Kliff Kingsbury Hired as USC’s Offensive Coordinator
After days of rumors, Kliff Kingsbury is headed to sunny Southern California to be the next offensive coordinator of the USC Trojans, per Bruce Feldman of The Athletic.
It was reported last week that Kingsbury was going to join Clay Helton’s staff. However the deal was put on hold since Kingsbury was reportedly receiving interesting from the NFL as well. This week, USC reportedly gave Kingsbury until mid-week to decide where he wanted to coach and work next.
Despite getting fired after a 5-7 season, which we thought was a mistake, Kingsbury’s offense was always ranked near the top of the Big 12. This season, despite using three quarterbacks due to injuries, Texas Tech ranked fourth in the Big 12 in scoring offense, fourth in total offense and second in passing offense.
Kingsbury will begin working with J.T. Daniels, who had an up and down freshman season with the Trojans. He completed just under 60% of his passes for over 2,600 yards, plus 14 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. As a team, USC ranked 8th in the Pac-12 in passing yards per game, 10th in points per game and 10th in rushing yards per game. The Trojans are coming off a disappointing 5-7 season that saw them finishing 3rd in the Pac-12 South and miss a bowl game. Clay Helton was reportedly on the hot seat, but the university announced he would be returning for the 2019 season.
As for Kingsbury, he finished his six-season run at his alma mater with a 35-40 record, and was eventually replaced by Utah State coach Matt Wells. His resume includes coaching up a Heisman winner in Johnny Manziel and a front runner for the NFL MVP award in Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
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