You’ve probably heard the name Kubiak and immediately thought of the Denver Broncos, wide-zone runs, and Super Bowl 50. It makes sense. But focusing only on the family tree misses the reality of what Klint Kubiak has actually been doing for the last decade. Honestly, he’s spent his career bouncing between being the "next big thing" and the guy fans blame when a red zone drive stalls.
It hasn't been a straight line.
Klint Kubiak coaching history is a weird, winding road through college towns like College Station and Lawrence, into the pressure cooker of Mike Zimmer’s Minnesota, and eventually into the modern "Shanahan-style" lab in San Francisco. By the time he landed the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator job in early 2025, he had become one of the most interviewed head coaching candidates in the league. People are finally realizing he’s not just Gary's son. He’s a legitimate architect of modern offense.
The Early Days: Grinding in College Station and Lawrence
Before he was calling plays on Sundays, Klint was a safety at Colorado State. He wasn't a star, but he was a captain. That matters because it’s where the "coach’s kid" trope usually starts—not with a clipboard, but with a guy who just knows where everyone is supposed to be on the field.
His coaching career started at Texas A&M in 2010. He was an offensive quality control coach. Basically, he was the guy doing the grunt work that nobody else wanted to do. He spent three years there, eventually becoming a graduate assistant and working with inside receivers. Then, a quick jump to the NFL for a couple of years with the Vikings (his first of three stints there) before heading back to college at the University of Kansas in 2015.
Kansas was a tough spot. They weren't winning games. But Kubiak was coaching wide receivers, trying to find ways to make a struggling offense move the chains. It wasn't glamorous. Honestly, most people forget he even coached at Kansas. It’s a footnote now, but it was the last time he wasn't under the massive shadow of his father’s NFL legacy.
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Learning the Family Business in Denver
In 2016, the Denver Broncos hired Klint as an offensive assistant. This is where the narrative usually gets messy because Gary Kubiak was the head coach. Nepotism? Sure, it’s a fair question. But Klint wasn't just sitting in the back of the room. By 2017, when Bill Musgrave was promoted to OC, Klint actually took over the quarterback room for the final stretch of the season.
He helped Case Keenum put up some of the best numbers of his career in 2018. Keenum threw for nearly 3,900 yards that year. For a team that has struggled to find a post-Peyton Manning identity, that season was actually a bright spot. Klint was learning how to marry the old-school West Coast concepts his dad perfected with the quicker, more vertical elements starting to take over the league.
The Minnesota Rollercoaster
When Klint went back to the Minnesota Vikings in 2019, he was the quarterbacks coach under Kevin Stefanski. This is where he really started to click with Kirk Cousins. People have a lot of opinions about Cousins, but look at the numbers. Under Klint’s tutelage in 2019 and 2020, Cousins was top-five in passer rating and touchdowns.
Then came 2021. Gary Kubiak retired, and Klint was promoted to offensive coordinator.
It was a polarizing year. The Vikings finished 12th in total offense, and Justin Jefferson was essentially becoming a superstar before our eyes. But the team was 8-9. Mike Zimmer was a defensive-minded coach who wanted to run the ball and play field position. Klint wanted to be more aggressive. You could feel the tension in the play-calling. One week they’d look like the greatest show on turf; the next, they’d go three-and-out four times in a row.
When Zimmer was fired, Klint was out too. He headed back to Denver for a year as the passing game coordinator under Nathaniel Hackett. That 2022 Broncos season was, frankly, a disaster for everyone involved. But even in that mess, Hackett eventually handed the play-calling duties to Klint in November. It was a "save what you can" move, and while the season didn't end in a playoff berth, it kept Klint’s name on the short list for offensive-minded teams.
The San Francisco Pivot and the Saints Spark
If you want to know why Klint Kubiak is suddenly the hottest name in coaching, look at 2023. He joined Kyle Shanahan’s staff in San Francisco as the passing game coordinator. It was like a masterclass. He was in the room with Shanahan, helping Brock Purdy lead the NFL in passer rating (113.0) and yards per attempt.
That one year in San Francisco changed everything. It "validated" him.
The New Orleans Saints hired him in 2024 to replace Pete Carmichael Jr., who had been there for ages. The start of that season was legendary. The Saints dropped 47 points on the Panthers and 44 on the Cowboys. People were losing their minds. "The Kubiak Offense" was finally here. Of course, injuries eventually decimated that roster, and the Saints' season tailed off, but the first six weeks showed a version of football New Orleans hadn't seen since the peak Drew Brees era.
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The Current Chapter: Seattle and Beyond
Now, it’s 2026. Klint is the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, and he’s coming off a 2025 season where he led the NFC’s top seed to the third-ranked scoring attack in the league.
What makes his history unique isn't just the names on his resume; it's the balance. He’s running an offense that had 507 rush attempts and 508 passing attempts last season. That is almost impossible to do in the modern NFL. Most guys lean too hard one way or the other.
The Miami Dolphins, Raiders, and Giants have all been calling. He’s no longer just "Gary’s kid" or "the guy from the Vikings." He’s a coach who has survived the college ranks, the "nepotism" labels, and the pressure of calling plays for struggling franchises to become a genuine innovator.
Why Klint Kubiak's History Actually Matters for Your Team
If you’re a fan of a team looking for a new coach, Klint’s history tells you three things:
- He’s Quarterback-Friendly: Whether it was Cousins, Keenum, Purdy, or Geno Smith, his quarterbacks almost always play better than their career averages under him.
- He Adapts to Chaos: He’s coached through head coaching firings in Minnesota and Denver and survived the transition of power in New Orleans.
- He Values Balance: He won't just abandon the run game when things get tough. He uses the outside zone to set up the play-action, which is the "bread and butter" of the NFL right now.
The next step for Klint is almost certainly a head coaching job. If you want to keep track of where he’s headed, watch the coaching carousels in January 2026. His name is at the top of the list for a reason. You should look at his specific usage of "12" and "21" personnel (two-tight end or two-back sets) to see how he manipulates modern defenses—it's the signature move that has defined his last three stops.