More than a week after speculation first surfaced, Clay Helton officially has his man.
USC confirmed Wednesday afternoon that Kliff Kingsbury has been hired as the Trojans’ next offensive coordinator. In addition to his coordinating duties, Kingsbury will also serve as quarterbacks coach.
Kingsbury’s hiring comes a little less than 10 days after he was fired as Texas Tech’s head coach.
OFFICIAL: Kliff Kingsbury is USC’s new offensive coordinator! #FightOn pic.twitter.com/ydZLqDbOpz
— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) December 5, 2018
The 39-year-old Kingsbury was the Red Raiders’ head coach for seven years from 2012 through this season. Prior to that, he was the coordinator at a pair of different FBS programs for a total of three seasons — Texas A&M (2012) and Houston (2010-11).
Kingsbury will be replacing Tee Martin, one of four assistants who, involuntarily or voluntarily, left Helton‘s staff shortly after the end of the regular season. Martin had previously had his playcalling duties stripped by Helton earlier on this season.
This past season, the Trojans were 11th in the Pac-12 and tied for 84th nationally in yards per game (383) and 10th in the conference and 92nd in the nation in scoring offense (26.1 ppg).