Kliff Kingsbury May Resign After USC Denied Permission For Him To Interview With Cardinals & Jets

Update:

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is reporting that there’s a chance Kliff Kingsbury will resign as offensive coordinator at USC to pursue NFL opportunities after athletic director Lynn Swann blocked him from interviewing for the Cardinals and Jets’ head-coaching jobs.

According to Florio, Kingsbury’s contract has a very low buyout. However, NFL teams haven’t discussed his buyout because they’re honoring the strong mandate issued at last month’s ownership meeting by the NFL.

Teams contacted Swann and requested permission to interview Kingsbury, but Swann obviously declined to allow permission.

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According to Adam Schefter, USC has denied requests from the Cardinals and Jets to interview OC Kliff Kingsbury.

Sources have told Schefter that a “perfect storm” of the NFL’s new enforcement of an old rule has led to the situation where the Jets and Cardinals can’t talk to Kingsbury.

At the most recent owners meeting, league officials informed teams that they now had to request permission from college athletic directors to interview college coaches and not doing so would be considered “conduct detrimental” and could lead to them being dock draft picks.

The rule specifically states:

“If permission is denied, the NFL club should respect that decision just as it would respect a similar decision from another NFL club. NFL clubs that fail to follow these protocols may be subject to disciplinary action for conduct detrimental to the League.”

Kingsbury, 35, was hired as the Texas Tech head coach back in 2013 and spent six years in the position before he was fired back in November. USC later hired him as their offensive coordinator.

During his six seasons at Texas Tech, Kingsbury led them to a record of 35-40 (46.7 percent), which includes three Bowl game appearances.