Chris Petersen To Be Targeted By Oregon If Chip Kelly Takes Tampa Bay Job

Boise State's Chris Petersen has been targeted by many schools over the past few years and he was particularly sought after this year by UCLA and Penn State, but Petersen turned them both down. There was some talk that the Oregon job would be one that Petersen would consider, well now we may now for sure if that is accurate or not.

There are multiple sources that are saying Chip Kelly is very close to leaving the Oregon Ducks to become the head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If Kelly is to leave, Adam Jude of the Oregon Register-Guard is saying that Petersen would be the first target to replace Kelly:

However, Jude is also reporting that Oregon offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich is "highly thought of" by the staff to be the next head coach. These Kelly to NFL are still rumors but it seems that this is likely happening, and Boise State fans should be mildly concerned.

Petersen has already turned down $4 million from UCLA and the allure of history from Penn State, and last year he turned downed the chance to coach Andrew Luck at Stanford. We know Oregon can throw a ton of money his way due to their relationship with Nike, and it is in the similar area of the country.

If Chris Petersen were to leave Boise State it is hard for fans to blame him, however if Petersen did take the Oregon job at this time of the year it could seriously harm the program. Signing day is a week and a half away but more importantly Boise State just lost their offensive coordinator Brent Pease to Florida, and last year they lost Bryan Harsin to Texas for the same position. That likely means that Boise State would not promote from within, and it would be tough to bring in a decent name this late in the process.

This is all hypothetical but if Petersen does leave I could see Harsin returning to Boise State to replace Petersen and that would be the home run higher since he was at Boise State from 2001-10.

For some reason I get the feeling that Petersen would take this job, but there is still the possibility of Oregon being hit with NCAA sanctions from the Willie Lyles investigation and depending what Oregon tells Petersen about that could be the difference if he takes the job or not.