Raiders Rumors: USC's Kliff Kingsbury Expected to Be Hired as OC Under Antonio Pierce

The Las Vegas Raiders are expected to hire former Arizona Cardinals head coach and current USC senior offensive analyst Kliff Kingsbury to be their next offensive coordinator, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Mike Garafolo of NFL Network added that the Raiders were "locked in" on the 44-year-old. He also noted that no deal is in place yet but that "it's expected to get done."

UCLA head coach (and ex-Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers head coach) Chip Kelly was reportedly in the running for the job, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who added that he "appeared open to a return to the NFL."

However, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce decided on Kingsbury for the position.

Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston reported earlier Thursday that Kingsbury was the "frontrunner" for the job.

The Silver and Black ripped the interim tag off Pierce's title and made him the team's full-time leader on Jan. 19. He took over for fired head coach Josh McDaniels after eight games. The team also notably parted ways with OC Mick Lombardi and general manager Dave Ziegler.

Rapoport reported on Jan. 19 that interim offensive coordinator Bo Hardegree and most of the offensive staff would not be retained.

Las Vegas struggled scoring at times last season, finishing 23rd in points per game. The Raiders did drop 63 once against the Los Angeles Chargers, but they also finished the year scoring 20 or more points on offense in just four of 17 games.

Kingsbury starred as Texas Tech's quarterback at the turn of the century, notably throwing for 45 touchdowns and 5,017 yards during his senior year in 2002.

He bounced around the NFL, NFL Europe and CFL from 2003-2007 before beginning his coaching career as the University of Houston's offensive quality control coach in 2008. Two years later, he earned co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach titles for the Cougars.

In 2012, Kingsbury left Houston for Texas A&M, serving as the Aggies' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He matched up with breakout superstar Johnny Manziel that season, and Johnny Football notably won the Heisman Trophy en route to leading the Aggies to 11 wins and 44.5 points per game.

Kingsbury parlayed that effort into a head coaching gig with his alma mater in 2013. He coached the Red Raiders from 2013-2018 before being fired after the end of his sixth season with a 35-40 record.

Texas Tech never had much trouble scoring under Kingsbury, notably finishing second in Division I FBS in 2015 and fifth in 2016. It helped to have eventual two-time MVP and two-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes behind center for both those years, of course.

Kingsbury landed with USC as its offensive coordinator but resigned that position to pursue NFL coaching opportunities. The Cardinals hired him as their head coach in 2019 and soon matched him with franchise quarterback Kyler Murray, the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft.

Arizona went 28-37-1 under Kingsbury, with an 11-6 mark in 2021 being the team's apex. That team made the playoffs but fell 34-11 to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Wild Card round. In Kingsbury's four seasons, Arizona finished 16th, 13th, 11th and 21st in scoring.

He then went back to USC to join head coach Lincoln Riley's staff, but he could very well be heading back to the NFL once again.

As far as the other side of the ball goes, it appears that Patrick Graham, who is under contract with the Raiders, will return as defensive coordinator.

All NFL head coaching vacancies have now been filled, and the Raiders can block any interview requests for Graham at DC. Las Vegas notably did so on Jan. 10 for an unnamed team, per Rapoport.

The Raiders are trying to build upon a strong ending to the season in which the team went 5-4 under Pierce following the firing of McDaniels, who went just 9-21 in a season-and-a-half in Vegas.