Oregon's Kelly a Top Candidate to Coach Buccaneers Oregon Coach Chip Kelly has emerged as the front-runner to become the next head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a move that could cause a seismic shake-up in college football. Kelly led Oregon to the national title game and a Rose Bowl victory in the past two seasons and emerged as one of the game's elite offensive innovators. Multiple news media reports have said that Kelly is likely to be the Bucs" next coach, with a decision expected to be made soon. If Kelly does leave for the N.F.L., there will be much speculation about how serious the N.C.A.A."s investigation into the Ducks" program is. Oregon is being investigated for its relationship with Will Lyles, a Texas-based talent scout who helped steer talented players to the program. Still, Oregon is considered one of the top jobs in college football. Kelly; his predecessor, Mike Bellotti; and the seemingly endless reserves of cash from the Nike chairman Phil Knight, an Oregon alum, have elevated the program to the top ranks. The leading candidate for Oregon is expected to be Chris Petersen, the Boise State coach who has turned away dozens of head coaching opportunities while compiling a 73-6 record over the past six seasons. Petersen is a former Oregon assistant, and friends have insisted for years that leading the Ducks is one of the few jobs that Petersen would leave Boise for. It will be interesting to see how Petersen or any other high-profile candidates - Tony Dungy's son is an Oregon player - deal with the specter of the N.C.A.A. investigation. The N.C.A.A. does not comment on investigations, the results of which are unpredictable at best, but its mere existence will create a stigma, especially if Oregon fails to immediately land a high-caliber coach. It would be a fascinating experiment to see how Kelly's offense would work in the N.F.L. His scheme features a fast-break tempo, a running quarterback and an element of the option game, all of which are outside the N.F.L. paradigm. But the introduction of elements of the spread offense has seemingly changed N.F.L. norms, a trend that would continue if Kelly is hired. Kelly has had a meteoric rise through the coaching ranks since arriving in Eugene as an assistant after being a relatively unknown coordinator at the University of New Hampshire. He transformed quarterback Dennis Dixon from an underachiever to a Heisman Trophy contender with his no-huddle spread offense in 2007. Kelly was soon named coach-in-waiting and then took over for Bellotti three seasons ago. Kelly has a 34-6 record in three seasons at Oregon, winning the conference title all three times. His path to becoming a head coach in a Bowl Championship Series conference was unorthodox. Besides New Hampshire, he coached at Johns Hopkins and Columbia before being hired as Oregon's offensive coordinator.