Lane Kiffin has left Mississippi to change into the brand new coach at Louisiana State. However not earlier than getting some key recommendation from his former USC boss, he has revealed. Key recommendation that additionally got here not directly from his late father.
Greater than 20 years in the past, Kiffin helped USC win two nationwide championships as an assistant coach below Pete Carroll.
And lengthy earlier than that, Carroll and Kiffin’s father, famend defensive coach Monte Kiffin, labored collectively on a number of teaching staffs on the faculty and NFL ranges.
Kiffin has stated that he wished his father, who died final 12 months at age 84, was round to advise him as he struggled with the choice over his newest profession transfer.
On Sunday simply earlier than boarding a non-public jet from Oxford, Miss., to Baton Rogue, La., Kiffin stated he ended up receiving that fatherly recommendation from his former mentor, present Las Vegas Raiders coach Carroll.
“Coach Carroll stated, ‘Your dad would let you know to go, man, take the shot,’” Kiffin stated to ESPN’s Marty Smith. “‘Take the shot. You completed lots right here.’”
Kiffin was 55-19 in six seasons at Ole Miss, together with an 11-1 report and an anticipated invite to the School Soccer Playoff this season. Whereas Kiffin has stated he had hoped to proceed teaching the Rebels within the postseason, defensive coordinator Pete Golding will function head coach going ahead.
Carroll and Monte Kiffin have been each members of the Arkansas teaching workers in 1977 (two years after Lane Kiffin was born) — Carroll as a graduate assistant and the elder Kiffin as defensive coordinator. Monte Kiffin’s solely head teaching job was at North Carolina State from 1980 to 1982, and Carroll was his defensive coordinator all three seasons.
Their careers would cross paths from 1984 to 1990 on the teaching staffs of the Buffalo Payments, Minnesota Vikings and New York Jets. One of many architects of the profitable “Tampa 2 protection,” Monte Kiffin achieved his biggest notoriety as defensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 2008, successful a Tremendous Bowl following the 2002 season.
“Of all the nice coaches I’ve labored with, none would have a extra basic influence on the tactical facet of my teaching than Monte Kiffin,” Carroll wrote in his 2010 ebook, “Win Without end.”
Carroll added: “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 a purpose to achieve success, you will need to have a constant philosophy. When you change who you’re from 12 months to 12 months,’” he defined, ‘you’re by no means going to be nice at something.’”
Monte Kiffin, left, served as son Lane Kiffin’s defensive coordinator at USC from 2010 to 2012.
(Allen Schaben / Los Angeles Instances)
In his first season as USC coach in 2001, Carroll employed Lane Kiffin as his tight ends coach. Kiffin was promoted to receivers coach in 2002 and ultimately had passing recreation coordinator, recruiting coordinator and offensive coordinator added to his duties earlier than leaving after the 2006 season.
After two seasons as head coach of the Oakland Raiders and one as head coach at Tennessee, Kiffin returned to USC to interchange Carroll, who had taken the job as coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Kiffin was 28-15 with the Trojans. He was fired 5 video games into his fourth season, hours after a lopsided loss to Arizona State.
Kiffin went on to change into an assistant on coach Nick Saban‘s workers at Alabama earlier than head teaching stints at Florida Atlantic and Mississippi. On lots of his teaching stops, Kiffin employed his father as a part of his workers, together with at Tennessee and USC as defensive coordinator, Florida Atlantic as a defensive assistant and Mississippi as a participant personnel analyst.
On Saturday, as he weighed his choices between Mississippi and LSU, Kiffin took to X and posted a photograph that includes a sketch of his father giving a thumbs-up signal.
“Want I may hug you proper now and you possibly can information me,” Kiffin wrote to his dad. “Love ya.”
In a means, Monte Kiffin did find yourself offering steerage. Kiffin informed Smith that he thought again to his father’s funeral and all of the people who reached out “from round all these totally different spots — N.C. State, all of the totally different spots he coached.”
“They stated he was capable of influence them and the way a lot that meant to them,” Kiffin stated. “And so I’ve actually strived since that day to actually attempt to influence individuals and assist individuals via life, via my journey. So I simply prayed lots and made a household determination and hopefully get an opportunity to go, , influence a complete new set of individuals.”
