Kliff Kingsbury turned down NFL, college jobs before leaving USC

Kliff Kingsbury turned down several NFL coordinator and college jobs before getting the NFL head coach offer he couldn’t turn down, according to his agent.

It may not ease the anger of USC football fans, but Kliff Kingsbury at least didn’t jump at the first job offer that came his way before being enticed away from the Trojans.

In fact, Kingsbury turned down quite a few opportunities during his brief time as USC’s offensive coordinator, according to his agent Erik Burkhardt, who appeared on the Comeback SZN podcast on Thursday.

“While with USC, KK turned down 7 NFL coordinator jobs and multiple lucrative college jobs including with CFP bound teams. The buyout existed if an opportunity came that he couldn’t turn down… like being an NFL head coach,” as tweeted by Kayce Smith of Barstool Sports.

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During the interview, Burkhardt pushed back against claims that Kingsbury, who left to join the Arizona Cardinals after 35 days on the job, hung USC out to dry, insisting on the transparency of the process between Kingsbury and NFL interest.

“From Day 1, I was overly communicative with the top people in their program and organization,” Burkhardt said. “That’s the way I want and that’s the way Kliff obviously wanted.

“But at the end of the day, I’ve got to do what’s best for my client and he’s got to do what’s best for his family and, frankly, that situation at SC, that’s what contracts are for.”

He called the NFL head coaching opportunity for Kingsbury “beyond a vertical move.”

Obviously, Burkhardt’s job is still to represent his client in the best possible light, but it’s interesting to hear just how many major opportunities Kingsbury waived off in order to join USC, including some from College Football Playoff-bound programs. The promise of autonomy from head coach Clay Helton when it came to running the offense was a big part of the draw for the Trojans.

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Interestingly, Burkhardt also dropped some hints when it comes to the murky waters of Kingsbury’s interview process.

CHECK OUT: Losing Kliff Kingsbury may be just what USC needed

Disagreement has reigned with multiple conflicting reports on whether or not USC blocked Kingsbury from interviewing with the New York Jets and Cardinals.

Reports from the NFL predated Kingsbury’s hiring while Brady McCullough of the LA Times tweeted reporting that Cardinals’ president Michael Bidwell said Kingsbury had to resign in order to proceed with his club.

USC media and others refuted that claim, saying the OC was never blocked and did not resign before taking the Arizona job.

Meanwhile, Jay Glazer wrote in his mailbag that USC may be “trying to deny it now but they were absolutely blocked.”

Burkhardt didn’t directly address those claims, but he did say something to support the idea that USC provided some resistance.

“We didn’t want to go through with what we had to do and it would have been a lot easier if things were handled in different ways,” Burkhardt said.

SEE ALSO: Embarrassment is USC’s specialty, Kingsbury saga proves

However it went down, the Kingsbury saga is finished, as far as USC is concerned. The Trojans can only look to the future and find a new offensive coordinator to take his place.