Kliff Kingsbury on Oklahoma’s short list to replace Lincoln Riley

With Lincoln Riley heading for USC, the list of Oklahoma coaching candidates to replace him is reportedly led by a current NFL head coach: Kliff Kingsbury.

Lincoln Riley delivered a shock to the Oklahoma football program on Sunday with the news that he’ll be leaving Norman and taking the vacant USC Trojans job. That, of course, leaves the Sooners with a vacancy at the position.

Joining other high-profile programs such as LSU in searching for a head coach, Oklahoma should have their pick of almost anyone they want to hire. And apparently they’re swinging for the fences, at least if some reports are to be believed.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Oklahoma has already put together a shortlist of candidates for replacing Lincoln Riley as head coach. At the top of that list is Arizona Cardinals head coach (and former Big 12 rival) Kliff Kingsbury.

Kliff Kingsbury leads Oklahoma coaching candidates: Is the fit realistic?

Kingsbury’s Cardinals are putting together an impressive 9-2 campaign this NFL season. He has been with Arizona since 2019, helping build an impressive offense around talented young quarterback Kyler Murray. Arizona currently leads the NFC West and has Super Bowl aspirations this season.

Before his current run in the NFL, Kingsbury was the head coach at Texas Tech. He finished his six years with the program with an underwhelming 35-40 record, but it was the quarterbacks he developed that became his claim to fame. Most notably, Kingsbury was fundamental in the development of a young baseball player by the name of Patrick Mahomes.

With that said, Schefter’s note that Kingsbury has one year left on his contract in Arizona feels most important in this report.

All told, it would be highly unlikely for Kingsbury to leave an NFL contender to coach in the Big 12 gain. The more likely case is that his agent (or someone in that sphere) is leaking information to Schefter in order to try and work on a forthcoming extension with the Cardinals.

It’s information that’s on the college and NFL radar now, though, so we’ll have to wait and see where things go from here.

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