Sean McVay Discusses Kliff Kingsbury Hiring

The Los Angeles Rams made a notable addition to their coaching staff behind Sean McVay, bringing in former head coach and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury as lead assistant. Kingsbury, similar to McVay, had a rapid ascension to the top of the coaching world. He was hired as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals in 2019, directly from college as the head coach of Texas Tech.

He spent four seasons as the Cardinals’ head coach, leading Kyler Murray and company to a 28-37-1 record that included one postseason appearance in 2021, where they lost to McVay’s Rams in the Wild Card round. He returned to college after being fired to be an offensive analyst for Lincoln Riley at USC before being hired as the offensive coordinator for Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders.

Now, he joins the Rams after two seasons in Washington, one that went better than anyone expected — the NFC Championship Game with a rookie quarterback — and one that failed to live up to expectations. McVay spoke about why he wanted to bring Kingsbury in, according to Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:

“Great overseer of a lot of things offensively,” McVay said Tuesday. “I think the biggest thing will be that collaboration of understanding some of the successful things he’s done, some of the things we’ve done, and then the holistic approach, I mean, you got a couple guys on this staff now that have been head coaches, understand the different roles and responsibilities, and there’s an empathy, and there’s an understanding that exists. And Kliff and I have always been really good friends. I’ve always known the work capacity he has. I’ve always really respected what he’s done from afar. But what’s intriguing to me about is it’s very different than what we’ve done. And just because it’s different doesn’t mean that it can’t be better. And so there might be some times for us to be able to figure out where does that fit, but I think most importantly, he’ll be basically there as somebody I can lean on in a lot of the different things that come up in this chair are really just big picture, and that’s where he’ll be a tremendously valuable person for our staff.”

McVay added that people and media in L.A. will grow to love him once they spend some time seeing him, the same way he did.

“When you guys (media) get to know him, he’s just got a great humility, a great way about himself, and just wants to come in and learn and contribute. And that’s how I feel about him as well,” McVay said. “Just want to learn and continue to grow with him.”

McVay has always had a strong coaching staff around him that includes head-coach caliber people. Kingsbury is no different. It’s unlikely he’s in L.A. for the long haul, as he’ll likely want and get another chance as a head coach someday. But for now, he brings a decent track record of success with him to McVay’s staff.

Sean McVay explains parting with Aubrey Pleasant

Prior to Kingsbury, Pleasant was McVay’s assistant head coach. But he was not brought back this offseason, and McVay explained that it was a mutual decision between he and Pleasant after many conversations.