Monte Kiffin, who served as the Buccaneers defensive coordinator for 13 seasons in the 1990s and 2000s, died Thursday. He was 84. An NFL assistant for nearly 30 years, Kiffin served as the driving force behind the Bucs’ dominant Super Bowl XXXVII-winning defense.
Tony Dungy brought Kiffin to Tampa upon being hired in 1996; the two had worked together in Minnesota previously. Kiffin stayed on beyond Dungy’s 2002 firing, remaining with the team under Jon Gruden and architecting one of the best defenses in NFL history. Featuring four Hall of Fame-bound defenders, the ’02 Bucs led the NFL in scoring and total defense and intercepted five passes in a Super Bowl rout of the Raiders.
Creating and unleashing the Tampa-2 defense that became popular in the NFL, Kiffin had previously served as Vikings DC in 1991 and Saints DC four years later. Those were one-offs, however, as the Bucs gave the longtime NFL assistant a shot. Kiffin certainly played a significant role in the Canton candidacies of Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, Ronde Barber and John Lynch.
Also an assistant with the Packers, Bills and Jets, Kiffin later served as the defensive coordinator for son Lane during the latter’s one-season stay as the Tennessee Volunteers head coach. Monte Kiffin followed his son to USC before returning to the NFL as Cowboys DC. This 2013 stint also stopped at one year, with Dallas hiring Rod Marinelli as DC in 2014. Monte Kiffin stayed on for one more season as a Cowboys assistant, however, before a Jaguars stop. Kiffin’s final two coaching roles came under Lane at Florida Atlantic and Ole Miss. The Kiffin patriarch was a Rebels analyst as recently as last season.
The Bucs gig earned Kiffin a place in the franchise’s Ring of Honor. While the Bucs peaked in 2002, Dungy and Kiffin led the way in rebooting a moribund franchise in the late 1990s. The Bucs voyaged to the Super Bowl XXXIV precipice, intercepting Kurt Warner three times in an 11-6 defensive tussle. After two playoff losses in Philadelphia doomed top-10 defenses, the Bucs outscored their 2002 playoff opposition 116-37. Four of Tampa Bay’s postseason TDs came on pick-sixes, with three of those taking place in the team’s Super Bowl romp.