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Michael Bidwill says Kliff Kingsbury resigned from USC to become the Arizona Cardinals head coach

Kliff Kingsbury talks about leaving USC after one month for the Cardinals head coaching job. Arizona Republic

To become a head coach in the NFL, Kliff Kingsbury had to first break through one line of defense: the University of Southern California.

Kingsbury held the title of Trojans' offensive coordinator for about a month before NFL teams started reaching out to him for head coach vacancies. The school initially blocked Kingsbury from interviewing with NFL teams, according to ESPN.

While Wednesday's introductory news conference mostly focused on the future and how Kingsbury hopes to turn around the 3-13 Cardinals, President Michael Bidwill gave more insight as to how to the hire came to be.