Chip Kelly's Remarks on Coronavirus Put Ignorant Fools Like Dabo Swinney and Mike Gundy to Shame

Chip Kelly is a bit of an oddball, isn't he? Emerging onto the football scene more or less out of nowhere, he parlayed a torrid run at Oregon into a seriously hit-and-miss NFL tenure that included stops in Philadelphia and San Francisco. Now back in the college ranks at UCLA, the offensive guru has consistently been cagey about his personal life in an age in which nothing feels truly private anymore. He just is who he is.

But, that doesn't mean he's some kind of aloof goof who can't set us straight when we need it. When the Bruins boss sounded off this week on the potential timeline for resuming organized sports in light of the coronavirus pandemic, he came off as utterly reasonable -- casting a stark contrast with a number of his high-profile Power 5 colleagues.

Listening to the experts? Deferring to the authorities? It sounds like the most basic of directives, but it's especially refreshing and critically necessary given that college football has sadly been dealing with a different kind of infection of late: Spectacular, dangerous, ego-driven ignorance from coaches like Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy and Clemson's Dabo Swinney in the midst of these perilous days of COVID-19.

Gundy isn't happy with all the negativity he sees from the "mainstream media," and suggests that public health leaders are somehow tricking us into staying home by ensuring that we feel afraid. For good measure, he said he's been getting his news from One America News Network, a controversial far-right outlet whose primetime opinion programming regularly promotes cartoonish minsinformation and conspiracy theories, including the abjectly racist kind.

As for Dabo Swinney, he insists that th Almighty God himself has the power to kick the coronavirus "right in the teeth," and as a result, he isn't observing much of any social distancing. In fact, he told reporters this week that he recently took his family on a vacation to Florida, and that he was planning to do so again over the Easter holiday.

Folks, this man is the 1b to Nick Saban's 1a in terms of famous, influential college football coaches. There are legions out there both young and old that follow his lead and consider him an unimpeachable firebrand. His whole attitude, right along with Gundy's, is utterly dangerous and irresponsible. This is a time in which lives are at stake. The sheer seflishness and stupidity at work here is staggering.

At the very least, we can be thankful for Chip Kelly for stating out loud what out to be fundamentally obvious: listen to the experts! Shame on anyone either too dumb or too proud to do so.