Kliff Kingsbury Got First Coaching Job as an Assistant for Patriots, Bill Belichick
Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury caught a tough break in 2003 when he landed on Injured Reserve in his rookie season with the Patriots. The former sixth-round pick was subsequently cut from New England in August 2004, but according to The MMQB's Albert Breer, the end of Kingsbury's career jumpstarted his foray into the coaching ranks.
Kingsbury became New England's de-facto quality control coach on offense upon joining the IR in 2003 and helped Charlie Weis and the rest of New England's offensive staff in game planning for each week's opponent.
“I was in there grinding with the coaches,” Kingsbury told Breer. “And that was basically the role that I served in, helping with breakdowns, printing things out, helping offensively any way they could use me under Charlie Weis and some really good coaches.”
Kingsbury's playing career was clearly cut short, but he made a clear impression on New England's coaches in his role off the gridiron.
“When players go into coaching, they’re almost surprised by how hard the coaches work," Weis told Breer. "They’re surprised what they get paid, too, in a negative way. Work never fazed Kliff.”
Kingsbury took his lessons from New England to his first coaching job as an offensive assistant at Houston from 2008-09. He then served as the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M in 2012 before serving six years as the head coach at Texas Tech from 2013-18.
The Cardinals hired Kingsbury as their head coach in January. Kingsbury now has a long road to match Belichick, who enters 2019 with 225 regular-season wins and six Super Bowls with the Patriots.
