Kliff Kingsbury Said He Wants To Be A Head Coach Again..But Let's Hope and Pray We Get One More Year From Him In Washington
Obviously every coach aspires to be a head coach and not be a life-long coordinator. Now, there are some exceptions, especially old heads, who are incredible coordinators and have no issue at the end of their careers sticking around in a coordinator role, mentoring younger guys, and just enjoying their last days of being a Football Guy. But a younger guy like Kliff Kingsbury will always want the head coaching jobs. Guys like Kliff who were once head coaches, and after being fired drop down to the coordinator role and thrive, will want that taste of head coaching again.
Kliff only had 1 winning season as the head coach of the Cardinals, going 11-6 in 2021 before losing to the Rams in the Wild Card round. His other seasons he went 5-10, 8-8, and 4-13 before being fired. But now after a super successful season in Washington with Jayden, Kliff is obviously going to be a hot commodity to be a head coach again. He's young, he has a rookie QB playing at an MVP level, he's more experienced than his last go-round, and teams will be chomping at the bit to give him a second chance.
Nobody would fault Kliff for leaving. He definitely wants to prove he can be a HC in the league, and that his time in Arizona was not an indictment on who he is as a top guy. But while we can't blame him for wanting that top job...there's nowhere to go right now that is a better job than his current role as the OC in Washington. Yes, he'd get more money (probably) as a head coach, but that pretty much the only perk of leaving right now. Would he really want to join the shit show situation in Chicago? The Jets? Giants? Cowboys? Browns? Is the best possible opening the Raiders? The Titans? It's dire out there.
On the other hand, he has a great thing in Washington right now. He is developing a generational QB in Jayden, has a Pro Bowl WR in Terry, and the team has $100 mil or so in cap room going into next season. I'm not suggesting he shouldn't take a head coaching job, but at the same time, would going to the Bears organization truly be the best idea? Sure maybe he feels he can make Caleb into an NFL QB, but it's an uphill battle when the current GM and ownership group exists as is. Same goes for the Jets, clearly. The Browns, obviously. And going to the Cowboys is more or less career suicide. Now, one interesting opening could be the Bengals. I think people actually sleep on how shitty of an organization the Bengals are. Dan Snyder got all the headlines, but Mike Brown is historically the worst and cheapest owner in the league. The Bengals under Mike Brown are complete ass through and through, but Joe Burrow is so good he has sort of changed the narrative...and they still STINK!
My hope is Kliff pulls a Ben Johnson and stays put for at least one more season. Work on finishing the job in Washington before going to build something else. I'm not worried about Jayden if Kliff leaves, but man, one more season of them together would be a true dream come true.