The Jets and the Cardinals won’t be speaking with Kliff Kingsbury anytime soon.
Kingsbury’s name has been floated for some NFL openings after he was hired to be the new offensive coordinator at USC, but the school won’t let pro teams speak with him. (RELATED: Kliff Kingsbury To Interview With The Arizona Cardinals And New York Jets For Head Coach Openings)
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ESPN reported the following:
USC has balked at giving permission to the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals to interview Trojans offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, league sources told ESPN.
Sources said a perfect storm of the NFL’s new enforcement of an old rule has led to the situation where the Jets and Cardinals can’t talk to one of their head-coaching candidates.
…
USC’s refusal to release Kingsbury to interview has prevented the Jets and Cardinals from meeting with a candidate they would like to know more about. The teams have thus far moved on to interview other candidates while waiting to see if USC acquiesces.
This is so stupid on the part of USC. If Kingsbury wants out of his deal with the Trojans, then he’s going to find a way to get out. That’s just a fact, and anybody who doesn’t understand that must not know how football works.
Stopping NFL teams from contacting Kingsbury isn’t going to keep him with USC forever. If anything, it’s just going to piss him off.
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They should let him go to the NFL if the opportunity presents itself. It’s either that or be prepared to match pro salaries for coaches, which just doesn’t seem like something that’s worth doing for the Trojans.
If I was Kingsbury, I’d find a way to get in touch with interested pro teams, whether USC likes it or not. He’s not looking at a different PAC-12 school. It’s the NFL! They don’t exactly play each other.
This whole tactic by his current employer might have stalled and slowed down his eventual next stop, but you’d have to be crazy to think it stopped Kingsbury forever.