Stephen A. Smith is less than psyched about the Arizona Cardinals’ hiring of Kliff Kingsbury.
The ESPN analyst said on his radio show Wednesday the former Texas Tech head coach looks like he “belongs on ‘The Bachelor’ more than he belongs on the sidelines.”
Smith’s criticism was far from done there.
“Did I miss something? Was Kingsbury’s team the one that won a national championship this Monday instead of Dabo Sweeney’s?” Smith griped. “Am I missing something? I don’t understand. Is this guy some golden boy that I missed? Was this guy the hot ticket everyone should be clamoring for?”
The Cardinals brought Kingsbury on a month after he took the offensive coordinator job at USC following a six-year tenure leading the Red Raiders. His time in Lubbock, Texas, ended with three consecutive losing seasons. He was 35-40 overall.
“The man didn’t even have a .500 record at Texas Tech. He got an offensive coordinator’s job at USC and before he had a chance to take a leak, this brother’s got a head coaching job in the National Football League,” Smith said. “How much time did he even spend at USC? A week? And this guy is some candidate that you’re clamoring for? Okay, okay, he’s photogenic. The ladies will love Mr. Kingsbury. Let’s stop the presses right now. … In my personal opinion it looks like he belongs on ‘The Bachelor.’ Here’s the problem, he looks like he belongs on ‘The Bachelor’ more than he belongs on the sideline as a head coach for a National Football League team. You got to be kidding me!”
The Cardinals took to Twitter in defense of their coach, calling out Smith’s on-air gaffe regarding Los Angeles Chargers tight end Hunter Henry in an ESPN segment last month.
We thought you would be in a good mood since the Chargers activated Hunter Henry this week. https://t.co/lkVzzDwEa2
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) January 9, 2019
Smith clapped back with hilarious vengeance.
You found a scapegoat in your coach, hid the real culprits and now trying to sell everyone on a sub .500 coach who should be on The Bachelor. No matter! Wishing you the best of luck. Certainly not rooting against Mr. Kingsbury. But I WILL be watching!
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) January 10, 2019
Any burn that involves ‘moribund’ is bound to leave a mark.
Looks aside, Kingsbury has a lot of work to do on a Cardinals team that finished at the bottom of the barrel with a 3-13 record.
