Former Texas Tech football head coach Kliff Kingsbury is reportedly expected to interview for two vacant NFL head coaching jobs.
It seems that being fired by his alma mater might have actually been the best thing to happen to Kliff Kingsbury’s career. Since being terminated as Texas Tech head coach on November 25th, the former Red Raider QB has been one of the hottest names in the coaching world.
Now, it is being reported by Yahoo Sports that Kingsbury expects to interview for NFL head coaching vacancies with the Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets. This comes just days after he reportedly turned down an offer to be the next head coach at the University of Houston. Currently, Kingsbury is the offensive coordinator at USC where he was hired on December 5th.
And all of these opportunities seem to stem from his reputation for developing quarterbacks. In working with NFL QB’s like Pat Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Davis Webb and Case Keenum while mentoring stellar college QBs like Johnny Manziel and Alan Bowman, he has proven to get results from the most important position in the game.
And both the Cardinals and Jets have young quarterbacks that could benefit from Kingsbury’s expertise. Arizona rookie QB Josh Rosen threw for 2,278 yards, 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in in 14 starts this year. But he struggled at times completing just 55.2% of his passes while failing to eclipse the 200-yard mark in nine games.
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Meanwhile, the Jets are hoping to see their QB Sam Darnold take a step forward in his second year. As a rookie in 2018, the former USC Trojan started 13 games throwing for 2,865 yards, 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He was more accurate than Rosen, completing 64.4% of his passes and he had two 300-yard games.
Though Kingsbury was not successful as a college head coach, it is believed that he could be a perfect fit in the modern day NFL. What hurt him as the Red Raiders’ head coach was more of the aspects of the job that did not take place on the field.
He was reclusive and failed to engage the fan base and boosters as well as some coaches such as Spike Dykes in the 1990’s. He also struggled on the recruiting trail averaging just the 6th best class in the Big 12 in the six years he was at the helm in Lubbock.
But many rave about his ability to design an innovative offensive scheme. Many believe that he should cut his teeth as an offensive coordinator but if the Jets or Cardinals can surround him with veteran coordinators, he could be the next young NFL head coach to revolutionize the game like Sean McVay with the L.A. Rams.
There is no doubt that the success Mahomes had this year is making Kingsbury more attractive to NFL teams. The former Red Raider led the NFL with 5,097 yards and 50 touchdowns while leading Kansas City to a 12-4 record in what was a potential MVP season.
The Red Raiders were not able to make the most of Mahomes’ time in Lubbock going just 16-21 in his three seasons. But Kingsbury may be seeing the fruits of his labors with his star pupil starting to pay off in a different way.
Kingsbury recently told Dan Patrick that he was close to joining the Rams before taking the USC job and that he is intrigued by the prospect of coaching in the NFL. And with each new rumor to surface, it appears that the NFL is also fascinated by Kliff Kingbury as the game’s offensive evolution continues.