Kliff Kingsbury to be named next head coach of Cardinals

Kliff Kingsbury met with the Arizona Cardinals on Tuesday to interview for their head coaching position, and the team is not letting him leave town without a contract.

Peter Schrager of NFL Network reports that Kingsbury is finalizing a deal with the Cardinals to become their next head coach.

Per sources, Kliff Kingsbury is finalizing a deal to become the Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals. @nflnetwork @gmfb @NFLonFOX

— Peter Schrager (@PSchrags) January 8, 2019

Kingsbury joined USC’s staff to serve as offensive under Clay Helton after he was fired as the head coach at Texas Tech recently, and the Trojans initially tried to block him from interviewing for NFL jobs. There were rumblings that Kingsbury was prepared to resign from USC and pay a small buyout if the school continued to stand in his way, and now we see why.

Despite his career at Texas Tech ending with a disappointing 35-40 record after six seasons, Kingsbury is just 39 and continues the trend of NFL teams wanting young, offensive-minded coaches to run the show. Kingsbury met with one other team this week for a head coaching interview, but it was believed all along that there was mutual interest between him and the Cardinals.

It’s not often that you get fired from a head coaching job at the collegiate level and immediately step into one in the NFL, but the Cardinals obviously believe Kingsbury has not come close to fulfilling his potential.