Commanders Kliff Kingsbury Next Gators Head Coach?

The Washington Commanders offensive coordinator looks to be a top candidate for the Florida Gators' next head coach.

Aug 25, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders head coach Kliff Kingsbury looks on during the third quarter against the New England Patriots during a preseason game at Commanders Field. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has been thought of as one of the top offensive-minded coaches in the game since his days as the Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach. Since his collegiate coaching days, Kingsbury has spent time as an NFL head coach with the Cardinals before heading back to the college level at USC and now as the offensive coordinator of the Commanders.

Kliff has been working his way back from almost being blackballed out of coaching but has picked up a great situation to help rebuild the Washington offense with a second-overall-pick quarterback who is perceived to be the guy of the future.

Even with everything at his fingertips and given free control over the offense, Kingsbury's name is already popping up in the rumor mill as a potential candidate for head coaching jobs. In a recent development, Kingsbury's name has been mentioned as a top candidate for the Florida Gators head coaching job if, or when, their current head coach Billy Napier is fired or let go.

The firing of Napier seems to be imminent at this point, it is just a matter of when it will happen as there is no obvious replacement for Napier on the current staff and so it looks likely that the decision could come towards the end of the season. Florida hasn't had much coaching success since the days when Urban Meyer was leading the program to National Championships having gone through the likes of Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain, and Dan Mullen.

It is easy to see why Kingsbury's name would be floated about for a job like that of the University of Florida. He still is young and has a creative offensive mindset that makes it hard to stop. Kingsbury has also had the majority of his success at the collegiate level, not so much in the NFL.

However, it is hard to imagine that Kingsbury would leave his current situation getting to coach Jayden Daniels and having full autonomy over the offense and how it operates to help build the organization back to where it should be. Not to mention, the college game has changed drastically since Kingsbury headed a program and it remains to be seen if he would be willing to deal with the beasts of the transfer portal and Name, Image, and Likeness - as we have seen a handful of collegiate coaches leave for NFL opportunities due to these challenges.

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