Oklahoma coaching contenders: NFL Cardinals Kliff Kingsbury on list to replace Lincoln Riley, according to report

The college football training carousel is spinning out of control, and a famous NFL coach has now joined the fun. Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury is being targeted by Oklahoma be its next coach with Lincoln Riley leave for the same job in USC, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Sunday.

Kingsbury, of course, is no stranger to the Sooners program, as he coached at Texas Tech, his alma mater, from 2013 to 2018. Although Kingsbury never beat Oklahoma, he did. participated in several classic shootouts, including the legendary 2016 game (a 66-59 win for the Sooners), in which quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield made a total of 1,700 yards of fouls.

Alas, the possibility of Kingsbury leaving his post in NFL for the Sooners bound by the SEC seems to be far-fetched.

Kingsbury’s Cardinals are leading 9-2 with six weeks remaining in the season – excluding a possible playoff – and full-back Kyler Murray is becoming a case for the league’s MVP. Also of note, Kingsbury will enter the final year of his contract in 2022, marking a prime opportunity to seek a competitive extension and raise.

If Kingsbury were to replace Riley – There are many candidates for the job – wouldn’t be too much of a shock to Oklahoma’s system. The two coaches use a high scoring system and have the same youth, playing well with prospects. In practice, however, this sounds more like an agent gaining leverage for a client than anything else.