Tag: Kliff Kingsbury

USC’s Kliff Kingsbury mentioned as Texas A&M candidate after Jimbo Fisher firing

The drama begins.

This is going to be very interesting. USC consultant Kliff Kingsbury, brought aboard by Lincoln Riley this season to give Caleb Williams and the other quarterbacks on the roster added guidance, has been mentioned as one of several potential candidates for the open Texas A&M coaching job. Texas A&M, as noted by our partners at Aggies Wire, fired coach Jimbo Fisher on Sunday.

One thing to remember about Kliff Kingsbury is that he was on previous A&M coach Kevin Sumlin’s staff when Johnny Manziel won the 2012 Heisman Trophy and became the first freshman to win the prestigious award. How much of a role Kingsbury had in elevating Manziel is up for debate, but no one can debate that he was part of the staff which helped Johnny Football make Heisman history.

Reaction to Kingsbury’s name popping up on a short list of candidates is certainly of interest to Lincoln Riley and USC, who had to know that Kingsbury would probably look for a new job in 2024.

Let’s see what people are saying about Kingsbury:

6 offensive coordinator candidates for Penn State

Six suggestions for Penn State’s new offensive coordinator.

After another offensive performance that lacked explosion and creativity, leading to a 24-15 loss to Michigan on Saturday, Penn State head coach [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] reiterated that the offense must get better.

Not even 24 hours after the defeat, it was announced by Penn State that offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach [autotag]Mike Yurcich[/autotag] was relieved of his duties early Sunday afternoon. Penn State confirmed that [autotag]Ja’Juan Seider[/autotag] and [autotag]Ty Howle[/autotag] will take over playcalling duties for the rest of the season.

The firing marks the third offensive coordinator that Franklin has fired in his ten years at State College. The next coordinator will be the sixth to coach under Franklin. Needless to say, this is a pivotal hire and could be Franklin’s last if this hire doesn’t pan out.

Let’s take a look at a very early shortlist (in no particular order) of possible candidates for the Nittany Lions.

10 coaching candidates for Patriots, if Bill Belichick gets fired

Here are 10 head coaching candidates that could replace Bill Belichick, if he gets fired by the team.

A new potential twist to the New England Patriots’ Week 10 matchup with the Indianapolis Colts has everyone with an opinion screaming it from the top of their lungs.

The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin recently reported that it wasn’t out of the question that Patriots coach Bill Belichick could be fired if the team loses to the Colts in Sunday’s trip to Germany. So it might really be a win-or-go-home situation for the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach.

It’s hard to envision the team ousting arguably the greatest coach of all time without a proper sendoff at the midway point in the season. But it does feel like Belichick could be on borrowed time in New England.

Whether it’s after the Colts game or at the end of the season, the Patriots could be merely days or months away from making a franchise-altering decision.

When and if the hammer falls, these are the 10 coaching candidates that could potentially take Belichick’s place.

Lincoln Riley misses two practices, Kliff Kingsbury could be promoted

Kliff Kingsbury could be temporarily promoted to an on-field role.

After USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley missed Monday and Tuesday’s practices due to an undisclosed illness, they could be looking to promote senior offensive analyst Kliff Kingsbury to an on-field role.

Kingsbury joined his former backup quarterback at Texas Tech on the Trojans staff this past offseason after being relieved of his duties as head coach with the Arizona Cardinals.

Kingsbury was back working at the collegiate level since he was fired by his alma mater Texas Tech following the 2018 season. He was hired to be the offensive coordinator at USC before Arizona swooped in and gave him the head coaching position in the NFL.

After working with the likes of Case Keenum (Houston), Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M), Baker Mayfield (Texas Tech), Patrick Mahomes (Texas Tech), and Kyler Murray (Arizona), he was brought in to work as the quarterbacks coach.

According to CBS Sports, USC is working with NCAA compliance to bump Kingsbury up from senior offensive analyst to a temporary on-field role to help fill in for Riley.

The Trojans will take on California this week after back-to-back losses to Notre Dame and Utah.

Get more USC coverage on Trojans Wire, part of the College Wire Network

Lincoln Riley illness ignites plan to have Dennis Simmons as head coach, Kliff Kingsbury as assistant — and everyone’s talking

This feels like a Russian novel, but it’s happening at USC.

This USC football season has become very soap-operatic this week. The successful, hotshot head coach suddenly loses two games, and the optimism of September turns into late-October misery and failure. The coach gets sick and is confined to resting at home under doctor’s orders. A succession plan is created to put an acting head coach in place.

Other coaches are being elevated to higher positions, all while rumors swirl about the job security of this coaching staff and the future of the program, one year before it moves to another conference in another part of the country.

We’re not making up this plot line. It’s all real. Antonio Morales of The Athletic unpacked these details about Lincoln Riley, USC assistant coach Dennis Simmons and offensive analyst/consultant Kliff Kingsbury.

They’re all involved in this drama, and as you can easily imagine, fans are talking. Everyone is talking. The Trojans aren’t winning big football games, but following USC football is never boring.

Here are the things you need to know, followed by reactions to these eye-grabbing events:

20 potential candidates to replace Mel Tucker as Michigan State football’s coach

Who could potentially replace Mel Tucker? We came up with 20 coaches to consider.

Following an in-depth investigation by USA TODAY into the allegations made by Brenda Tracy against Mel Tucker, the university placed Mel Tucker on an unpaid suspension.

