Cardinals Hire Kliff Kingsbury as New Head Coach

Kingsbury will serve as an NFL head coach for the first time in his career.

The Arizona Cardinals haved hired Kliff Kingsbury as their new head coach, the team announced Tuesday.

Kingsbury agreed to a four-year deal which includes a fifth-year option.

In December, Kingsbury was named offensive coordinator at the University of Southern California after being fired from his head-coaching role at Texas Tech.

Following the conclusion of the NFL regular season, the Cardinals and New York Jets had expressed interest in hiring Kingsbury for their head-coaching vacancies. However, the Trojans reportedly did not initially grant Kingsbury permission to interview with either club. He went on to eventually meet with both teams.

Kingsbury spent six seasons as Texas Tech's head coach prior to his ouster. The 39-year-old is considered to be an offensive innovator. The Red Raiders routinely ranked among college football's best offenses under his direction. They went 35–40 during Kingsbury's tenure.

Prior to his head-coaching stint in Lubbock, Kingsbury served in an offensive coordinator capacity at Houston (2010-2011) and Texas A&M (2012).

Kingsbury will take over for a Cardinals squad that posted the worst record in the NFL last season at 3–13. Arizona will pick first in the 2019 NFL draft.

After coaching highly-touted college quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield and Davis Webb, Kingsbury will now be paired with former first-round pick Josh Rosen, who threw for 2,278 yards and 11 touchdowns in 13 starts during his rookie campaign.