BCS coaches on fast track

Associated Press

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.

Gene Chizik won five games in two seasons at Iowa State before becoming Auburn’s head coach in 2009.

Oregon’s Chip Kelly can top that. He had never even been more than an offensive coordinator — and had only been working in major college football for two seasons — when he was promoted to top Duck, also in 2009.

Now Chizik and Kelly each are a win away from a national championship, with only the other in the way. Whichever coach leads his team to victory in the BCS title game on Monday night will join an elite club.

The 49-year-old Chizik’s return to Auburn, where he had been defensive coordinator for the undefeated 2004 Tigers, was not — at first — triumphant.

He had spent 19 years as an assistant, the final two at Texas where he helped the Longhorns win a national championship in 2005.

Iowa State, a program with little history of success, gave Chizik his first head coaching job in 2007. He won three games that season and two the next, and it seemed as if his star had dimmed.

When he was hired to replace his former Auburn boss, Tommy Tuberville, who was ousted with a 85-40 record, many Tigers fans and alum were outraged.

Chizik assembled a strong staff, led by offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and assistant head coach and recruiter Trooper Taylor.

It was Malzahn and Taylor who Chizik credits with helping Auburn land Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton out of junior college. With Newton leading the way, Auburn went from 8-5 last season to 13-0 and in position to win the school’s first national title since 1957 this season.

Kelly’s arrival at Oregon was not nearly as volatile.

Then-Ducks coach Mike Bellotti, on the recommendation of former Oregon offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, hired Kelly in 2007 away from New Hampshire, an FCS program where he had been running the offense.

Kelly’s lightning-tempo spread was an immediate hit, setting Oregon records for points and total yards.

After the 2008 season, Bellotti stepped aside to become full-time athletic director at Oregon and Kelly was promoted.

“He’s kind of an outside-the-box thinker,” Oregon strength and conditioning coach Jim Radcliffe said. “He said if you were to change something [about] how we do things what would you do. He was asking me those questions and other people those questions then he would say, ‘OK I think we should go that way,’ which is different from normal football coaches.”