Longtime college football and NFL coach Monte Kiffin passed away at the age of 84 years old on Thursday.
Kiffin spent one year as Tennessee’s defensive coordinator while his son, Lane, was the head coach of the Vols’ program during the 2009 season. Legendary Tennessee defensive back Eric Berry once called Kiffin the Google of defense as evidence of his evolved way of looking at the game.
Kiffin, the Father of the Tampa 2 defense as some say, began his coaching career at Nebraska during the 1966 season as a graduate coach. Kiffin coached for Nebraska, Arkansas, and North Carolina State before moving to the NFL as the Green Bay Packers’ linebackers coach during the 1983 season. Kiffin then bounced around with Buffalo, Minnesota, New York (Jets), and New Orleans before finding a longtime home with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996-2008.
Kiffin returned to the college level with Tennessee in 2009 before following his son Lane to Southern California from 2010-2012. Kiffin then went back to the NFL to spend time with the Cowboys and Jaguars before teaming back up with his son at FAU. Kiffin spent the final three years of his career as a player personnel analyst for Ole Miss from 2020-2023.
Kiffin’s top defensive player at Tennessee during his one year on Rocky Top was the elusive and explosive Eric Berry. When he was contemplating leaving school early for the NFL Draft in 2010, Berry has recalled Kiffin telling him that he would “be a fool” to stay in school and not take his talents to the NFL. Berry, motivated by a desire to allow his father to retire after working two jobs, agreed with Kiffin and entered the 2010 NFL Draft. Berry would become tied for the highest-drafted player at Tennessee since Peyton Manning went 1/1 in 1998.
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During Eric Berry’s sophomore season at Tennessee in 2008, Kiffin recalled hearing conversations within the Tampa Bay Buccanneers organization about a rising talent in the secondary at Tennessee. Those coaches were talking about Berry, who would soon end up being a product of the Kiffin coaching tree.
Bruce Feldman wrote about the interaction for the September 21, 2009 edition of ESPN The Magazine:
“Kiffin didn’t have a scouting report on Berry before he relocated from Tampa. He can’t remember Bucs scouts even mentioning Berry’s name. Instead he vaguely recalls someone’s saying, ‘Tennessee has this young safety who will be outstanding and –‘ Nine months later, Kiffin knows exactly who Berry is. The 69-year-old coach isn’t the type to dabble in hyperbole — he knows better than to get caught up in a kid’s reputation — but he will say this: ‘If I had the first pick in next year’s draft, I’d pick Eric.'”
Feldman’s reporting goes on to state that Tennessee had already been running a version of the Tampa 2 before his arrival, easing the transition for the two and pointing to the communication and terms as the biggest obstacle early on. But Kiffin and Berry developed such a good relationship while at Tennessee that even just a head nod from the field to the sideline or vice versa could carry the weight of a full conversation between the two football masterminds. Feldman credits the football lineage between both families as a differentiating factor that took things to the next level for both Kiffin and Berry.
Berry even got the best of Kiffin from time to time, one famously trying to change out of a blitz that Kiffin demanded the defense stay in which resulted in a big play from the offense during practice.
Monte Kiffin’s time in Knoxville may have just lasted for one season, but his impact on Tennessee icon Eric Berry is clearly documented and impactful.
Monte Kiffin was married to Robin Kiffin and had two sons, Chris and Lane Kiffin, with three grandchildren – Landry, Pressley, and Knox.
