Monte Kiffin's Stellar Career: How It Took Off Under Lou Holtz

One of the NFL's greatest defensive coordinators of all-time was Holtz's right-hand-man at Arkansas

Jul 14, 2021; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers former defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin is entered into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Ring of Honor at AdventHealth Training Center. / Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Monte Kiffin, one of the greatest assistant coaches in the long history of the NFL. passed away Thursday at the age of 84.

Kiffin is best-known for his time as the defensive coordinator on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996-2008. It was there he paired up with the Hall of Fame likes of Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, Ronde Barber, and plenty of other incredibly talented Buccaneers defenders to form one of the NFL's best defenses of the era.

Kiffin was a football lifer, playing on the line at Nebraska in from 1959-1963 before getting into coaching as a graduate assistant with the Cornhuskers. It wouldn't be long before he was the one leading the defense there.

In 1977 he moved on to the old Southwest Conference, where he was named defensive coordinator at Arkansas.

The Razorback head coach at the time?

Future Notre Dame head man Lou Holtz.

Holtz and Kiffin had major success immediately.

In their three years together, the pair helped guide Arkansas to a 30-5-1 record, leading the team to the Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Sugar Bowl in consecutive years.

Sure, the game was different back then, but how is this for success?

Under the direction of Holtz and Kiffin, Arkansas allowed 8.4, 12.1, and 11.0 points per game in those three seasons (including bowl games). That’s an average of just over 10.5 points per game over a 36-game span.

From there Kiffin landed what wound up being his only head coaching position when he took the post at North Carolina State.

The Wolfpack went just 16-17 in his three seasons but he'd go on to bigger and better things, like being the mastermind of the now famous "Tampa 2" defense.

From the time he started as a graduate assistant through last season that he spent as a player personnel analyst at Ole Miss, Monte Kiffin was around the game professionally for over 55 years.

Hats off to one heckuva career, but more importantly, one heckuva life lived by Monte Kiffin.

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