Monte Kiffin, longtime DC who helped revolutionize defensive football, dies at 84

OXFORD, Miss. ― Monte Kiffin, a longtime college and NFL coach and the father of Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin, died Thursday at the age of 84, the Rebels announced.

Monte Kiffin spent his final years working for his son in Oxford, most recently as an analyst. He first began coaching football in 1966 at his alma mater, Nebraska. Kiffin became one of the game's most respected defensive minds, working at nine universities and for seven NFL organizations over the course of his career.

He found his greatest success with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Running the famous and widely imitated "Tampa 2" defense, Kiffin helped the Buccaneers win Super Bowl 37 as the team's defensive coordinator. The Bucs were the league's top defense that season — one of the best ever — allowing just 12.3 points per game on the way to the title.

The organization inducted Kiffin, who served as the Bucs' DC from 1996-2008, into its Ring of Honor in 2021.

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“It’s not just he succeeded with the talent, but I think the talent succeeded mostly because of him,” Hall of Fame defensive back Ronde Barber told the Tampa Bay Times in 2021. “Certainly, that was the case for me. I give all my credit to him for putting me in positions to have the career I had. And it wasn’t as if Monte was doing genius, revolutionary things. It was the way he approached coaching us with this attitude that if we all just did our job, the simple things, we’ll succeed."

When Lane got his first head coaching job at Tennessee in 2009, Monte joined his staff, doing the same at USC, Florida Atlantic and eventually Ole Miss.

Lane has often said he strives to adhere to his father's principles.

"I try to be more like him every year," he said last year. "I think he’s an amazing person when it comes to relationships with the other coaches and players and developing them off the field. I just know all of the former players that I know, the way that they talk about him.

"He’s left a legacy and touched a lot of people, so I really try to work on that and I’ve got a long way to go.”

Monte Kiffin is survived by his wife, Robin, and his children, Heidi, Chris and Lane.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.