Kelly doesn’t like to talk about himself. He leads by example.

The qualities he looks for in his players inadvertently explain a lot about him, and his personal experiences in football have shaped his ideas on how to run a team.

This is true for all coaches, of course, but since Kelly challenges the conventional wisdom so often by substituting his own values – especially in building his rosters – it matters (and reveals) more.

When drafting and signing new players, Kelly looks for intelligent, fast, tough and versatile players. Often guys who have changed positions, often ex-quarterbacks. Team players who don’t put themselves first or complain. Hard workers, gym rats, leaders, video geeks who over-prepare.

Those are all excellent descriptions of Chip Kelly as a high school and college athlete. He played hockey as well as football, converted from quarterback to safety, and impressed his coaches. He may not look fast, standing on the sideline with a plastic play sheet hiding his headset commands from lip-reading opponents, but look at his leg muscles if you get a chance. Kelly flies all around the Eagles’ practice field, and his recent jump into an ice-filled pool for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge showcased his deceptive athleticism.

Though he was a star quarterback and runner in high school, as well as a tough, hard-working hockey player, the 5-foot-9-inch athlete was not imposing at the college level. Back in 2009, his college coach Bill Bowes told Josh Peter of Yahoo Sports that Chip "wasn't very big, and he didn't possess the outstanding speed that you'd like to see with a guy of his limited height." According to Peter, Bowes moved Kelly to defensive back, and he never started a college game. That may be where he learned that “big people beat up little people.”

But he was tough, a trait he has praised in Nick Foles, Jason Peters and Brent Celek, among others. Bowes told Sam Donnellon of the Daily News that Kelly “looked a lot younger than his age. But he was a tough kid, and he would hit you." And he was relentlessly dedicated to studying film and learning plays.

After graduation, Bowes hired him as an assistant coach.

The experience seems to have taught Chip the value of both the traits he had (toughness, intelligence, grit and dedication) and those he lacked (size and speed).

Kelly never blames referees or weather conditions for his teams’ difficulties. Even when Lane Kiffin’s Trojans were caught red-handed, cheating against Oregon by letting air out of their footballs for easier catching, the coach laughed it off. He’d never brag about that attitude, but this is what he said about LeSean McCoy at a June 19th press conference:

One thing I love about him is he takes responsibility for everything he does. If he doesn’t have a good day, he doesn’t make excuses about it. He learns from it and moves forward.

This is part of his old-fashioned stoicism, which coexists paradoxically with his fast-talking, highly articulate rambling at press conferences. But when the subject is serious, he clams up. Kelly bristled when reporters pressed him on why he kept silent about releasing DeSean Jackson.

I’m not gonna discuss when we release players. I don’t think it’s fair to them. I’ve got a ton of respect for anybody who’s ever played in this league and anybody who’s ever played for us. So to get into specifics about why we released one player or didn’t release another player, that’s … I’m never gonna do that. It’s not my style and not what I’m gonna do.

There’s a bit of the macho cowboy there. When times are tough, you grit your teeth, pour one out for the fallen, and move on. Keep your disagreements in-house.

The coach also values players who are natural team leaders, from Connor Barwin to Jason Avant, DeMeco Ryans and Jason Kelce. I call that “ building a team with rebar.” Malcolm Jenkins was not a star at New Orleans, but he studies film like a maniac and organizes his fellow defensive backs.

Chip’s high school coach, Bob Leonard, told Zach Berman he was he was able to focus on the defensive line because Kelly, too, acted as the “quarterback of the secondary.”

DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer

“He was always there. I didn't have to worry. I always had a safety who was going to be where he's supposed to be. That's what his strong point always was in high school. The job got done. …He had that ability to look at what was happening and do some things. And he motivated other kids.”

In Philly, Kelly is building a team of players who share his core values and traits – hard work, intelligence, peak performance, film study, leadership, and putting team over ego. Linebacker Connor Barwin told Jeff McLane:

I think he is a gym rat. He's got no kids. He has a girlfriend. But this is what he does, and this is what we do. So I think those are the kinds of people he wants to be around.

Kelly confirmed this in his annual roundtable discussion with beat reporters, this May.

The more people get along and share the same vision and aspirations, the more you're going to get to where you want to get to. If you have people who have different agendas in terms of what they're trying to get accomplished, that's not going to help the cause.

“Where you want to get to,” in this case, is the Super Bowl.

The jury is out on whether this strategy is the best way to get there. A team of like-minded players can also be seen as a bunch of yes-men who make the team by kissing the coach’s butt instead of, say, being talented or delivering on the field.

Releasing DeSean Jackson may have been a big mistake in football terms – we’ll know by mid-November – but it certainly demonstrates that Kelly backs up his talk with action. Most coaches pay lip service to team unity but few are willing to toss aside a Top 10 NFL talent to get there.

Kelly is no hypocrite. Players consistently describe him as straightforward and honest with his opinions. In June, he told a bunch of beat reporters that “I was probably a pain in the [butt] as a little kid, I would imagine. I questioned everything. I've always been a 'why' guy.”

With his players, he encourages the same attitude. Running backs coach Duce Staley told Martin Frank of the Delaware News Journal:

He answered the whys. When you as a player want to know why we're doing something, he answers that. You don't get that everywhere. ... It makes the locker room happy and those guys understand.

In 1999, Sean McDonnell took over as coach at UNH, and Kelly’s comments to the local paper describe what he admires in his mentor’s values.

Sean is ingrained in Coach [Bowes]'s big qualities - honesty, integrity, being straightforward, recruiting character kids, hiring people with great character. From that standpoint, I don't think it's going to change.

You’re unlikely to get Chip to talk about himself. But the team he is building, from stars to staffers, says a lot about him.