Lane Kiffin remembers life of his 'superhero,' father Monte Kiffin

Just three days before he’d take the podium at SEC Media Days, Lane Kiffin lost his father. Monte Kiffin – a longtime NFL and college coach – passed away at the age of 84.

Monday marked the first time Kiffin spoke publicly about his dad, who was working as a defensive analyst at his side at Ole Miss. In his opening statement, he remembered his father as both a coach and as a person before taking questions from the reporters in attendance at the Omni Dallas Hotel.

Kiffin thanked everyone for the support over the weekend and recalled the pastor from his church came over to talk with him and his mom, as well. While he wanted to save his full remarks for his father’s celebration of life on Saturday, Kiffin explained why he’ll always remember his “superhero.”

“I’ve talked before about being my hero,” Kiffin said. “I had a high school, neighborhood friend – really, middle school friend – he said hero’s not really the right term for him. It’s superhero. That’s what he was to the people that he touched. He used this term, and now I’m using this term, in description of him because I really feel like there’s very few superheroes, there are few brave ones, that loved everyone and tried to help everyone they came in touch with forever. Whether you were big or small, wherever you were, he tried to help.”

One of the stories Kiffin heard about his dad was from someone who met him in passing. They didn’t know each other, but the person said Monte treated him like they knew each other for years. That, Lane said, spoke to the type of person his dad was.

“One person said, which I think is telling for those who don’t know him and I thought this was very descriptive,” Kiffin said. “He said, I met him in a gas station, and although he was a stranger to me, he made me feel like a friend. And that was him. He’d never want anybody to have a bad day or be sad, so this is me trying to do that.

“I appreciate everything, and there have already been a lot of questions about it. I understand that, I’ve appreciative of that. As he would say, his first rule that he’d put on the chalkboard back in the day was to all coaches and players was to show up. The first rule of getting better is you’ve got to show up. Show up and do your job, and that’s what I’m trying to do here.”

Monte Kiffin worked with Lane toward the tail end of his coaching career. After a decorated tenure with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Monte returned to the college level under Lane at Tennessee as defensive coordinator in 2009. He then followed his son to USC as assistant head coach from 2010-12 before returning to the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys as their defensive coordinator in 2013 and as assistant head coach for defense in 2014.

Following a year away, he then served as a defensive assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2016 and at Florida Atlantic under Lane from 2017-19. Then, when Lane headed to Ole Miss, Monte joined him as a defensive analyst.