Billy Napier honors the late Monte Kiffin, reveals special message for Lane Kiffin

Florida head coach Billy Napier gave a touching tribute to the late Monte Kiffin to open up his address at SEC Media Days.

Napier worked with Lane Kiffin when the two were at Alabama, and was in touch with the current Ole Miss coach recently. Monte Kiffin, a coaching legend, died last week at the age of 84.

But Napier honored the coach and sent a message to Lane.

“I like to start today with a few comments about Monte Kiffin and the Kiffin family,” Napier began. “So this week, we lost one of the all time greats in our profession, Monte Kiffin. And I worked with Lane for three years at the University of Alabama. And I would tell you, Lane coaches because of his dad, and what he observed growing up and I certainly chose the profession because of my dad. I lost my dad seven years ago to ALS. Lane and I have been communicating throughout the week.

“I texted him earlier in the week I said I’ve been through this before and I told him, I said, ‘coaching is a profession where you have an opportunity to make an impact on people and leave a legacy.’ And his dad did just that.”

After the 2008 season, Monte Kiffin departed the NFL level and returned to college 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.

“He made an impact because of how he treated people,” Napier said. “The approach that he took to coaching, the way he made people feel, the impact isn’t linear. In coaching, it’s exponential. The most important part here, exponential impact. This is third generation, fourth generation impact. And that comes with the blessing and the opportunity of being in this profession that we call coaching. 

“I was reading the quote this week and I told Lane this last night when I talked to him. You know inheritance is what you leave for someone, legacy is what you leave in someone. Few did it better than Monte Kiffin. Our thoughts and prayers are with Lane and the kids and family as they celebrate his life this weekend in Tampa.”

In 1995, Monte Kiffin got his first NFL defensive coordinator position with the Saints, but left after a year. That’s when he headed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he made his mark as their defensive coordinator from 1996-2008. During that time, the Bucs won Super Bowl XXXVII and later inducted Kiffin into their Ring of Honor. Kiffin also developed the Tampa 2 defense during his time with the Buccaneers, which is a huge part of his legacy.