
Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Times
The NFL and college football lost a great person this past week. Monte Kiffin has been in the game of football for 5o years and his son Lane is the head coach at the University of Mississippi or Ole Miss. The announcement came yesterday that his father had passed away. Monte was surrounded by his family and his grandson said he was free of pain and smiling down on us. One of the aspects that Kiffin invited with the help of Tony Dungy was the “Tampa 2” defense. This defense style helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win their first Super Bowl in 2002.
Monte Kiffin’s career started in 1966 as a graduate student at Nebraska. The head coaches for the Cornhuskers were Hall of Famers Tom Osborne and Bob Devaney. In just a short four years he got his first defensive coordinator position at Nebraska in 1970. He got his only head coaching job at NC State. He coached the Wolfpack from 1980 to 1982 where he went 16-17 in three seasons. In 1983 he moved to the NFL as a linebackers coach for the Green Bay Packers. Over the next few years, he was also linebackers coach for the Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, and New York Jets. Before moving to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator, he served as one for the Vikings and New Orleans Saints.

From 1996-2008 he was the defensive coordinator for Tony Dungy. They came up with the “Tampa 2” defense. The scheme is a 4-3 defensive alignment that consists of four defensive linemen, three linebackers, two cornerbacks, and two safeties. The scheme is like the Cover 2 except the middle linebacker drops in deep coverage during a passing play which is known to a Cover 3. This style of defense allowed the fewest points per game 17.5, ranking second in both yards allowed per game 286.8, and total takeaways with 293. Two of the biggest takeaways for the Buccaneers came from two Hall of Famers Derrick Brooks and Ronde Barber. Barber came in the 2002 NFC Championship when Tampa Bay finally defeated the Philadelphia Eagles. His interception closed Veterans Stadium where the Eagles played many games. Brooks came in the Super Bowl in the same year versus the Oakland Raiders.
The interception, many will say, put the nail in the coffin for the Raiders. This would be the first time the Bucs won a Super Bowl. At that time, Jon Gruden was the head coach after Tony Dungy was removed. There are many players who he impacted their careers like other Hall of Famers Warren Sapp and John Lynch. Many former players that he coached in Tampa Bay have come out and said he was more like an uncle or father figure for them during their playing days. Before his passing, he helped his son in college football. Lane coached at Tennessee and FAU before his current position at Ole Miss.

He brought his dad on as a defensive coordinator and defensive advisor. Kiffin will go down as one of the greatest defensive minds in the game of football. After leaving Tampa Bay, he had a DC position for the Dallas Cowboys. Kiffin was inducted into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor just three years ago. Along with him are Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden until his past caught up with him. For Bucs fans, he will be missed even though he has not been with the franchise for quite a while. Rest in peace coach. You will be missed.
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