(KRON) Chip Kelly’s first day on the job as the San Francisco 49ers head coach was to get a tour of the facilities in Santa Clara. That includes his office and the locker room.
Kelly is the offensive-minded, experienced head coach the San Francisco 49ers have long sought, and now he needs to win – right away.
The 49ers hired the former Eagles coach on Thursday, finding the leader CEO Jed York is counting on to turn things around for his once-proud franchise.
Kelly faces the daunting challenge of transforming the Niners into an immediate contender again.
“We are thrilled to announce Chip Kelly as the new head coach of the San Francisco 49ers,” York said in a statement.
Kelly replaces fired coach Jim Tomsula, promoted from his defensive line duties last January to succeed Jim Harbaugh before going 5-11 – a move Baalke has said earlier this month wound up to be the wrong one, in hindsight.
Kelly becomes just the second coach the franchise has ever hired with previous regular NFL head coaching experience along with Dennis Erickson ahead of the 2003 season – excluding Tomsula’s single game as interim coach to end the 2010 season after Mike Singletary was fired.