Lincoln Riley stunned the sports world on Sunday when he agreed to become the next head coach at USC. One report claimed Oklahoma is targeting Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury to be Riley’s replacement, but most people found that laughable. That led to ESPN’s Adam Schefter feeling the wrath of Twitter.
Shortly after the Riley news broke, Schefter reported that Oklahoma is eyeing Kingsbury as a coaching candidate. The NFL insider also noted that Kingsbury’s current contract with the Cardinals expires after 2022. The latter piece of information is the one people felt was most important.
With Kingsbury almost certainly seeking a new deal from the Cardinals, it would make sense for his camp to leak information about Oklahoma having interest in him. Schefter was accused of being a mouthpiece and mocked on Twitter.
League sources?
This smells like exactly the news I would want out there if Kliff is looking for a monster extension with the Cardinals. https://t.co/V75N6iftwM
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) November 28, 2021
I love when Schefty goes full “get agents more money for their clients so the agents will keep giving me info” mode pic.twitter.com/aV6PVv5vyi
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) November 28, 2021
"Adam tweet this."
"OK buddy." https://t.co/4TksP6v7xW
— Adam Kramer (@KegsnEggs) November 28, 2021
Coach, how do you feel about leaving Kyler behind in the NFL and comin' to Norman? https://t.co/HfF8CG4Xxs pic.twitter.com/L1KMBluVNs
— OMG (@OsoMediaGroup) November 28, 2021
Kingsbury has made it pretty clear he favors NFL over college. But maybe this prods Cardinals to extend him sooner than expected. https://t.co/suyhiZsDN4
— Kent Somers (@kentsomers) November 28, 2021
As always in these situations…think about who benefits from this getting out there https://t.co/nK8coybx5o
— trey wingo (@wingoz) November 28, 2021
Now, that’s not to say Oklahoma doesn’t want Kingsbury. They would gladly hire him if he had interest in the job, but why would he? The Cardinals are 9-2 and one of the best teams in the NFC. They also have a young franchise quarterback in Kyler Murray. Kingsbury would be voluntarily taking a demotion if he left a good NFL team for Oklahoma.
When someone inevitably asks Kingsbury about the Oklahoma rumors, don’t be surprised if he responds the same way Mike Tomlin did when he was linked to the USC job.
