Monte Kiffin stays in league as unofficial Jaguars consultant,

JACKSONVILLE — Monte Kiffin, who has been coaching in college and the NFL for almost half a century, presumably retired at 75 in 2015 after the Dallas Cowboys didn’t renew his contract.

Kiffin, who started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Nebraska in 1966, is noted mainly for his 13-year tenure with the Tampa Bay Bucs from 1996-2008 when his defense 11 times finished in the top 10. In 2008, he hired a young coach named Gus Bradley.

Kiffin may be retired, but he’s staying involved in the game as a sort of unofficial consultant for the Jaguars, although he doesn’t work for the team.

He visited their training camp last July, and Bradley called on him to help the Jaguars search for a new defensive coordinator.

Bradley, who announced Friday that he promoted defensive line coach Todd Wash, said, “Monte and I, there’s a deep level of trust [in the] relationship that we have. I know he has a track record of hiring very, very good defensive personnel: Mike Tomlin, Lovie Smith, Herm Edwards. The list goes on.”

Bradley said Kiffin helped the process in several ways.

“I put him on some things, some coaches to talk to and find out more information,” Bradley said. “Ultimately, I made the decision. But I just used him and visited with him about certain things in what I was looking to do.”

Bradley said he had conversations with Kiffin, general manager Dave Caldwell and team owner Shad Khan . about the process.

When he was asked if Kiffin has a future role with the team, Bradley said, “Right now, he’s in the building. I told him to look at some plays when he’s here, but he’s going back Saturday.”