Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly has won the Maxwell Club Earle Greasy Neale Professional Coach of the Year award.
According to CBS Philly, the first-year head coach was named the Maxwell Club’s Professional Coach of the Year on Thursday. Ironically, the award comes exactly one year to the day that Kelly was hired as the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Many have speculated that the 50-year-old head coach will also win the NFL Coach of the Year Award for the tremendous job he did with the Eagles this year.
The Eagles were a 4-12 team when Kelly took over, but the former Oregon Ducks coach brought in a crafty new system that apparently worked because the Eagles ended this season as a 10-6 playoff team and took the NFC East crown.
Kelly is the 25th recipient of the award. Past winners include Bill Belichick, Sean Payton, Tony Dungy and Kelly’s predecessor, Andy Reid.
One may think that the chances of winning this award increase Kelly’s chances of winning the Associated Press’ NFL Coach of the Year Award, but as NJ.com points out, the winner of the awards has not been the same since Belichick won both in 2007.