Kliff Kingsbury and his agent should send ESPN reporter Adam Schefter a personal “thank you” this offseason because he probably just made them some extra money with a single tweet.
Shortly after Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma to accept the head-coaching job at USC, Schefter reported that Oklahoma was targeting the Arizona Cardinals head coach as a possible replacement for Riley. Schefter also made a point to note that Kingsbury would be entering the final year of his contract after this season. So, yeah, that tweet provided some nice leverage for ole’ Kliff.
And come Monday, Kingsbury was not about to give up any of that leverage. He was asked during his media availability about the coaching rumors, and instead of flat-out denying interest in the OU job, he deflected to focusing on the Chicago Bears.
#AZCardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury on the ESPN report on Oklahoma targeting him for its head-coaching vacancy:
"I don't get into those things. My sole focus the last couple of weeks has been the Chicago Bears, and after watching them on Thanksgiving, it needs to be."
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) November 29, 2021
In a follow-up question about why he didn’t just deny the rumor, Kingsbury was evasive again and said he didn’t want to touch that topic during the season.
Kliff Kingsbury on a follow-up from @kentsomers on why he won't come out and say he doesn't have any interest in the Oklahoma job:
"We're in season, we're 9-2, just not a topic I wanna touch on right now."
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) November 29, 2021
When you compare that answer to the fiery denial Mike Tomlin had to USC rumors earlier in the season, it’s pretty easy to figure out what Kingsbury was doing there. He has the Cardinals atop the league standings, and he still hasn’t been rewarded with a contract extension.
He’s going to turn the heat up on the Cardinals to get it done, and all it took was a Schefter tweet to really get to this point.
