Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury Refuses To Deny He Has Interest In Oklahoma Job

There’s no way Kliff Kingsbury would leave the Arizona Cardinals to coach at Oklahoma, right?

Never say never.

On Monday, the Cardinals head coach spoke for the first time since the report got out that the Sooners were interested in hiring him to replace Lincoln Riley and while he says he’s focused on the Cardinals, Kliff didn’t exactly shoot down any interest in potential returning to college:

#Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury refuses to deny he has interest in the Oklahoma job.

"I don't get into those things. My sole focus the last couple of weeks has been the Bears."

When asked again said: "We're in-season, we're 9-and-2, just not a topic I want to touch right now."

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 29, 2021

Here’s the full clip:

Kliff Kingsbury did his best pivot when asked about Oklahoma HC rumors, but that still doesn't mean there's mutual interest.

🎙 : https://t.co/1u6n019JXN
📺 : https://t.co/SRv4DJL1aS pic.twitter.com/3odq2uuq25

— PHNX Cardinals (@PHNX_Cardinals) November 29, 2021

By comparison, here’s what Mike Tomlin said when his name was mentioned for the USC head coaching job:

Steelers HC Mike Tomlin denies he'd leave Pittsburgh for the open USC football job:

“That's a joke to me. I got one of the best jobs in all of professional sport. … There's not a booster with a big enough blank check"

(via @steelers) pic.twitter.com/Hv4mmvzJag

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 26, 2021

Now, obviously this doesn’t mean Kliff could leave Arizona and he may very well be using the interest from Oklahoma as leverage for a new contract from the Arizona Cardinals – Kliff has one-year remaining on his deal.

Nonetheless, until Kliff shoots down this news or Oklahoma hires a new head coach, this will continue to be a topic of discussion.