KLIFF KINGSBURY

There’s something very Hollywood about the Kliff Kingsbury hire in Arizona.  A name that 48 hours ago was hardly mentioned amongst the potential NFL coaching candidates, and then – poof --- he’s the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals just like that.  You can almost picture some bubbly junior level front office staffer, one who’ll be a general manager eight years from now, with a big bright smile that says “Boy have I got something for you” as he walks into his boss’s office. He slips Kliff Kingsbury’s brand new headshot -- so new you can still smell the remnants of photographic chemicals coming off the tacky matte finish -- across Team President Michael Bidwell’s desk and silently, but eagerly, await his response.  Mr. Bidwell takes a moment, picks up the head shot and holds it upward against the dimmable lights affixed in the ceiling.  He swivels his chair an additional forty-five degrees for extra effect, pauses for a beat, and then swivels back in the direction of the young man and says, “That’s it! That’s the guy! Does anyone know if he can coach?” 

“I believe so Mr. Bidwell.  I mean…I’m definitely hearing that he’s coached.”

“Who else has he met with?” Mr. Bidwell askes with a more noticeable sense of urgency.

“Well, I know the Jets are talking to him.”

“The Jets!?!?!...NEW YORK?!?!?!  Get him here to Phoenix…NOW! He needs to know how sunny and warm it is here in the wintertime. He’ll freeze to death back east.”

“Yes Mr. Bidwell, I thought that’s what you’d say.  In fact, he’ll be arriving here at 10:00 this morning.”

Mr. Bidwell looks at his watch, it’s a quarter past nine.  His new coaching candidate is scheduled to arrive in 45 minutes.

“Well I guess we better get ready,” Mr. Bidwell says.

“Absolutely, we’ll have fresh fruit and croissants sent to the conference room before he shows up.”

“Excellent,” Mr. Bidwell says.  “By the way, what’s his name?”

“Kliff Kingsbury.  Kliff with a ‘K’.”

“Kliff with a ‘K’?  I love him already...make sure we can reach his agent.”

That's Kliff Kingsbury Coming to a Stadium Near You

And thus, what we have here is maybe the first NFL coach ever cast in his position instead of hired.  The headline from Variety reading: KLIFF KINGSBURY GETS KAST TO KOACH KARDINALS. For the record Kingsbury has coached of course; where he went 35-40 in six years at Texas Tech but was fired for making only three minor bowl game appearances during his time with the Red Raiders, winning one; the 2013 Holiday Bowl versus Arizona State.  Kingsbury was then hired to be the offensive coordinator at USC but has since been plucked away by the Cardinals before even starting the job.  Kingsbury has no NFL coaching experience whatsoever, but, like most hot coaching prospects, Kingsbury sits in the catbird seat in that he’s an offensive minded coach that brings that oh-so intangible whispering quality to his quarterbacks -- that secret sauce that every NFL GM is crawling over broken glass to pour on top of his team.  With regard to Kingsbury’s experience with quarterbacks, he’s worked with some good ones, including Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Case Keenum and Johnny Manziel before he partied himself into a punch line.  It goes without saying that the development of Cardinal’s QB, Josh Rosen, will be among the first orders of business once Kingsbury gets to work. 

But perhaps where this “hire” makes a few football purists a bit bothered is the not so subtle push to get this 39-year-old coach with strikingly chiseled looks out there; very quickly, just as the window for NFL coaching jobs was starting to close. Hurry, only 24 hours remain for extending offers to K.K.  A huge beneficiary of market conditions, as well as a fad that in hindsight will seem soooooo 2019, this Sean McVay understudy is going to have to win quickly in order to shake off his flavor of the month status.   Whether he lasts remains to be seen, especially since his predecessor, Steve Wilks, only lasted one season with Arizona thanks to going 3-13 last season.  Nevertheless, for the next 15 minutes at least, Kliff Kingsbury can enjoy being the NFL’s Tom Grunick from Broadcast News.  

No Doubt one of NFL's "Hottest" Coaching Prospects in 2019