Operating under the assumption that Tucker has coached his last game as the head man of the Michigan State football program, as Lansing State Journal reporter Graham Couch speculated, the Spartans will be in the market for a new leader of their football program.

Check out some of the potential candidates Michigan State could look to bring in:

Former Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury to be inducted into Texas Tech’s Hall of Fame

Th former Arizona Cardinals head coach will be honored by the school he played at and coached.

The Arizona Cardinals fired Kliff Kingsbury as head coach back in January. He has since gotten a job on USC’s coaching staff with Lincoln Riley.

He will be honored by his alma mater, Texas Tech University.

According to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, Kingsbury, along with coaching legend Mike Leach, will be inducted into Texas Tech’s Hall of Fame.

Kingsbury was a legend for Texas Tech as a quarterback. He passed for 45 touchdowns and more than 5,000 yards in 2002.

He went on to be head coach of Texas Tech later on before he became head coach of the Arizona Cardinals in 2019.

The ceremony will be in September.

Leach is the winningest coach in Texas Tech history. He was the head coach when Kingsbury played there.

You catch his reaction to the call below.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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Kliff Kingsbury among 3 USC coaches who attended Rams practice Wednesday

Kliff Kingsbury, now at USC, was in attendance for Rams OTAs on Wednesday

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The Los Angeles Rams had a few visitors in Thousand Oaks for Wednesday’s practice, all from the USC football program. Kliff Kingsbury, who’s an assistant coach on Lincoln Riley’s staff, was the most notable of the three USC coaches at OTAs this week.

Tight ends coach Zach Hanson and assistant head coach/passing game coordinator Dennis Simmons were also in attendance at Rams practice. Kingsbury and Sean McVay are good friends, and now that Kingsbury is out of the NFL, their football paths can cross more freely without conflict.

The Rams aren’t tanking, and they might not be bad enough to land the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in 2024, but perhaps McVay gained some insight on Caleb Williams from USC’s trio of coaches.

Again, the Rams hope they aren’t bad enough to land Williams at the top of the draft, but if they somehow finish worse than Kingsbury’s former team, the Cardinals, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner is a perfect heir to Matthew Stafford’s throne in Los Angeles.

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Lincoln Riley, Kliff Kingsbury, and Caleb Williams could all be part of an epic 2024 NFL draft story

One 2024 #NFLDraft scenario would create a lot of complicated emotions at #USC.

Caleb Williams, likely to become the No. 1 pick at the 2024 NFL draft, will put USC football front and center no matter what else might happen 51 weeks from now. However, one particular NFL draft scenario would absolutely set the football community ablaze and lead to a media frenzy.

Let’s go to The Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar, who lays out the scenario:

“The story of the 2024 NFL draft began with the trade that brought Alabama edge-rusher Will Anderson Jr. to the Houston Texans with the third overall pick,” Farrar began. “To make that move with the Arizona Cardinals, the Texans gave up their 12th overall pick in 2023, as well as the 33rd overall pick this year (which the Cardinals flipped to the Tennessee Titans so the Titans could take Kentucky quarterback Will Levis), as well as a first- and third-rounder in the 2024 draft.

“That first-rounder in the 2024 draft, per Pro Football Focus’ 2023 season simulations, could leave the Cardinals in a spot usually never seen. The 1992 Indianapolis Colts are the only team in any major professional sport to ever have the first two picks in a draft (they took defensive lineman Steve Emtman and linebacker Quentin Coryatt), but that’s where PFF has the Cardinals in their 2024 Mock Draft Simulator.

“Were that to happen, the Cardinals would be in a position to take a near-generational quarterback and receiver, which is what we have them doing with the first two picks.”

Let’s walk through a scenario in which the Cardinals are picking first in the 2024 draft. What could that mean?

With Caleb Williams likely to be No. 1 pick in 2024 NFL draft, USC’s identity as “QB U” is emerging

Lincoln Riley, Kliff Kingsbury, Caleb Williams, and Malachi Nelson are part of a transformation of the school which once leaned on “Student Body Right.” #USC

Student Body Right. USC used to be the college football program known for rearing back and slamming the ball at the opposition with a hard-nosed running game.

Mike Garrett. O.J. Simpson. Sam Cunningham. Anthony Davis. Ricky Bell. Charles White. Marcus Allen. Great running backs, those who won the Heisman Trophy and those who didn’t, made USC the elite running back school in college football for more than a decade and a half from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s.

Today, the Trojans are operating in a new world. College football is governed by the forward pass, not handoffs or toss plays. Scoring big and scoring quickly are the new mode of transportation in the sport. This is not John McKay’s or Bear Bryant’s realm anymore.

USC, under Lincoln Riley, has very quickly built a new identity. What was “Student Body Right” still uses the running game, but the Trojans are now part of a modern reality: USC is now Quarterback University.

“QB U” for short.

Caleb Williams’ Heisman Trophy affirmed that identity, as did the recruitment of Malachi Nelson and the hire of Kliff Kingsbury.

Keep in mind that Jalen Hurts recently visited Riley on the USC campus before he inked his record-setting deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.

USC’s football brand is now closely tied to quarterback recruitment and development. This is not 1978 anymore … except for the part about USC being nationally and annually relevant.

Consider the names and stories which are now part of QB U, another name for USC: