Another expected move has taken place to add to the league’s number of head coaching vacancies. The Cardinals have fired Kliff Kingsbury, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Ian Rapoport of NFL Network adds that general manager Steve Keim will also not be returning (Twitter link). A team announcement confirms that Keim has stepped away to focus on his health. 
The 43-year-old was the subject of increasing speculation during the season that a change would be coming. That, in its own regard, was something of a surprise considering the long-term extensions he and Keim signed this past offseason. However, as the 2022 campaign progressed, signs increasingly pointed to a parting of ways.
Kingsbury established himself as a quarterback guru during his time in college. That span included work with, among others, Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes. Still, eyebrows were raised at the Cardinals’ decision to hire him in 2019 given his overall record of 35-40 at Texas Tech. The move signalled an all-in approach on Arizona’s part with Kingsbury and quarterback Kyler Murray.
From a big-picture perspective, the first three seasons of Kingsbury’s tenure could be categorized as generally successful. The Cardinals showed improvement from 5-10-1 to 8-8 across their first two years with him at the helm, though the latter campaign did not result in a postseason appearance. In 2021, Arizona got off to a hot start, posting a 10-2 record early on in a season where Murray found himself in the MVP conversation. As had been the case the year prior, however, the team nosedived down the stretch and ended up 11-6. The season came to an underwhelming end with a blowout loss in the Wild Card round.
Another playoff appearance was expected given the faith shown by the organization to Keim, Kingsbury and (by virtue of his own monster extension) Murray. Instead, nothing has gone according to plan in the desert, with the team struggling at all times to find consistency on offense. Injuries and suspensions in the receiving corps are partially to blame, of course, but Kingsbury drew increasing criticism for his inability to put together consecutive weeks of good showings on offense or defense.
A rift was reported to be growing between Kingsbury and Murray, something which fueled the fire of this dismissal taking place. Overall, the Cardinals finished the year with a 4-13 record, marking their first regression in the win-loss column during Kingsbury’s time. Murray’s ACL tear certainly hurt the team’s late-season prospects, but his return in 2023 with a new voice on the sidelines and in the front office will not be considered a surprise given everything which has transpired over the course of the past few months.
Indeed, it was reported to be an “open secret” last week that Kingsbury would be on his way out upon the conclusion of the regular season. As for Keim, his departure seemed to be confirmed in December after his decision to take an indefinite leave of absence for health-related reasons. His tenure as GM began in 2013, and included an 80-80-2 record and three playoff appearances.
Both he and Kingsbury will now be on the books as the team looks for their respective replacements. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph was named as a candidate to take on the HC role in the event Kingsbury was let go, despite the team’s struggles on that side of the ball during his time in Arizona. In any event, Kingsbury will head into the 2023 coaching market with uncertain prospects given his inability to close out seasons across the previous two years, as well as the disastrous performance of his team in 2022. Keim’s future is likewise in the air considering his health status and underwhelming track record at the head of the team’s front office.
I can see if O’Brian doesn’t come back to NE as OC I think Kingsbury could be the next best option if not OC then QB coach he also has ties to NE
he should go back to college.
better fit for ncaa
Because of his sexiness?
This is the best day in Cardinals history.
Behind drafting Josh Rosen!?
The man was supposed to be a creative offensive mind in the mold of McVay. Instead, he ran a predictable scheme that entirely relied on asking Murray to go out and make something happened. It’s not his fault the team invested too little in the line and kept drafting weird projects, but for a guy who was solely an offense guy, he comes off four years on the job having left no sense that he’s particularly good at… well, anything. This and Keim are both overdue.
Also, apparently Kingsbury’s contract is guaranteed through 2026. What a ludicrous decision that was at the time. This one ain’t just hindsight.
And Houston sacked Lovie Smith after 1 year of a 4-year contract.
More than one team can be a disaster. But these are different kinds of bad. Smith was a frantic hire in a job no one good wanted after they realized they couldn’t hire McCown. He was a lame duck from the jump. Kingsbury had already been mediocre on the job for several years, and they gave him a 5-year extension at reportedly much more money.
I don’t pretend to know much about the NFL but those off-season extensions were a head scratcher…KM looks like a guy that might be out of the league in a few years.
Given his performance when healthy last year and the nature of the QB position right now, both in contract size and how many teams need one, Murray was going to get paid serious money. He hasn’t had good protection or good offensive scheming, not that he’s done enough to earn much faith either. Looking back, it’s almost like they would have been better off being bad last season so they’d avoid those extensions and trade Murray. Murray might be better off then too.
KM will regret not sticking with professional baseball. Even if he wasn’t an all star he’d have had a much longer less punishing career.
I guess it’s possible, but the guy’s 25 and even if things go terribly from here on out, he’s going to clear over $130 million in his career.
