Kliff Timothy Kingsbury (born August 9, 1979) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the assistant head coach for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, finishing in the top three in several school passing records before being selected in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL draft by the New England Patriots. Kingsbury was a member of several other NFL and CFL teams before entering coaching in 2008.
Kingsbury was the offensive coordinator of the 2011 Houston Cougars that led the NCAA in nearly all offensive statistics that season, averaging 50 points and nearly 600 yards per game. He was later the head coach of Texas Tech (2013–2018) and the Arizona Cardinals (2019–2022). Kingsbury has been cited for his work in developing quarterbacks Case Keenum, Johnny Manziel, Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, Caleb Williams, and Jayden Daniels.
Kingsbury was born on August 9, 1979, in San Antonio, Texas. Kingsbury played football at New Braunfels High School, where his father was head coach. Kingsbury also was a member of the baseball, basketball, and track teams. As a quarterback at New Braunfels, Kingsbury threw for 3,009 yards and 34 touchdowns while leading the team to the Class 5A Division II semifinals and a 13–2 record. He was named the offensive MVP in the Texas High School Coaches All-Star Game. Kingsbury graduated 3rd in his class of 450, and was an Academic All-State selection. Kingsbury was inducted into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
Kingsbury played 43 games at quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders from 1998 to 2002, completing 1,229 of 1,881 passes for 12,423 yards with 95 touchdowns and 40 interceptions. Kingsbury set 39 school records, 13 Big 12 Conference records, and 7 NCAA FBS records.
In his redshirt freshman year in 1999, Kingsbury appeared in six games, starting the season finale against Oklahoma. He completed 25 of 57 passes for 492 yards, four touchdowns and an interception in his initial collegiate season. In 2000, he assumed the starting role and connected on 362 of 585 passes for 3,418 yards, 21 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He added two scores on 78 carries. His season ended with a loss to the East Carolina Pirates in the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, with a final score of 40–27. As a junior in 2001, Kingsbury was an All-District first-team selection and All-Big 12 Conference second-team pick by the league's coaches for his performance. He completed 365 of 528 passes for 3,502 yards, 25 touchdowns and only nine interceptions.
In 2002, Kingsbury averaged 350.2 yards per game, leading the nation with 5,017 passing yards and his 45 passing touchdowns, which nearly doubled his mark set during the 2001 season. As a senior, Kingsbury led Texas Tech to a 9–5 record, defeating Big 12 Conference rivals Texas, Texas A&M and Baylor, in addition to a 55-15 routing of the Clemson Tigers in the Tangerine Bowl.
Following the 2002 season, Kingsbury was awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy, annually presented to the nation's best college passer. He was additionally selected as a Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American and Player of the Year, a unanimous All-Big 12 Conference first-team selection, was named the Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year, and finished ninth in Heisman Trophy voting. These awards followed a season during which Kingsbury shattered his own school single-season records by completing 479 of 712 passes (67.3 percent) for 5,017 yards, 45 touchdowns and just 13 interceptions. He also added two rushing scores on 102 carries.
Kingsbury, along with Graham Harrell, are the only Texas Tech quarterbacks to have beaten both the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns during their careers as starters. Kingsbury led Tech to three bowl games in his three years as a starter, with a 24–16 overall record. In 2003, he held the NCAA records for career plays, career plays per game, single season and career passing attempts, single season and career passing completions, highest single game completion percentage, career lowest percentage of passes intercepted, and most single season and career games gaining 200 yards or more.
Kingsbury was only the third player in college football history to throw for over 10,000 yards, gain over 10,000 yards in total offense and complete over 1,000 passes in a career. He also became just the fourth player in college football to throw for over 3,000 yards three times during his career. Kingsbury was also an Academic All-Big 12 Conference choice following his sophomore campaign in 2000.
Kingsbury was selected by the New England Patriots in the sixth round (201st overall) of the 2003 NFL draft. He did not play in his rookie season of 2003, spending the year on the Patriots' injured reserve with an arm injury. However, Kingsbury got a Super Bowl ring after the team won Super Bowl XXXVIII. He was waived by the Patriots on September 6, 2004.
Kingsbury was signed by the New Orleans Saints to the team's practice squad, where he spent the entire 2004 season. Kingsbury went to training camp with the Saints that season and completed 10-of-21 passes for 139 yards with a long of 57 yards and two interceptions.
Kingsbury was signed to the Denver Broncos' practice squad on September 6, 2005. He was released on September 21.
Kingsbury signed with the New York Jets on September 28, 2005. He made his NFL debut on November 20, playing part of the fourth quarter for the Jets against the Broncos. Kingsbury completed one of two pass attempts, a 17-yard reception by Dante Ridgeway.
The Jets assigned Kingsbury to the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europe in 2006. He posted the top quarterback rating of any Cologne quarterback (73.7) while completing 58 of 102 passes for 633 yards and two touchdowns. He also led Cologne with a 56.9 completion percentage.
Kingsbury was waived by the Jets on May 30, 2006.
The Buffalo Bills signed Kingsbury in 2006 and he attended training camp with the Bills, but Kingsbury was cut before the regular season.
On March 30, 2007, Kingsbury signed with the Montreal Alouettes. He spent part of training camp in Montreal before being traded to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on June 20 in exchange for quarterback Brad Banks. Kingsbury was the third-string quarterback for the 2007 Blue Bombers season behind Kevin Glenn and Ryan Dinwiddie.
In August 2008, Kingsbury joined the Houston Cougars as a quality control coach. He received recognition for the performance of the Houston offense in 2009 with Case Keenum at the helm. Keenum finished his Houston career with multiple NCAA Division I passing records. With Holgorsen departing to become the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State University, Kingsbury was promoted co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Cougars alongside Jason Phillips. In 2011, Kingsbury served as playcaller of an offense that led the NCAA in nearly all offensive statistics, averaging 50 points and nearly 600 yards per game.