USC Football: Kliff Kingsbury Eyeing New NFL Destinations

What does this mean for Lincoln Riley's staff?

Kliff Kingsbury is a coveted coach at all levels of football, seemingly due to his ability to work with quarterbacks. He's often credited with having played a big role in the proliferation of the air-raid offense across college and the pros. 

Reports earlier this week suggested that Kingsbury was interested in taking the offensive coordinator position for a new Las Vegas Raiders coaching staff, led by head coach Antonio Pierce. 

But more recently, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport is reporting that Kingsbury is no longer interested in taking the OC gig in Las Vegas. Rather, the QB guru is now looking at the same role except this time in the Washington Commanders organization, under new Commanders head coach Dan Quinn. 

Kliff Kingsbury was set to be the #Raiders OC until talks fell through. Now, a strong candidate to be coordinator in Washington. https://t.co/mZSWNOR3R2

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 3, 2024

When Lincoln Riley brought Kingsbury in, or when college head coaches bring in any coach with an NFL pedigree, part of the risk in doing that is them jumping ship for the NFL at any moment. It can be a double edged-sword, because while it surely helps a college program's recruiting pitch to aspiring young quarterbacks with NFL dreams, having somebody like Kingsbury on your staff runs the risk of him leaving your program for a great deal in the NFL. It's a good problem to have from Riley's perspective, but where does that leave USC? 

Strategically, Riley placed Kingsbury in an "offensive analyst" role, rather than offensive coordinator. Additionally, Riley is adept enough with air-raid concepts to be able to cushion the blow, schematically, should the loss of Kingsbury actually take place. So, will Kingsbury's position be backfilled? It's likely, especially given the Trojan's current offensive coordinator Josh Henson is also their offensive line coach, two duties that don't often get shared in modern division one football. 

If USC were to backfill Kingsbury, first in line might be current offensive analyst Derek Fa'avi. The bio of Fa'avi on USC's website suggests that he's fluent in quarterback development, but he likely doesn't pack the same punch on the recruiting trail as a name like Kingsbury might. If Riley feels compelled to replace Kingsbury should he decide to leave like so many reports are suggesting, he might look for somebody with experience QB playing experience like Kingsbury had. Unfortunately for USC, Case Keenum isn't yet retired, although he would be a relatively safe choice for the gig (assuming he can coach). 

So, let's throw out some other names, shall we? Tommy Reese used to coordinate Alabama's offense, but recently took the tight ends coaching gig in Cleveland for the Browns. He fits the bill, but timing is off. West Virginia offensive coordinator Neal Brown has experiencing coaching in the air raid at both Texas Tech and Troy, but a move from OC to offensive analyst at USC might feel like a step backward. Former Baylor head coach Art Briles is currently overseas coaching in Italy, but he would hypothetically be a good fit to replace Kingsbury. He's got name recognition that helps with recruiting, and schematically he would hit the ground running as a notable root in the same Mike Leach coaching tree that Lincoln Riley is apart of. 

It will be difficult to find another Kingsbury, but USC is on a streak of sexy yet logical assistant coaching hires. 

Kingsbury still might end up staying at USC after all, but at this point, it doesn't seem likely.