Former Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury’s name has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the head-coaching opening at Stanford University.
Stanford general manager Andrew Luck — the former Indianapolis Colts quarterback — fired coach Troy Taylor on Tuesday after two seasons.
Kingsbury was fired after four seasons with the Cardinals (2019-22). He had an overall record of 28-37-1 with only one winning season. Kingsbury made the playoffs once with Arizona, after an 11-6 season in 2021.
247Sports published a list of possible replacements that included Kingsbury.
247Sports’ Grant Hughes wrote about Kingsbury and Stanford:
“Kingsbury would be a splash hire for Stanford and help inject new life into a Cardinal offense that has ranked outside the top 100 in scoring each of the last four seasons.
“He has a proven track record of developing elite quarterbacks, from Patrick Mahomes and Johnny Manziel at the college level to Kyler Murray and Jayden Daniels in the NFL, which could help sway [Stanford] quarterback Elijah Brown to stay in the fold.”
Kingsbury’s success with Commanders makes him an attractive option
Kingsbury was the Washington Commanders offensive coordinator this past season, when rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels took the NFL by storm. Daniels led the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game, winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year award along the way.
Daniels revitalized the entire Washington franchise and Kingsbury received a ton of credit for his work with the rookie.
The New Orleans Saints requested permission to speak to Kingsbury about their head-coaching job in January. ESPN then reported that Kingsbury decided to not pursue an NFL head-coaching job in 2025.
Other possible Stanford candidates are believed to be former Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, Middle Tennessee coach Derek Mason, San Jose State coach Ken Niumatalolo and former University of Washington coach Chris Petersen.
Kingsbury, 45, has college head-coaching experience. He was Texas Tech’s head coach for six years before joining the Cardinals.
Stanford completed its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024 with a 3-9 overall record and 2-6 in the conference.
Traditionally, college football coaches are hired soon after the end of the season. Since their coach was fired, Stanford players have 30 days to enter the transfer portal. The national transfer portal is from April 16 to 25.
Presumably, Stanford wants to hire a coach before the transfer portal kicks in.
Would Kingsbury even consider the Stanford job? His Commanders performance has rebuild his reputation as an offensive guru and sent his stock soaring.
He also knows NFL head-coaching jobs become available every year. There were six such openings this cycle.
The interest could be there, but he may hold out for a bigger and better opportunity.
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