One of many nice modern defensive minds in soccer historical past has handed away.
Monte Kiffin, finest generally known as the defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, died on Thursday on the age of 84. On the time of his passing, Monte labored as a advisor and participant personnel analyst at Ole Miss underneath his son, head coach Lane Kiffin.
Kiffin’s impression on trendy soccer is unattainable to overstate. His ‘Tampa 2’ defensive scheme within the Nineteen Nineties-2000s yielded super outcomes for the Buccaneers underneath Tony Dungy, and in the end received a Tremendous Bowl in 2002 in Jon Gruden’s first yr as head coach. Together with the playoffs, Tampa Bay held opponents to only 12 landing passes in comparison with 40 interceptions, with an astonishing eight picks returned for touchdowns. The 2002 Bucs are inarguably the most effective defenses in NFL historical past. Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, John Lynch, and Ronde Barber are all within the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame. Tampa 2 was rapidly copied throughout the NFL and in school.
Former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, himself a Tremendous Bowl winner with one of many best defenses in NFL historical past, has spoken at size through the years about his relationship with Kiffin once they labored collectively at Arkansas, NC State, and the Minnesota Vikings.
“Of all the nice coaches I’ve labored with, none would have a extra elementary impression on the tactical facet of my teaching than Monte Kiffin,” Carroll wrote in his guide, Win Without end.
“Monte is a tactical genius who has been an ideal affect on my defensive recreation through the years,” Carroll mentioned. “His nice contribution to my profession, nonetheless, got here early on—lengthy earlier than I ever entered the NFL—when he impressed upon me a easy however highly effective perception: ‘With the intention to achieve success, you could have a constant philosophy. If you happen to change who you’re from yr to yr,’ he defined, ‘you’re by no means going to be nice at something.’ I bear in mind vividly when Monte pulled out a sheet of paper, which had not more than 5 – 6 sentences on it, and shared his philosophy. The essence of his philosophy was crystal clear: For him, it got here all the way down to enjoying with nice effort and nice self-discipline. All the things else flowed from that.”
In a 2016 interview with then ESPN Seahawks beat author Sheil Kapedia, Carroll mentioned of Kiffin: “I owe him all the pieces. He taught me all the pieces I learn about protection.”
Whereas the Seahawks didn’t instantly run Kiffin’s Tampa 2 system on the peak of the ‘Legion of Growth’ years—Carroll famous his choice for Cowl 3 and Cowl 1 single-high protection—there are parts of Kiffin’s ideas prevalent in Carroll’s protection, particularly the hybrid 4-3 entrance with 3-4 personnel.
“That basically got here out of all the best way again to Fayetteville,” Carroll mentioned. “It was a one-gap precept protection method again then. Monte and I, once we had been collectively in Minnesota with (former Vikings defensive coordinator) Floyd Peters, we had been in a position to proceed to construct on and NFL-ize our scheme. And so, it’s been a technique to get guys to assault and play aggressive so that you could get good move rush and nonetheless match on the run. That’s the place the secondary matches and stuff like that actually comes into play.”
Right here’s extra from Carroll on Kiffin on the Nike Soccer Coaches Clinic again when he was USC’s head coach. This quote was additionally coated in Danny Kelly’s Area Gulls article on Carroll’s scheme again in 2011.
“Throughout that point I set to work with Monte Kiffin’s workers on protection. He had been at Nebraska earlier than he got here to Arkansas. I believe he is without doubt one of the finest coaches in the US. He’s simply an unbelievable coach. He ran a 4-3 underneath protection that he perfected at Nebraska they usually received a nationwide title and plenty of convention titles whereas he was there within the 1970’s. He introduced that very same protection to Arkansas. I’ve been working that very same base protection since 1977 after I discovered it from him. I’ve used variations of this protection my whole profession. I’ve stayed with its ideas by all my years of teaching. I’ve an actual sturdy perception on this protection. I do know the protection and its changes so nicely that my perception system in it’s sturdy and rock stable.”
Kiffin essentially modified the game at a stage that endures at present, and from a Seahawks perspective, his teachings and philosophical beliefs left an indelible impression on the most effective coach, finest protection, and finest crew this franchise has ever had.
Although Kiffin was by no means an NFL head coach—it must be famous that Carroll was Kiffin’s defensive coordinator when he coached NC State—he must be within the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame. That’s how vital he was to the evolution of soccer.
Relaxation in peace, Monte Kiffin.
