Cardinals’ Kliff Kingsbury talks about Murray comments, leaving USC
Jan 10, 2019, 5:13 PM | Updated: Jan 18, 2019, 12:04 pm
FILE- In this Oct. 27, 2018, file photo, Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury stands on the field before an NCAA college football game against Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
A video from late October made the rounds on social media Wednesday night featuring new Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury raving about Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray.
Kingsbury, of course, was still Texas Tech’s head coach at the time and Murray was reportedly leaning towards his career in MLB.
“I’d take him with the first pick in the draft if I could,” Kingsbury said of Murray, then doubling down on that statement. “I know he signed up to play baseball, but he is a dominant football player and I would take him with the first pick.”
So by connecting the dots of the Kingsbury hire in Arizona, the Cardinals owning the No. 1 pick and Murray reportedly set to declare for the upcoming NFL Draft, the clip went viral.
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Kingsbury addressed the clip on Sirius XM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio.
“I don’t think he’s officially declared yet so we’re not supposed to talk about those prospects yet but it’s an interesting soundbite, being that that was October and it’s now kind of coming out to be played as if it was yesterday,” Kingsbury said. “So I’ll stay away from that one right now.
“That was in October way before anything like this had transpired.”
Kingsbury’s path to becoming an NFL head coach in the past three months is a rare one. He was let go by Texas Tech in late November, and in less than a month, took the offensive coordinator job at USC.
The 39-year-old then received interest from NFL teams for interviews, which USC reportedly blocked before Kingsbury eventually took on interviews and ended up with the Cardinals.
The first-time NFL head coach spoke with CBS Sports Network’s Jim Rome on the Jim Rome Show to speak on that whirlwind of a time.
“It’s unfortunate, obviously,” he said of what happened with USC. “That was never my intention and I think the world of that university, I think the world of (USC head) coach (Todd) Helton, the job he’s gonna do there. I turned down a bunch of opportunities to be a Trojan and go to USC because of the great program and what I knew we could do there.
“This came up and it was just one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities I couldn’t pass up but I really enjoyed my time there and will be pulling for them moving forward.”
