USC makes official Kingsbury hiring as OC

Following more than a week of speculation, USC head coach Clay Helton on Wednesday officially announced the hiring of Kliff Kingsbury as the Trojans' offensive coordinator. Kingsbury, who was fired as head coach at Texas Tech recently, also will be quarterbacks coach at USC. "We are very excited to welcome Kliff to the Trojan Family," Helton said. "He is a brilliant offensive mind and is on the cutting edge of the game today. His offenses have consistently been at the top of the college football statistical rankings. With the talent on our team, along with his leadership and coaching, I truly believe that we can take our offense to new heights." The 39-year-old Kingsbury was head coach at Texas Tech for the last seven seasons after serving as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M in 2012 and at Houston in 2010-11. Kingsbury will replace Tee Martin, one of four assistant coaches who have left the USC program since the end of the regular season. Helton stripped Martin of his play-calling duties earlier in the season. The Trojans ranked 11th in the Pacific 12 Conference and tied for 84th nationally at 383 yards per game this season, in addition to being 10th in the Pac-12 and 92nd in the nation in scoring offense at 26.1 points per game.