You would think that front office’s would know better and wait a few seasons before going the long contract extension routes with coaches. The league always adjusts, no matter the wrinkle or angle
Just a couple years ago, this guy and McVay were the toasts of the league
That’s the thing, though. They did wait a few seasons, and mistook last season’s record for a sign that Kingsbury was actually a very good coach. I don’t know why they had to give him that long an extension. I don’t think Kingsbury was ever the toast of the league so much as he was vaguely associated with McVay when McVay had such a strong halo effect that it seemed like anybody who’d ever shaken his hand was getting a big job.
I am confused we are talking about the Arizona Cardinals correct? If so who in their right mind thought this was a playoff team? They had the chance LA was just god awful bad Seattle was better than anyone thought but still not great.
If Kingsbury was half decent he could have made the playoffs. Last year I could tell he was not a great coach. They needed a winning year for him to even be avg. Another screw up by the FO.
They were 7-0 last year before the game in which Murray and Watt got hurt. Now, most people would have told you that they had some luck in that stretch, that Joseph was overachieving with the defensive talent, that guys like AJ Green and Rodney Hudson could fall off a cliff at any time, and that Murray and especially Watt weren’t good bets to suddenly be healthy for 17 games. A foolish optimist would say “If Murray and Watt stay healthy and everything else goes the same, we’re a contender.” We know which mindset was in charge.
tiredolddude To be fair to McVay, management really went all in for that Super Bowl last year, which they succeeded with under McVay.
Should have stayed at USC.
Kingsbury never coached the Trojans — he was HC of Texas Tech for 6 years before going to the Football Cardinals.
He was going to be the OC, before the hired their current HC.
He was hired to be OC at USC, then resigned before he ever coached a season because NFL teams were sniffing around him and USC wouldn’t let him interview to leave a job he’d just taken.
You’re right, he never coached for USC… but they were his last employer before he was hired by Arizona.
he’ll be a top candidate for a lot of these colleges if he wants
I’d go into media and collect 2 checks. One from the networks and another from the Cards.
Predictable but glad it finally happened. If Bill O’Brien didn’t gift us Hopkins Keim would’ve been long gone by now. Definitely been too long with an overrated coach and mediocre roster
Bill O’Brien is such a loser. That guy should never have any roster decisions on him.
Black Monday off to a rocking start. Basically giving Goodell the middle finger. Awesome.
Supposing that Goodell knows sign language. He’s not good with “the writin'” on the wall.
It’s not giving Goodell the middle finger so much as providing another data point to the message that teams waste a huge amount of money on hirings and firings they don’t think through. It ain’t coming out of Goodell’s check.
Not surprising, Bidwell does not have a good track record when it comes to hiring HC’s or GM’s. Rumor is that he is going to select Vance Joseph, all I can say here we go again, he has an 11-21 record as a HC. Right now he has two former Cardinal Players as GM. Bidwell does not believe in signing HC’s that have had success in the past, so I have doubt’s he will go after Sean Payton. But if he did I say trade Murray and a 3rd round draft choice to Saints as Compensation if you have to.
I’m not saying he’s the guy I’d want to hire for a HC job, but Joseph hasn’t exactly been dealt great hands. When he was a head coach, his QB options were Trevor Siemian and Case Keenum. He’s also done some good work in Arizona considering the gaping holes in the defensive roster. Again, probably would prefer to not have him above DC level, but he hasn’t exactly been put in positions to succeed.
And somewhere Kyler Murray is drinking champagne knowing he won the power struggle.
Now he has no more excuses.put up or shut up.
Yeah, hopefully he gets a GM who even attempts to build an offensive line and a coach who has any ideas at all.
I read somewhere recently the amount of draft picks & FA’s they used on WR’s. Other than Hopkins not much on returns!
Nope. I like Rondale Moore as a prospect, and think a more creative coach would use him much differently, but injuries aren’t helping either. The trade for Brown was way too rich, and the AJ Green signing never made sense. Same with the tight end room. Re-signing Ertz and also drafting McBride is just bizarre asset allocation. They spend so much on pass catchers, then have an offensive line mostly made of other team’s busts.
Kyler is probably drinking champagne today. The funny part is Kingsbury did nothing but go to bat for that guy. We’ll see if the champagne keeps flowing when Murray is further exposed, and everyone realizes this dude isn’t an NFL QB.
If I’m Kliff, life is great right now. I got my money AND I no longer have to deal with my overrated, crybaby QB. Win-win.
Kingsbury only got and kept the job because he shares an agent with Murray. Kingsbury did nothing on the field to put Murray in a position to succeed. Murray is definitely a flawed QB, but I can point out things he’s actually good at. I can’t say the same for Kingsbury.
I guess that a new coach and GM are in the Cards for Arizona?
… don’t bother, I already booed myself.
Amusing if they promote Vance Jospeh given the guy flamed out as a head coach before. Bucs decided to do something similar with previous flame out Bowles and look at how underwhelming their season was, only making the playoffs because they played in a horrible division.
