Kiffin family has deep roots in Tampa, Outback Bowl
Saturday won't be the first time the Kiffin family arrived in Tampa, Florida, to end a lengthy postseason drought.
Led by first-year Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, the Rebels (4-5) will play in the Outback Bowl against Indiana (6-1) in Tampa on Saturday (11:30 a.m. CT, ABC), ending a four-season bowl drought. But reversing four seasons of misery is nothing compared to what Kiffin's father Monte did almost 25 years ago in the same city.
Monte Kiffin worked as defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996-2008. He spent the last 10 seasons of that tenure coaching in Raymond James Stadium, the location of the Outback Bowl. In 2002-03, Kiffin designed and led one of the best defenses in NFL history to a Super Bowl XXXVII victory over the Oakland Raiders.
That Super Bowl didn't happen overnight. First, the Buccaneers had to reverse decades of losing. When the elder Kiffin arrived in Tampa in 1996, the Bucs had only won one playoff game, and that was back in 1979.
But in 1997, a Monte Kiffin defensive unit led by future Hall of Fame and AllPro players Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber and John Lynch reversed that history. The Buccaneers defeated the Detroit Lions and NFL MVP Barry Sanders 20-10 in Tampa with a then-22-year old Lane Kiffin watching on.
“I want to say maybe the first playoff win I was at there,” Lane Kiffin said. “They had not won in the playoffs forever and I was at the game when they finally won in the playoffs with coach Tony Dungy.”
Monte Kiffin lists a different playoff game as has favorite Tampa-based memory.
In the 2003 NFC Divisional Round, Kiffin's juggernaut defense stymied quarterback Jeff Garcia and the San Francisco 49ers, 31-6. One week later, the Bucs upset the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. It culminated with a Super Bowl victory against the Raiders, a 48-21.
“That was the first big win they really had,” Monte Kiffin told the Clarion Ledger. “We'd been beaten in the Wild Card
game the year before that or something. That launched us to the Super Bowl because we got to go to Philadelphia and the big play with Ronde Barber's interception that put us in the Super Bowl.”
Monte Kiffin, 80, was supposed to be inducted into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor this season but the Buccaneers couldn't hold the event because of COVID-19.
Whenever he is inducted, he'll have his name in the stadium alongside former players and coaches he overlapped with like Sapp, Brooks, Lynch, Barber, Dungy, former coach Jon Gruden and fullback Mike Alstott.
Interestingly, Monte Kiffin's lasting friendship with Alstott is one that might have shaped the landscape of college football for years to come.
Two summers ago, Monte Kiffin went to Alstott's annual charity fundraiser. While there, Kiffin ran into former Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson. Kif
fin and Johnson chit-chatted about Johnson's son Max, who at the time was trying to decide where he wanted to go to college. LSU was a top contender, and Johnson asked Kiffin his opinion on LSU coach Ed Orgeron, given Lane Kiffin's long-time professional relationship with Orgeron.
“I wish I wouldn't have told him Ed was a great guy,” Monte Kiffin said. “Because he beat us.”
Max Johnson led LSU to a 53-48 win over Ole Miss on Dec. 19. Monte Kiffin said he knew his son's team was in trouble the second he saw the way Johnson called audibles at the line of scrimmage.
“I said ‘I know Ed's a defensive guy and a darn good coach' but when he started checking off I thought ‘Oh, we're in trouble,' ” Monte Kiffin joked. “His dad taught him how to check plays.“
Returning to Tampa for the Outback Bowl is a huge deal for the Kiffin family. Lane Kiffin spent his college summers
there with his family. After he graduated college he watched the way his dad and Gruden held offseason practices as a way of teaching himself how to coach.
Monte Kiffin still talks about Tampa like it's his home.
He's still close with his former players and coworkers and the Glazer family that owns the Buccaneers. He's known people involved with the Outback Bowl for years as well, and as such, he's imminently aware of how cool this experience will be for his son and the players.
“Lane is excited,” Monte Kiffin said. “There were a couple bowls we could've gone to, smaller bowls. But when we got the chance to go to the Outback Bowl, that really meant a lot to him and his staff. All the players know it. This is a big time bowl. It really is. There's no doubt about it.”
Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.