Josina Anderson reports that the Jets have “internally discussed interest in interviewing Steelers OC Arthur Smith and Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury for the head coach vacancy.”
Scheduling interviews is currently an issue, given that both coaches are employed by playoff teams. They could interview virtually before having an in-person meeting later on.
The Jets previously expressed in Smith as a head-coaching candidate during the cycle they hired Robert Saleh.
Kingsbury is expected to draw interest from other teams as well after the success he’s had in Washington this year.
The Jets have already interviewed Ron Rivera and Mike Vrabel for the job with Rex Ryan also being a potential candidate along with interim HC Jeff Ulbrich.
Smith, 42, began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at North Carolina back in 2006. From there, he worked for Washington for two years before being hired as an administrative assistant/defensive intern at Ole Miss in 2010.
The Titans hired Smith as a defensive assistant/quality control coach a year later and he worked his way to TEs coach in 2015. Tennessee promoted him to offensive coordinator after Matt LaFleur accepted the Packers’ HC job.
After Smith found success in that role, the Falcons hired him as their head coach in 2021. However, he was let go after three seasons.
In three seasons in Atlanta, Smith had a record of 21-30 (.412 winning percentage) with no playoff appearances.
Kingsbury, 45, was hired as the Texas Tech head coach back in 2013 and spent six years in the position before he was fired. USC hired him as their offensive coordinator but he resigned from the job after just a month after receiving interest from the NFL. He was subsequently hired by the Cardinals.
After four seasons in Arizona, Kingsbury was let go and returned to USC as the QB coach.
During his six seasons at Texas Tech, Kingsbury led them to a record of 35-40 (46.7 percent), which included three bowl game appearances.
For his NFL head coaching career, Kingsbury led the Cardinals to an overall record of 26-33-1 in four seasons with one playoff appearance.
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