCF coach Scott Frost this weekend.
Yahoo! Sports reported, citing multiple sources, early Friday afternoon that Florida has 'moved on' from Kelly as its potential next head coach.
Writing for ESPN, Mark Schlabach and Ed Aschoff state that sources informed them Florida will meet with Frost "in case former Oregon coach Chip Kelly chooses the UCLA job."
Reports about where Kelly is headed have been mixed.
GatorBait.net broke the news that Florida was flying up to meet with Kelly on Sunday evening, with multiple sources indicating that meeting was to finalize some sort of agreement for him to become the next coach at Florida. Multiple reports from other outlets citing sources have disputed that Florida went up to make Kelly an offer.
In any case, Florida flew six administrators, including athletics director Scott Stricklin and university president Kent Fuchs, to that meeting.
Once the flight was in the air from Ocala, Fla., to Portsmouth, N.H., UCLA announced the firing of coach Jim Mora, opening the door for a potential hire of Kelly.
Florida's administrators returned to the Ocala airport late Sunday evening, where Stricklin spoke briefly to reporters.
"We continue to have very productive conversations related to our football team," Stricklin said. "We’ve got a process we’re going through. There will probably be some more productive conversations in the days ahead."
Following that meeting, two high-level sources informed GatorBait.net that the meeting with Kelly went very well and confidence was high that he would become the next Florida coach.
However, the LA Times reported that Kelly met with a UCLA contingent on Tuesday, and confidence has grown on the West coast that Kelly will ultimately choose the Bruins.
UCLA plays its final game of the season tonight against California at 10:30 p.m. ET. Florida's final game will be on Saturday at noon against Florida State.
Kelly's decision in the coming days will likely greatly affect the coaching carousel in college football this offseason, with Florida a major player in the mix of available jobs.
ESPN reports that other candidates for Florida along with Frost might be Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen, Washington State's Mike Leach and Oregon's Willie Taggart.
GatorBait.net has previously reported that Taggart's representatives have expressed his interest in the job via back channels, but that, at the time earlier in the process, Florida's interest appeared to be minimal.
Yahoo! Sports reported, citing multiple sources, early Friday afternoon that Florida has 'moved on' from Kelly as its potential next head coach.
Writing for ESPN, Mark Schlabach and Ed Aschoff state that sources informed them Florida will meet with Frost "in case former Oregon coach Chip Kelly chooses the UCLA job."
Reports about where Kelly is headed have been mixed.
GatorBait.net broke the news that Florida was flying up to meet with Kelly on Sunday evening, with multiple sources indicating that meeting was to finalize some sort of agreement for him to become the next coach at Florida. Multiple reports from other outlets citing sources have disputed that Florida went up to make Kelly an offer.
In any case, Florida flew six administrators, including athletics director Scott Stricklin and university president Kent Fuchs, to that meeting.
Once the flight was in the air from Ocala, Fla., to Portsmouth, N.H., UCLA announced the firing of coach Jim Mora, opening the door for a potential hire of Kelly.
Florida's administrators returned to the Ocala airport late Sunday evening, where Stricklin spoke briefly to reporters.
"We continue to have very productive conversations related to our football team," Stricklin said. "We’ve got a process we’re going through. There will probably be some more productive conversations in the days ahead."
Following that meeting, two high-level sources informed GatorBait.net that the meeting with Kelly went very well and confidence was high that he would become the next Florida coach.
However, the LA Times reported that Kelly met with a UCLA contingent on Tuesday, and confidence has grown on the West coast that Kelly will ultimately choose the Bruins.
UCLA plays its final game of the season tonight against California at 10:30 p.m. ET. Florida's final game will be on Saturday at noon against Florida State.
Kelly's decision in the coming days will likely greatly affect the coaching carousel in college football this offseason, with Florida a major player in the mix of available jobs.
ESPN reports that other candidates for Florida along with Frost might be Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen, Washington State's Mike Leach and Oregon's Willie Taggart.
GatorBait.net has previously reported that Taggart's representatives have expressed his interest in the job via back channels, but that, at the time earlier in the process, Florida's interest appeared to be minimal.
