Ryan Day is the new QBs coach for the Eagles. Most of us didn’t know him prior to Thursday, but now there are lots of opinions. I can’t tell you if this is a good or bad move. I trust Chip when it comes to just about anything involving his offense. That’s his baby. Not everyone is on board, though.

I mean, Day may be a great addition to the staff as WR coach (where he has experience). But QB? Playing it loose with the most important job — Sam Lynch (@shlynch) January 23, 2015

If I wanted a guy to teach NFL QB play, I'd hire the guy who never coached a guy who averaged as much as 155 passing yds per game. — Sam Lynch (@shlynch) January 23, 2015

It is absolutely fair to be skeptical of this hire. BC isn’t known for great QB play.

But Chip is too smart to make a move without there being good logic behind it. I’ll offer up some thoughts on what he might be thinking.

First, Chip does have a relationship with Day and it must be a good one. Chip coached him and then worked with Day for a year at New Hampshire. This isn’t about friendship. Chip spent 5 years coaching/working closely with him and obviously thinks highly of Day. He knows what kind of a person Day is and how committed he can be to doing what it takes to being successful. Plus, who better to teach Chip’s QBs than a man who was taught by Chip?

Chip has kept his eye on Day for quite a while. Check out this quote from when Day was hired to be Boston College’s OC.

Addazio called Day “one of the bright young minds in college football. He knows Boston College and he is thrilled to be back.”

That sentiment was echoed by Oregon’s Chip Kelly, who coached Day at UNH and then worked with the Manchester, N.H., native on the Wildcats’ staff under Sean McDonnell.

“I think that he is one of the best young coaches in the country and it was just a matter of time before he was running the show, offensively, somewhere,” said Kelly after practice Thursday.

The two men do have a good friendship, as you can tell from this interview from when Day talked about Kelly taking over as head coach of the Eagles.

“He’ll take the best things the Eagles can do and he’ll use them. One of his greatest strengths as a coach is he’s a great thinker on his feet—that’s accurate. His players love playing for him. I played for him 10, 12 years ago and he’s one of my closest friends in college coaching. I can thank him for everything in football that I’ve had. He leaves an impact on people’s lives.”

I think Chip may have wanted to go with a young guy for another reason as well…continuity. Lazor and Musgrave were veteran NFL assistants that were hired away after a year. Other teams wanted to know about the Chip Kelly Magic so they took his QB coach. Day isn’t as likely to be plucked away quickly. No one is going to make him their OC in 2016. And he can’t change teams for just a lateral move.

Chip can take a chance on a young coach because he and Pat Shurmur are there to help with the QBs. If this were Rex Ryan or some other defensive guru, this move would be a total head-scratcher.

There may also be some offensive reasons to hire Day.

@lawlornfl Day has experience marrying gap run schemes with zone blocking schemes in a way with a lot of carryover. Ran for a lot of yards — Chris B. Brown (@smartfootball) January 23, 2015

Chip might want to get Day’s help in other areas. You can never have enough smart minds on a coaching staff.

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Want to know about Ryan Day the college QB? Read this.

There is no doubt. The UNH football team has four captains — Day, center Jason Ball, defensive end Jon Oosterhuis and strong safety Bryce Scottron. But ask any player, including the other captains, and they say the same thing: Ryan Day is the leader of this team.

“Ryan’s just a natural leader,” said senior wideout Brian Mallette, who will miss the next 3-6 weeks with a separated shoulder. “He just knows how to go up there and make things happen. He may not be the fastest guy or have the strongest arm, but he’s so competitive and so determined.

“He wants to get things done, and he does it. It means a lot to us. Everybody leads off him. They see how he goes out there and how competitive he is.”

Coaches need to be good leaders and teachers. Sure sounds like Day has the leadership part down pat.

* * * * *

Day was a tough player, fighting his way through injuries. He had that same mindset as an assistant coach.

Boston College wide receivers coach Ryan Day climbed out of bed Wednesday morning, took one step and fell to his knees in excruciating pain.

By 11 p.m., Day was undergoing emergency surgery to remove his appendix at a Boston hospital. The following morning, after taking a heavy dose of pain killers, he turned on the TV in his hospital room and saw one too many promos for the No. 2 Eagles’ ACC showdown at No. 8 Virginia Tech on Thursday night.

So Day did what any maniacal college football coach would do. He picked up the telephone and checked available airline flights to southwest Virginia. Day found a flight — he had to fly from Boston’s Logan Airport to New York’s LaGuardia and then to Roanoke, Va. — and didn’t have much time to get there. He climbed out of bed and left his room wearing electrodes and the same clothes he’d arrived at the hospital in the day before.

“The doctor told me, ‘Officially, I can’t clear you for this flight,'” Day said. “If it wasn’t Virginia Tech and wasn’t Thursday night, I wouldn’t have done it. My wife didn’t want me to go, God bless her. But she gave me her blessing at the end. I told her all week that I just had a feeling something special was going to happen.”

And, boy, did something special happen to the Eagles at Lane Stadium on Thursday night. After being exposed as yet another team not worthy of the No. 2 spot in the BCS standings for nearly the entire game, Boston College rallied from a 10-0 deficit with two touchdowns in the final 2:11 to stun the Hokies 14-10 in front of a rain-soaked, sold-out crowd of 66,233.

That’s pretty insane. He was really committed to the cause.

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