Lincoln Riley shares benefits of adding Kliff Kingsbury to staff
Lincoln Riley was honest about adding Kliff Kingsbury to the USC football staff and talked about the benefits of the offensive minded coach.
On3’s J.D. PicKell pointed out the potential recruiting difference, in a positive way. Riley was adamant about Kingsbury’s experience as an offensive and quarterback guru and felt it was the right fit.
Kingsbury is certainly a big name offensive analyst compared to most.
“We connected a month or so ago,” Riley said. “He ended up coming into town and spent a little bit of time … I had talked to a few other people (about the job) and hadn’t quite landed on the right person and I asked Kliff if it was something he’d be interested in and described it to him and he thought about it for a little bit and just think it ended up being a great fit really for both sides.
“He’s obviously got familiarity with our offense. He’s got familiarity with a lot of the members on our staff. So I think that that certainly made sense. And yeah, I mean, obviously his experience, both on the both on the offensive side will be very helpful in terms of game planning, some of those things that they can do off the field, have another set of eyes, they’re very, very helpful. And then obviously the added benefit with a guy like Kliff is a guy that’s been the head coach at this level and at the professional level, somebody that had to sit in that chair and make those decisions.
“Whether it’s something on game day or it’s something just through the course of a normal week, it’s always great to have another opinion. And then kind of an outside perspective that you know, that maybe it’s not tied to one position … coach Kingsbury was a really great get and it’s gonna make us a lot better.”
Riley and Kingsbury go back a bit. He was asked if it was surreal to land the former Arizona Cardinals head coach on his staff.
“Surreal is a word I mean, I’m definitely excited to get him here,” Riley said. “I know he’s eager to get here. 20 years ago, that would have been kind of far out there, the thought that we’d be coaching at USC … I think we’ve always connected well offensively at times, we competed against each other when he was at Texas Tech, so we didn’t really talk much ball then. We’ve been able to do it as of late and when (was in) the NFL, but we didn’t get time out to get a chance to work together. I think this will be a special year for both of us.”
There were questions if Kingsbury was going to coach at all in 2023. There were reports he bought a one-way ticket to Thailand after his departure from the Cardinals.
“I know he’s really invested in what we’re doing,” Riley said. “Really excited … Obviously what he’s accomplished in the game … this is not something he’s just gonna come to do because he likes some people … He sees the opportunity. This is a cool statement for our program, that a guy like that would want to come take this role and help this program take another big step and he recognizes what’s going on. So just another example of where we’re headed. Another great moment for the program.”