‘He’s a Rocket Scientist!’ Commanders Coach Kliff Kingsbury On Anthony Lynn Hire

Washington Commanders coaches Kliff Kingsbury and Anthony Lynn each played at Texas Tech.

Even with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and Anthony Lynn stepping on the field at Texas Tech at different times, the bond of their collegiate experiences eventually led them to the same place.

Few coaches bring more experience when it comes to working with running backs and scheming up the running game than Lynn. Lynn will bring that experience to the Washington Commanders as he was added to Kingsbury's staff as the run game coordinator and running backs coach.  

Kliff Kingsbury (left) and Anthony Lynn (right) / USA Today

Lynn was a running back for the Red Raiders from 1987 to 1991, while Kingsbury played quarterback for Texas Tech from 1999 to 2002.   

“Excited about Anthony," Kingsbury said. "He's been a head coach. Another Texas Tech Red Raider, which you can't have enough of those rocket scientists on the staff! 

“He's had a tremendous track record with running backs and run schemes and things like that. And so that'll be a big part of his role. But once again, this will be collaborative. We're still figuring out how it all fits in that way. 

“But to have a guy like that, a football mind like that, a leader like that, is huge for us.”

Kingsbury is known for his “air-raid” style of offense from his time as Texas Tech and the Arizona Cardinals head coach, though, Arizona ranked in the top 10 in rushing yards per game in three of his four seasons. 

In Lynn, he'll have someone who can add even more to the Commanders' running game and help improve Brian Robinson Jr., as he's been the running backs coach for 16 of his 24 seasons as a coach in the NFL. 

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Lynn also brings head coaching experience from his time as the Los Angeles Chargers head coach from 2017 to 2020. He was most recently the San Francisco 49ers' assistant head coach and running backs coach the previous two seasons. The 49ers were third in rushing yards (140.5) per game in 2023 and eighth in 2022. 

Regardless of where Washington goes with its quarterback situation, running the ball will be vital to the team's success on offense. Having Kingsbury and Lynn should give Washington a chance to improve a rushing offense that ranked 27th in rushing yards per game. … and doing that shouldn’t really even take a couple of “rocket scientists.”