Longtime NFL Assistant Coach And Defensive Mastermind Monte Kiffin Dies At Age 84

TAMPA, Florida – Monte Kiffin, a longtime NFL and college assistant coach whose Tampa Bay defenses were consistently ranked among the league’s best, died Thursday. He was 84.

Kiffin, one of the creators of the super successful Tampa 2 defensive strategy, spent 13 seasons as the Bucs’ defensive coordinator from 1996 to 2008 under head coaches Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden, during which time he helped the organization earn its first of two Super Bowl wins.

Monte Kiffin | AP News Image

Longtime NFL Assistant Coach And Defensive Mastermind Monte Kiffin Dies At Age 84

The University of Mississippi football team reported on the social media site X that Kiffin, the former head coach at North Carolina State, died surrounded by family and friends in Oxford, Mississippi, where Kiffin’s son, Lane, coaches the Rebels.

“As a coach, Monte was a true innovator who got the best out of his players and helped create one of the signature defenses of the early 2000s,” the Glazer family, which owns the Bucs and put Kiffin into the team’s Ring of Honor three years ago, said in a statement.

“His passionate and energetic leadership style resonated with all his players, and he was instrumental in our first Super Bowl win and the success of Hall of Famers such as Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Ronde Barber,” reported the Glazers. “Off the field, Monte was nice, sincere, gracious, and always had a good outlook. He was tremendously special to both the Buccaneers and our family.

Sapp was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1999, and Brooks won the award in 2002, when Tampa Bay had the league’s best defense and destroyed the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl.

During his time with the Bucs, the defense led the NFL in fewest points allowed per game (17.5), was second in takeaways (293) and yards allowed per game (286.8), third in interceptions (249), and tenth in sacks (503).

The 2002 Bucs defense, led by Brooks, Sapp, Lynch, Barber, and Simeon Rice, became the first unit since the 1985 Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears to lead the league in fewest points allowed (196), yards allowed per game (252.8), and interceptions (31) in the same season.

Monte Kiffin | AP News Image

Longtime NFL Assistant Coach And Defensive Mastermind Monte Kiffin Dies At Age 84

From Lexington, Nebraska, Kiffin played tackle at the University of Nebraska and worked as a defensive assistant under Bob Devaney on the Cornhuskers’ undefeated national championship teams in 1970 and 1971.

Kiffin spent over five decades working at Arkansas and as an NFL assistant with the Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, and Dallas Cowboys.

After leaving the Bucs, he primarily worked for his son Lane during college trips to Tennessee, Southern California, Florida Atlantic, and Mississippi.

SOURCE | AP