Kliff Kingsbury could have a hard time putting a staff together - NBC Sports

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Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury’s reported interest in hiring as his offensive coordinator the new head coach at Texas State University underscores one of the major challenges Kingsbury will be facing right out of the gates.

With no NFL coaching experience of any kind and, thus, a limited set of NFL contacts, how will Kingsbury put together an NFL coaching staff?

He’ll do it, apparently, by tapping into the network he has developed at the college level, with Jake Spavital the first in a list of names that would strike NFL coaches as something right out of the witness protection program.

The Cardinals, who were intent on hiring Kingsbury from the get-go (even though that was news to everyone including Kingsbury until recently), surely were aware of this complication. Perhaps Kingsbury will simply decide to keep some of Steve Wilks’ assistant coaches. Perhaps Kingsbury won’t have much of a choice.

Regardless, the success of any head coach hinges largely on the quality of his staff. And that could end up being an impediment for Kingsbury, since he’s at a clear disadvantage when it comes to tapping into a network that he simply doesn’t have.

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