With Commanders riding high, Kliff Kingsbury isn't thinking of revenge in Cardinals game

Kliff Kingsbury still owns “the house” – the exquisitely decorated home that went viral on social media during the 2020 NFL draft. Then the Arizona Cardinals head coach, Kingsbury admitted to being “extra.”

In that case, Sunday’s matchup between the Washington Commanders and the Cardinals is a homecoming-adjacent event for Kingsbury, who is in his fourth game as Washington’s offensive coordinator.

Coaches often live in perpetual motion. It’s the nature of the job. Nobody in the profession owns a resume like Kingsbury’s.

At 33, he became the head coach of Texas Tech – and that was after he was Johnny Manziel’s offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. He was fired there after the 2018 season – with the Aggies owning a losing record over his tenure – and was hired as the Cardinals’ head coach, with a weeks-long stint as USC’s offensive coordinator in between. Arizona fired him after a 4-13 mark in the 2022 season and, according to FOX Sports, Kingsbury retreated to Thailand. He returned stateside for a season actually spent on the Trojans’ coaching staff. Then it was back to the NFL as Dan Quinn’s play caller and a part of a reimagined and optimistic regime for Washington.

“Not at all,” Kingsbury, now 45, said when asked if there was any bitterness over how his time ended in Arizona. “I mean, that's why I still got my house here, man. I love it out here. So, I will always be grateful to (Arizona Cardinals owner) Michael (Bidwill) for giving that opportunity that he did. First fired college coach to ever get that opportunity.”

Coming off two straight wins and a "Monday Night Football" victory in which his unit posted 38 points, with Jayden Daniels starting his Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign in earnest, Kingsbury returns to Arizona looking to show he can call a legitimate offensive operation in the NFL

“The one major thing I try to do is make sure this was year one of the Commanders’ offense, not year five of the Arizona Cardinals,” Kingsbury said at his introductory news conference in February. “You want to start back with a real base install and then build it and grow it and go from there.”

Kingsbury also said he doesn’t approach his new role with something to prove.

“I do this because I enjoy the game,” he said. “I enjoy the players and the mentorship, and Sunday is that type of competitive situation. So, I've never got into to prove anybody wrong or right or anything like that.”

Kingsbury spent his first offseason back in the NFL doing something he’d already accomplished in the NFL – installing an offense with a rookie quarterback. Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was the No. 1 pick the year the organization hired Kingsbury, and Daniels was taken second overall in April.

“I don't think I've ever seen Kliff so happy,” said Commanders tight end Zach Ertz, who played under Kingsbury for a season and a half in Arizona. “He seems like he's refreshed every time he goes out on to the practice field. He is eager. He is excited to work with the quarterbacks every single day. He's putting (Daniels) through individual (drills) every single day.

“I truly believe that maybe that break from everything last year, and him able to get this job and work with (the quarterbacks) every day has really, almost I would say, rejuvenated him.

Kingsbury led the Cardinals to the playoffs in his third season, an 11-6 campaign that came on the heels of a .500 showing. It all came crashing down in 2022. Murray tore his ACL in December and hadn’t materialized into a MVP candidate despite flashes. Arizona ranked 21st in points scored, and the defense never sorted itself out. Kingsbury had to answer for it all with his job. He was 28-37-1 across four seasons.

With the dismissed coach's multi-million dollar contract guaranteed, FOX Sports reported Kingsbury bought a one-way ticket to Thailand, even as NFL teams sought to hire him as an offensive coordinator in the 2023 hiring cycle.

At USC, Kingsbury said he could play the role of “good cop” with the players as a senior offensive analyst. The step back allowed him to closely observe head coach Lincoln Riley, from the way he built relationships with players to picking up ideas for installation in his next offense. He called his time at USC a “perspective change,” adding that being around younger players rejuvenated him.

“I really try to get to the bottom of who they are as a person, who they are as a player and build it around them,” Kingsbury said in February.

Murray, meanwhile, returned from his ACL injury midway through last season and has begun the 2024 season in top form.

“It's been fun to watch him. The end of last year, I thought you could see the confidence getting back in the knee and he made a bunch of big plays, played really well, and he’s played great this season,” Kingsbury said. “(The Cardinals) are a couple plays away from being undefeated, so you see the speed, the quickness, the competitive nature is there. So, it's been, it's been great to see. He's a guy I basically banked my entire career on what he would be and I still believe in it, and it's cool to see him playing as well as he is."

Wide receiver Terry McLaurin calling a play for himself was a highlight of Monday’s victory. But Kingsbury actually hinted at his openness into letting players dial their own number during mandatory minicamp months ago.

“I think I learned a quote a while back, ‘good ideas know no rank,’” Kingsbury said. “And so, if you got a good idea, I want to hear it. It's not always going to go in and they know that, but I'm going to listen to it.

“If there's a better way to do it, I'm all about it.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kliff Kingsbury: Revenge against Cardinals not on Commanders OC's mind