Coaching great Monte Kiffin dies at 84

Monte Kiffin, one of the most influential defensive coaches in football history, died Thursday, Ole Miss announced. He was 84 years old.

The university said Kiffin was surrounded by family and friends at the time of his death in Oxford. His cause of death was not provided.

Kiffin's son, Lane, currently the head coach of Ole Miss football, posted two pictures with his father on social media earlier Thursday, calling him "my hero."

From 1966-2023, Kiffin enjoyed a career that saw him work for eight different NFL teams and seven different college teams, often spearheading their defense. In the NFL, he was defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys and, most notably, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It was in his 12-year tenure at Tampa Bay where Kiffin and Tony Dungy created the famed "Tampa 2" defense, which would go on to become one of the most imitated defenses of a generation. It certainly paid dividends for the Buccaneers, who won Super Bowl XXXVII over the Raiders with Kiffin coaching the defense under Jon Gruden.

Kiffin's career began as a graduate assistant at Nebraska under Bob Devaney, then he got promoted to defensive coordinator in 1969. He was part of the Cornhuskers' back-to-back undefeated national championship teams in 1970 and 1971, and was promoted to defensive coordinator when Tom Osborne took over as head coach in 1973.

Kiffin tried a head coaching job only once in his career, accruing a 16-17 record in three seasons with NC State from 1980-82 before moving to the NFL, where he found continuous employment for more than two decades.

Kiffin returned to the college ranks when Lane took over at Tennessee and hired his father as defensive coordinator. That tenure infamously lasted only a year, as Lane jumped to USC the next offseason and took Monte with him as an assistant head coach. They also worked together with Monte in smaller roles at Florida Atlantic and Ole Miss.