The Family BusinessFootball is a family business. The game is filled with famous father-son combinations passing the game down from generation to generation. Names like Manning, Ryan and Bowden are family names of football lore. But could you imagine Archie as Peyton’s back up, Buddy Ryan as Rex’s defensive coordinator, Bobby Bowden an assistant under Terry? Those examples seem farfetched but that is exactly what is going on at the University of Tennessee football program.
Monte Kiffin, NFL coaching legend, who is credited as the architect of the “Tampa Two” defensive scheme that revolutionized the way the game is played at the highest level, is now the defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Volunteers. Without a doubt, he is one of the most experienced and accomplished coaches in the NCAA. Along the way Monte coached at Nebraska, Arkansas, and North Carolina State in the college ranks. In the National Football League, he made stops in Green Bay, Buffalo, Minnesota, New York, New Orleans, and Tampa Bay, where he won a Super Bowl, before landing in Knoxville as defensive coordinator for the youngest head football coach in division one football, Lane Kiffin—who also happens to be his son.
Lineage aside, Monte knows a little bit about young head coaches. In 1996 he joined a 41-year-old head coach in Tampa by the name of Tony Dungy. Dungy was replaced in 2002 by Jon Gruden, then 39 years old, for whom Monte coached until joining the Volunteers this year. In addition, Kiffin’s defensive backs coach at Tampa from 2001-2005 was, now head coach, Mike Tomlin. Each of these coaches have something else in common, they all won championships, Super Bowl Championships. Gruden and Tomlin were also respectively the youngest coaches to ever win a Super Bowl. Yes, Monte knows a little about young head coaches.
The Holidays
If football is a family business, there is no time like the holidays for family. Much of America gathers around the television at Thanksgiving and Christmas with family to watch the games, but what about the families of those who are coaching and playing? Ask me of my fondest memories of the holidays and I would tell stories of Christmas mornings shredding wrapping paper from taped boxes revealing footballs, Evel Knievel motorcycles, and board games.
Ask Monte Kiffin and he says, “Oh, it has to be Thanksgiving, watching Detroit or Dallas, usually the late game. Mrs. Kiffin always had a great Thanksgiving dinner. She had a game she’d play, everybody had to go around the table and tell what they liked best, we still do.” When Monte tells you a story, he does so with passion and enthusiasm, but those words do not describe the adoration, the pure appreciation that is exuded when he speaks of “Mrs. Kiffin.”
What is revealing is when you ask Lane Kiffin about his fondest holiday memories, without pause he says, “Thanksgiving, always. We always knew that he (Monte) had practice that morning with the NFL team, and we’d always wait on him to come around.” Yes this is a father and son on the same page. “We had a lot of late Christmases, kind of like my family now. Because you are playing a game a lot of the time or you’re practicing. A lot of the time our Christmas would be the first week in January,” Lane says. It’s fitting that a family that is so close that the legendary father would come join the son, puts such a premium on the holiday that is all about togetherness and giving thanks.
Coaching Together
When I said that Monte knows a little about young head coaches, he’s not the only one. Lane’s former boss with the Oakland Raiders, the much maligned Al Davis, knows a little about young coaches as well. It’s easy to forget that Mr. Davis hired Tom Flores at 41, John Madden at 32 and Monte’s old boss Jon Gruden at 35. All three won Super Bowls, two of which were the youngest at the time to ever win the big game. Say what you will about Al, he’s had an eye for talented young coaches and he hired Monte’s son at 32. So, Papa is not the only guy in the game that has seen a spark of talent in the new Vol head coach.
Why would a legendary coach leave the NFL to come to Knoxville? “I’ve always had a good relationship with Lane. I had a lot of confidence that he was a good coach. I didn’t come here to get experience to go the NFL,” Monte jokes, “I’d been there 25 years. I came here to have some fun, win some football games, and be in a good place. I think it’s a darn good place to coach.”
What is it that Monte sees in the youngest coach in division one football? “I guess I don’t look at that so much as I do the day-to-day deal, how he handles adversity, how he handles the team, how he handles the staff. It’s been fun to watch,” he says. “Lane has a real unique way of looking ahead… he can see a problem heading your way and derail it.”
What is it like to have a legendary coach and father work for you? “It’s phenomenal; I don’t look at it that he works for me. All of our coaches, we work together,” says Lane. “To have him for our young coaches and all our coaches to learn from as an example is unbelievable. I mean the guy’s here all the time, his preparation, his work ethic. When they walk in, in the morning, each one of them gets notes of exactly what they need to do, so I love it that they get to learn from him.”
Plans for Future Success
As we all look toward the new year, it is a traditional time to take stock, set goals, and plan for the upcoming year. Perhaps it is not surprising that the Kiffins have a similar philosophy for success. “Get good players, coach them after you get them, and recruit, recruit, recruit,” Monte says.
While making sure that no player got off the practice field without doing their scheduled conditioning, Lane says, “I think this relates to any job. It does not take talent to out-work people. He (Monte) always related that outside of football as well.”
“Make sure that you are open minded and that you never think that you have everything figured out, whatever level you are or however successful you are,” he continues. “Whatever profession you are in, you should always be learning, always competing to find a better way to do something. Anytime I do something, no matter what it is, I go back and look at it and say, could I have done it better?”
Lane’s third key to success: “Recruit really good players—but that is the same in any profession.”
As the Kiffins look to finish their first season and embark on the next, the expectations are great for both coaches, as Monte says, “at Southern Cal, even though it’s an awesome place, it is not just about Southern Cal cause you have pro sports, you got the Dodgers, you got the Angels, the Lakers, UCLA, and all that. But in Knoxville, Tennessee, the State of Tennessee, they all know who Lane Kiffin is and want to get to know him.”
And Monte’s pretty pleased with the new stadium he calls home. “The University of Tennessee,” he says, with admiration. “I knew they packed ‘em in—one hundred and seven thousand [spectators]. I knew it was a great place. But I have to say, it probably exceeded my expectations. The people are just nuts about Tennessee.”
Photo courtesy of N.C. State Athletics
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