Lurie pleased with Kelly's 'program building' with Eagles

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has been on the sideline both days of the Eagles' mandatory minicamp this week watching the team practice during the first spring of head coach Chip Kelly's regime. It's a tenure that Lurie hopes stretches as long as his previous hire's time in Philadelphia.

In order to rebuild a team that finished 4-12 last season, Lurie sought a "program builder" as a head coach. That's one of the reasons a college coach was so appealing in the search. During Kelly's first five months on the job, Lurie has been pleased with that particular aspect of Kelly's work.

"I guess one of the things that we focused on in the search, but has been so ratified by what I've seen so far, is his sense as a program builder," Lurie said in an interview with The Inquirer. "We knew [he had a] dynamic offensive mind. We knew he thought about a lot of big-picture aspects. But his managing of the details of building a program and bringing people together in that building - the program building, not the physical building - I can see that's why he's been so successful."

Much has already changed on the Eagles, from the roster to the practice structure to the cafeteria food to the schedule. Players are more cognizant of how they're eating and how long they're sleeping.

Beyond the scientific additions, which are plentiful, a new system on offense and defense is being introduced. Practice is conducted at a rapid pace, and teaching goes on only during select periods of practice and in meetings. This is also only June, and there are more changes expected throughout training camp and the regular season.

One point that Lurie made is that this is a process, and Kelly was not hired for what he would do overnight. The emphasis on Kelly as a "program builder" requires the patience to allow Kelly to build.

"That takes some time," Lurie said. "I don't know how immediate that is. But you need that in a coach. You need someone who has a sense of how to build up a program and not just maximize a few months or a year or two. He's putting things in place that have a chance to be successful for a long time."