Head coaching quality in this league is about on par with QB quality, meaning it is very mediocre with only a few guys who are truly elite coaches that can have more than one or two good seasons before sucking.
There are only 4 quality coaches in this league who know what they’re doing..:Bellicheck, Tomlin, Reid and Carroll…rest are just retreads who are hanging on by their fingernails
Jay, you’re joking, right? Harbaugh, McDermott and Shanahan know what they’re doing, and that’s just off the top of my head. How can you seriously say they don’t while simultaneously banging the drum for a guy who decided having a DC call plays for the offense was a great idea? I know as much about offensive play calling as Matt Patricia, and that ain’t a lot.
That’s a bit harsh Jay, but I like your list.
McVay could have been a good coach, had he shown some patience and not burned out the Rams next five to seven years by sacrificing all their draft picks for win now. Young Shanahan has been steady in San Francisco. Robert Saleh will probably turn out well, given a bit more time. Making the Jets competitive is in itself miraculous.
Bowles seemed to succeed as a DC here in AZ…flamed out as a HC with the Jets. Somewhat underwhelming as TB HC this year also.
Not surprised to see Kingsbury let go as he was horrible this year. With the offensive tools he had available he reached his level of ineptitude in failing miserably this year. I unfortunately drafted Murray as my fantasy football QB and Connors as my RB2 and this decision cost me several games due to Kingsbury poor decisions.
Not saying fantasy football should have a bearing on a NFL coaches job but it did give me perspective as to how these coaches coach and Kingsbury did not seem to know what he was doing. Brandon Staley of the LA Chargers is another coach who I wonder how he keeps his job, but that’s a story for another day….
I think there are some quality other coaches you didn’t mention. Harbaugh and McVay have won Super Bowls, Rivera took Carolina to a Super Bowl. McDermott may win one this year.. Shanahan may win one this year. Siriani is in second season and done a fantastic job. OConnell has done a great job in his first season..
Harbaugh looks like a misguided genius doubling down on foolish this year. What did he think would happen with his QB option system? Harbaugh has three lame horses and no Super Bowl or even a playoff win in sight.
Rinse and repeat unless Harbaugh can play his second-string QB through games 1 to 10 and only put Jackson back in to play from game 11. Jackson will only become more fragile with years. Replacing his unique talent will be very difficult. Harbaugh’s innovative offense is doomed to eternal late season failure.
One of, if not, the worst coach in the league. Constantly overmatched. He couldn’t draw up a route tree for D-Hop if he tried. Top 5 wideout and all he runs is out routes. Truly one of the most overhypes, over compensated coaches we will EVER see. Stick to college, the big leagues are too complex for you Kliff.
Will this be in the season finale of Hard Knocks?
I’m not sure what Bidwill will do but from talking to people I think he wants somebody who he can work with, who he can develop, I think this is going to be open to everybody. I’ve heard defensive, coach, I’ve heard they’re interested in Don Martindale, in Vance Joseph who’s on the staff who’s well-respect in the building. I think it’s a complete mess. They have no alignment. Everybody’s kind of scattered nobody really knows. And the way Keim operated that organization because of his relationship with the owner made it very difficult and nobody’s accountable. When you go ahead and give in to the ransom letter that they gave in to Kyler Murray and you allow him to become what he has become and he’s your signature player I don’t know how you get it back in order.
The Giants are going to reject any approach for Martindale, whether from Arizona or another club.
Adam Schefter of ESPN is usually an ass-kisser but offered this telling factoid: The Football Cardinals have been around for over 100 years, yet they have never had a head coach last more than 6 seasons.
The last episode of Hard Knocks could be interesting or like the rest of the series on the Cards, very boring. My bet is on the second.
Kingsbury is laughing all the way to the bank.
Right! What a deal!
Kingbury was a more-a-less an NFL quarterbacks coach and Keim must’ve had an office outburst so bad it was tantamount to driving a fax machine up a tree.
Unless Murray set blazes to the NFL one or both of them was bound to enter into the QB’s timing up or down.
Arizona isn’t unsolvable though, they could turn things around with similar shifts the Broncos and Colts need to make on coaching and offense.
Not sure Kingsbury would not have recovered over time. He’s young enough that throwing him off the end of plank might turn out to be a colossal mistake. When young, Belichek was fired too.
For now Kingsbury has a lot of learning still to do. Someone will probably offer him an OC job shortly based on the good run with Murray last year.
Yeah, he’s not that bad a coach, but his premise of reputation is tied to Murray. As biased as teams are I think he’ll be lucky if he doesn’t end up back in college.
You’re right though, he’s young and I think he has promise but the way he entered the league puts his lateral prowess as a HC or even an OC in question.
If I were Vance Joseph, i’d be wary of ending up as another head coach that gets fired after one year. Their 2023 roster will be minus J.J. Watt and Deandre Hopkins, plus Kyler rehabbing from his knee injury. It won’t matter if he gets a four or five year deal if they finish 4-13.
It was the hat.