UPDATE: So, uh, about this: Kliff Kingsbury is apparently considering resigning as USC’s offensive coordinator to pursue NFL opportunities. This comes via a report by Pro Football Talk.
Blocked by A.D. Lynn Swann from interviewing for Jets and Cardinals head-coaching jobs, there's a chance USC offensive coordinator Kliff Kingbury will resign so that he can explore NFL opportunities. Story coming at PFT.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 5, 2019
It would be a bit of a risk by Kingsbury, but as Mike Florio wrote, he has a rather low buyout that he could just pay to see what NFL teams have to offer.
EARLIER: The USC Trojans made waves in the college football world by hiring recently-fired Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury to serve as their offensive coordinator during the 2019 campaign. Now, the Trojans are doing everything they can to make sure that Kingsbury is on the sideline when next season rolls around.
According to a report by Adam Schefter of ESPN, a pair of NFL teams — the Arizona Cardinals and the New York Jets — reached out to USC with the hopes of interviewing Kingsbury for their head coaching vacancies. However, the university shot down both teams, which were required to ask for permission to interview Kingsbury.
“At last month’s NFL owners meetings in Dallas, league officials informed team executives that they now had to request permission from college athletic directors to interview college coaches,” Schefter wrote. “Not doing so would be considered ‘conduct detrimental,’ and the NFL could then dock draft picks from teams, sources said.”
There’s no guarantee that Kingsbury would have gotten either job if he were interviewed, but as NFL teams are actively trying to stay ahead of the curve and find new ways to have innovative offensive gameplans, Kingsbury is an intriguing fit. Of course, serious questions exist about his ability to run a team, as evidenced by his 35-40 record in six years at the helm of his alma mater.
