Kliff Kingsbury repeating with Arizona Cardinals what he did at Texas Tech | Opinion
In the modern era of football few coaches have failed face forward into success quite like Kliff Kingsbury.
He has taken a decent college career as a quarterback at Texas Tech, a fantastic head of hair and Hollywood action star good looks, and used these talents to land coveted jobs without the resume.
Though no fault of Kingsbury, this is the type of hire that drives minority candidates crazy.
The next time you prepare for a job interview, follow the Kliff Kingsbury Method.
Take your outfit to the dry cleaners. Get a haircut that week. Don’t risk it and not shave that morning; you are not Kliff Kingsbury and can get away with the “Don Johnson Stubble Razor” look.
Just look as good as you possibly can.
If you don’t think looking good matters during a job interview, you have not followed Kliff Kingsbury’s coaching career.
Coach Bro’s Arizona Cardinals came to AT&T Stadium on Sunday with a team that recently had been playing as if it were in a drunken stupor.
It’s the type of season Texas Tech fans became all too familiar with when he was the Red Raiders’ head coach from 2013 to 2018.
The Cardinals started the season 7-0 with third-year quarterback Kyler Murray playing the way he did when he was undefeated at Allen and won the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma.
We are into January, and entering Sunday’s matchup the Cardinals had dropped three straight games and five of their last eight. At Halloween, they were 7-1 and in the running for the top spot in the NFC. At New Year’s Day, they were in a dogfight to get back to the top spot in their own division.
(Of course, the Cardinals had to go out and just destroy this good column by upsetting the Cowboys, 25-22, on Sunday to end their three-game losing streak).
We are watching the Arizona Red Raiders. This is the same pattern Kingsbury established in Lubbock.
2013: Texas Tech started 7-0, but finished 1-5. That was Kingsbury’s lone bowl-winning season at Tech in three attempts.
2014: Texas Tech started 2-0, but finished 2-8.
2015: Texas Tech started 5-2, but finished 2-4.
2016: Texas Tech started 3-1, but finished 2-6.
2017: Texas Tech started 4-1, butfinished 2-6.
2018: Texas Tech started 5-2, but finished 0-5.
2019: Arizona Cardinals started 3-3-1, but finished 2-7.
2020: Arizona Cardinals started 6-3, but finished 2-5.
2021: Arizona Cardinals started 7-0, but is finishing 3-5.
(Shout out to Mr. Kevin Turner, producer of the Ben and Skin Show on 97.1 FM The Eagle for compiling those records.)
This is the ninth season Kingsbury will finish as the head coach of the “Arizona Red Raiders,” and this will be only his third year with a winning record.
That type of record gets people fired, but ... my God that’s a handsome man.
The Cardinals have had a few injuries, notably to Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and this is still a bad look for a coach who has to know coming into this year just how meh his overall record is.
As the head coach of “Arizona Red Raiders,” Kingsbury is 58-63-1.
Say this for coach; at least he knew what he was doing when shortly after being hired by the Cardinals in 2019 he convinced the team to select Murray with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft.
You will have a hard time finding anyone who has a bad word to say about Kingsbury.
He worked like a dog at Texas Tech, and he desperately wanted to succeed in Lubbock as much for himself as the loyal fans who support the school.
His current team has some top NFL talent, including the most important position on the field. Kyler Murray is not tall, but who cares?
The Cardinals have not played well of late, but they have built a talented roster. This is a team that should win, and they will make the playoffs this season for the first time since 2015.
All of this will buy Kingsbury more time to prove that he belongs in a job that nothing about his resume says he was due.
This story was originally published January 2, 2022 at 5:25 PM.
