Monte Kiffin, whose career as an NFL assistant took off after his one season as linebackers coach of the Green Bay Packers, died Thursday in Oxford, Miss., at the age of 84. Kiffin's son, Lane, is the head coach at the University of Mississippi.
Kiffin's first pro coaching stop was Green Bay, where coach Bart Starr hired him as linebackers coach in 1983. The Packers finished last in the league in team defense, and Starr and his staff were fired following the season.
Before coming to Green Bay, Kiffin had coached in the college ranks for 17 years, including three seasons as head coach at North Carolina State. After leaving Green Bay, Kiffin spent 12 seasons as an assistant with Buffalo, Minnesota, the New York Jets and New Orleans. He was a linebackers coach for all but one of those seasons.
In 1996, he was hired as defensive coordinator by Tampa Bay and spent 13 seasons with the Buccaneers, where he was credited with being an architect of the "Tampa 2" defensive scheme and a key to the team winning the 2002 Super Bowl. Kiffin's last three seasons as an NFL assistant were spent with Dallas from 2013-14 and Jacksonville in 2016.
