Former Arizona Cardinals and Texas Tech head football coach Kliff Kingsbury is joining Lincoln Riley’s coaching staff at USC as a senior offensive analyst.
Reports of the move surfaced on Monday night, and the school confirmed his addition on Tuesday.
“We’re excited to officially welcome Kliff to our coaching staff and add another outstanding football mind to our program,” Riley said through an official release on the team’s website.
Riley and Kingsbury were teammates at Texas Tech and are familiar with each other’s coaching styles from their days in the Big 12.
Kingsbury has been known as one of the up-and-coming offensive minds throughout his coaching career, and he has worked with some of the elite quarterbacks in college and the NFL, including Kyler Murray, Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Johnny Manziel, and Case Keenum.
His expertise should greatly influence reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams’s growth, and his time spent in the NFL as a coach and player can help prepare Williams for the next level.
Kingsbury was let go by the Arizona Cardinals following a 4-13 finish to his four-year tenure in the desert. He led the Cardinals to an 11-6 record and a playoff appearance in 2021, but the team digressed last season amid rumors of tension between Kingsbury and Murray.
Before landing in Arizona, Kingsbury briefly joined the USC staff as the offensive coordinator under Clay Helton but lasted just 43 days before opting to take the Cardinals job and becoming a key influence in bringing Murray to Arizona as the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Kingsbury made his mark as an up-and-coming offensive mind in the college game as the head coach at Texas Tech — where he starred as the team’s starting quarterback from 2000 through 2002. He also coached at Texas A&M and the University of Houston and played with the New England Patriots.
After his firing in Arizona, many believed Kingsbury was content with spending time away from football because of his recent trip to Thailand. However, he chose to return to the gridiron as part of the Trojans’ staff under another of the rising offensive coaches in college football.