Kliff might catch some crap for the way he's gone about his offseason, but I think he's played it pretty well. He clearly didn't feel comfortable waiting for the NFL season to finish up so that he could explore his chances there, so he took the best OC gig he could. That gave him a soft landing spot in case interest in him within the NFL wasn't as strong as he had hoped once the dominoes started to fall. Clearly, the interest is there, however, so now he's in a situation where his best case scenario is being a head coach in the NFL and his worst case scenarios aren't so bad. I'm sure his agent is working in the background to find out which parties are most interested. If there's not enough there to tempt him, he spends a season working as the OC at USC, certainly not a bad gig, and I'm guessing he'll help the Trojans' offense improve enough that he'll be just as attractive a candidate next offseason. And if he is tempted enough by an opportunity to step down and then doesn't end up getting it, he takes a season off, which, if that's the case, is what probably would have happened anyway had he passed on USC initially. The fact of the matter is that his craven pursuit of an NFL job, immediately after taking a new OC job in college, might look bad to us, but these kinds of things never really seem to end up costing coaches chances at jobs down the road.
Swann/USC need Kliff far more than he needs them. Think most level headed fans, donors, boosters, etc...would understand if Kliff got a NFL HC gig. But him resigning because Swann blocked interviews would be a horrible look for them.
I really like the Big12-2 coaching hires: all young guys who had very good success at smaller programs (NDSt, Utah St, Troy), and I think OU's new DC will right the ship there.
What an abortion of a job by USC, still don't get the hype about a coach who couldn't take a team with PATRICK MAHOMES on it to above .500
Kliff is also taking with him USC RB coach Mike Jinks. Not a great time for USC to have to rebuild their offensive staff all over again. I never really thought that overhauling the staff was going to do enough to save Clay Helton next year, but this turnover this late in the coaching carousel certainly makes that a steeper hill to climb.
Curious to see how the Leach/Kingsbury offense works in the NFL, I have no doubt they'll put up huge numbers in the PAC10
AML is rarely top of mind in these situations. He’s not devastatingly handsome. He’s not young. He has very strong opinions about weddings and live mascots and other things that aren’t third-and-nine. He may work until 2 a.m., but he also may not come in until 10 or 11 a.m. If this flavor of the month in football becomes the flavor of the year and remains en vogue, it’ll be interesting to see what happens when the coaching carousel spins again. Will the game keep seeking out some more polished, more boring version of Mike Leach, or will it seek out Actual Mike Leach? Spoiler Actual Mike Leach(AML) - Mike Leach Handsome Mike Leach - Kliff Kingsbury Old Soul Mike Leach - Lincoln Riley Hot Young Mike Leach - Graham Harrell Jacked Mike Leach - Seth Littrell Chill Mike Leach - Sonny Dykes Visored Mike Leach - Dana Holgorsen Bald Nick Saban - Jeremy Pruitt
