The Kliff Kingsbury era at USC ended after about a month, when the new OC got the call-up to become the Arizona Cardinals head coach. About a month after that:
8 ways USC replaced Kliff Kingsbury with Basically Kliff Kingsbury
USC head coach Clay Helton has a type, apparently.
Let us begin the blog post.
1. Both Kingsbury and Harrell were prolific, 6’2-ish, Central Texas QBs.
And both earned induction into the Texas High School Hall of Fame.
2. Both broke records as three-year Texas Tech starters under Mike Leach.
They’re No. 1 and No. 2 on Texas Tech’s career passing yardage list. Yep, even ahead of Patrick Mahomes himself.
Kingsbury threw 1,883 times for 12,429 career yards, with Harrell going 2,011 for 15,793.
3. Both won the Sammy Baugh Trophy as seniors.
That’s one of the many college QB awards, evidently one that favors raw yardage.
4. Both had journeyman careers in the NFL and CFL, winning Super Bowl rings as backups.
Kingsbury was on the Patriots’ bench in 2003, Harrell on the Packers’ in 2010.
5. Both began their coaching careers under Leach protege Dana Holgorsen.
Kingsbury’s first job was assisting former Leach OC Dana Holgorsen at Houston, later moving up to run the offenses for Kevin Sumlin, whose influences included spread passing innovator Joe Tiller and the aftermath of Leach’s offenses at Oklahoma.
Almost as soon as Kingsbury moved up to a full-time coaching position at UH, Holgorsen left for Oklahoma State’s OC job, where he hired Harrell as a kind of quarterback tutor.
While Leach’s coaching tree will always deserve a lot of discussion, how about Holgo’s at this point? The Cardinals head coach, the USC offensive coordinator, Texas State head coach Jake Spavital, and so on.
6. Both only became more Mike Leach after that.
Kingsbury took over the Texas Tech University Mike Leach Directorship Of Filling The Air With Footballs chair as head coach, while Harrell went to work for the Pirate himself at Washington State.
Kingsbury’s Texas Tech offenses were about the purest strain of the air raid you could find outside of Leach’s in Pullman. Since 2010, the only schools to lead the FBS in passing attempts per game are Leach’s old school and Leach’s current school.
Harrell’s offenses at North Texas showed a bit more run/pass balance (a Holgorsen influence, perhaps), once ranking all the way up at 80th in rushes per game. But still, these fellas like to throw the ball.
7. Neither has ever coached a good defense.
Harrell has never been in charge of a defense, while Kingsbury has ... well, also never been in charge of a defense. As head coach, his Red Raiders only very briefly teased decent defense, and then everyone decided his NFL teams will be fine because you can just draft defenders instead of recruiting them. Moving on!
8. Both looked fit to score a ton of points at USC.
Recent struggles aside, the Trojans will almost always have the most talented roster in the Pac-12, a conference not known for incredible defense. They’ll have a sophomore five-star QB in J.T. Daniels and a completely returned receiving corps, so Clay Helton is smart to go all in on the passing game.
The draw of Kingsbury evidently helped steer five-star Texas receiver Bru McCoy away from the Longhorns and to Los Angeles (we know this because Kingsbury’s exit has already inspired McCoy to transfer to the Longhorns — meaning USC making this hire a bit more quickly might’ve been helpful, but who knows).
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