Kliff Kingsbury Could Resign From USC To Pursue NFL Opportunities

We first heard a few days ago that the Jets and Cardinals were interested in interviewing former Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury for their head coaching vacancies. Kingsbury was hired to be the offensive coordinator at USC shortly after the college season ended, and we heard earlier today that USC was denying the NFL teams permission to talk to him.

Now we have more details, and a possible scenario for Kingsbury to circumvent his current employer. It’s specifically USC athletic director Lynn Swann who is blocking any potential interviews, and Kingsbury may resign in response, according to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. Multiple sources told Florio that Kingsbury’s contract with USC has a “very low buyout”, so he might “simply resign his position as Trojans offensive coordinator and move on.”

If he does decide to quit and pursue NFL opportunities, Florio thinks he’ll “undoubtedly find work at least as an offensive coordinator”, and if that’s true it makes plenty of sense why he’d want to leave. Both the Jets and Cardinals are likely looking for offensive coaches to pair with Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, and Kingsbury would be a young outside the box hire.

While Kingsbury’s reign at Texas Tech was never particularly successful in terms of wins and losses, he always had one of the most innovative and dynamic offenses in the country, and is a highly respected offensive mind. It’s been reported for a while now that NFL teams were looking to pick his brain, and he was linked to the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator job before Dallas’ staff saved their jobs with a strong finish.

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