"He left that for me": Lane Kiffin recalls massive sacrifice from father and coaching legend Monte Kiffin

Syndication: Florida Times-Union - Source: Imagn

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is the son of football coaching legend Monte Kiffin. Monte had a long coaching career that started in the 60s and continued until 2023. In that time, he was best known for his time as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defensive coordinator from 1996 to 2008. He was happy with that job and loved the city, but he left in the 2009 season to follow his son to Tennessee.

On Friday, Lane Kiffin appeared on 'The Pivot,' talking about how one of his father's former players, Derrick Brooks, speaking about him at his funeral service, made him realize just how big a deal Monte leaving Tampa Bay to coach with him at the University of Tennessee was.

"Obviously, I knew the situation, but I didn't really, like when you're in it. I get the Tennessee job, and he comes and all that and I'm grateful. It's me, him, and we're like, do this Tennessee thing. It hits me when Derrick Brooks was talking at his service. He tells this story, like he's been in the league 13 years and he's been his only coordinator. He calls Derrick in and he's like, I'm gonna leave."

"He said, the only person I would leave for is my son. He had the 49ers head job and he turned it down because he loved Tampa Bay. So, he said, why do I need to go anywhere else? I love the people of Tampa Bay, I love these coaches, and I love these players, I don't need to go be head coach. I got everything I have right here and he left that for me. He didn't even think about it."

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Monte Kiffin coached with Lane Kiffin every time he was a head coach at the college level

The first time that Lane Kiffin got a head coaching job in college was with Tennessee in 2009. Monte Kiffin left his job with the Buccaneers to join his son and stayed loyal to him throughout the rest of his career. When Lane got the head coaching job at USC, he followed him there in 2010.

Monte did not coach with his son when Lane Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at Alabama, instead taking a job with the Dallas Cowboys. However, he returned to join his son in 2017 when he got the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.

He then followed his son again in 2020 when he got the Ole Miss job and stayed with his son until his retirement in 2023.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Dipayan Moitra