Texas Tech Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury Got Into Coaching To Avoid Paying Parking Tickets

Karl Karlson9 years ago

People get into coaching for any number of reasons. Maybe it’s out of love for the game and a desire to mold players into the leaders of tomorrow, or maybe it’s just to bang hot single moms and then bench their kids. Sorry, Darlene, but little Jethro can’t throw a block to save his life and your coochie doesn’t compare to the thrill of victory.

Then there are guys like Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who get into the job for all the wrong reasons but end up getting a lesson about respect, sportsmanship, and the power of teamwork. For Kingsbury, it was $1,500 in parking tickets that set him down the road to redemption.

From SB Nation:

While trying to get his schooling plans in order, Kingsbury called Texas Tech to ask about his transcripts. At that point he was told he had $1,500 in outstanding parking tickets and would need to pay the fines off to receive his transcript.

The story comes from Don Williams and his profile of Kingsbury in Lubbock Magazine:
Instead of paying the fines and pursuing his MBA, Kingsbury instead took a job on Dana Holgorsen’s staff while he was the head coach at Houston. A couple coaching moves later, Kingsbury is the head coach at Texas Tech and the rest is now history.

Here’s a tweet from writer Don Williams regarding his profile of Kingsbury.

“I’m not paying that,” is what they all say before finding out there are things more valuable than money. Kingsbury thought he was just playing the system, but the system ended up playing him. That MBA was just the signpost leading him to where he really belonged -– a 19-19 record over the past three years with the Red Raiders.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t notice the striking similarities between Kingsbury and the great Gordon Bombay. Sure, Kingsbury doesn’t even come close to matching Bombay’s absolutely incredible head of lettuce, but the rest is all there. A washed up former player set down a path he never wanted because of problems with the law. A shocking first year that included a big upset at the end of the season (Tech beat #14 Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl while the Ducks flew together and ran all over the Hawks in the championship). A rocky second edition that was only followed by a disappointing third entry. Throw a mediocre mom and a few spastic players into the mix and we’re looking at a total parallel. Jace Amaro always did remind me of Charlie Conway.

Sure, maybe life didn’t go the way Kliff wanted it to. There’s a lot of scratch that comes along with an MBA. Still, something tells me that everything Coach Kingsbury has learned along the way will be worth more in the long run. In the immortal words of Jeff Goldblum, “Life… uh… finds a way.” Godspeed, Kliff. Hopefully you’ve gotten as much from your players as they’ve gotten from you..

[via SB Nation]

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