The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1525890
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2024 ■ 49 Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. Rein and a lot of Monte Kiffin in me," he said when introduced as Rein's suc- cessor by Chancellor Joab Thomas on Dec. 5, 1979. "I'm going to carry on the tradition here and build on it — make it bigger and bigger." There's no doubt Kiffin was a unique character, willing to do just about any- thing to create buzz for the program he was building. During those years, he ri- valed the popularity and humor of then men's basketball coach Jim Valvano, who was hired just after Kiffin. The two tag-teamed their best comic lines and schtick. Kiffin once lent his offensive line to Valvano to sit behind the NC State bench at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Kiffin not only showed up for his first pep rally with students on a white horse, he also stepped into a homemade boxing ring at Reynolds Coliseum to spar with heavy- weight champion Joe Frazier and jumped out of a helicopter—from 2 feet off the ground—at Sullivan Field to fulfill a promise he made to the student body. He hired a promising young coach- ing staff that included future NFL head coach Pete Carroll, one of more than a half-dozen of his college or profes- sional assistants who went on to be head coaches. He also hired a young part- time assistant, Bobby Purcell, fresh out of graduate school in Georgia to run the defensive scout team and oversee the kicking game. Purcell spent the next 40 years at NC State as an assistant and recruiting coordinator for football, ex- ecutive director of the Wolfpack Club and senior associate athletics director. "Coach Kiffin was definitely one of the most knowledgeable football people I have ever been around," Purcell said. "I fully believe if he had been given more time, he would've been successful at NC State. "Personally, he was a great mentor to me and taught me about being enthusi- astic about your work." Unfortunately, Kiffin was hired by a committee, not by athletics direc- tor Willis Casey, who was on medical leave during the search process. The two never hit it off, and when fan feedback became negative, it was easier for Casey to look for another head coach than give Kiffin another year to produce on the field. It didn't help that rival North Car- olina, coached by Dick Crum, won the 1980 ACC title and was ranked in the top 10 at some point in each of Kiffin's three seasons with the Wolfpack. "We needed one more year," Kiffin said in a 2020 interview for The Wolf- packer. "Going back to when I was hired, though, [Casey] was sick in the hospital. A committee hired me. We had a lot of back-and-forth discussions, but he was never the guy who hired me. "We really thought we could be suc- cessful. We had a good team coming back in 1983. I'll be truthful, though: We didn't win enough games." Neither did the next coach, Tom Reed, who posted three consecutive 3-8 seasons before being let go. Reed was charged by Casey to get the program back in good academic standing, which he did with success. It wasn't until Casey hired Dick Sheri- dan, whom the AD had long coveted for his success at NCAA Division I-AA (now the Football Championship Subdivision) Furman, that the program really took off in 1986, appearing in six postseason bowl games in Sheridan's seven years. Defensive Minded Kiffin was never a head coach again, at any level. He did go on, though, to have successful tenures as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator in the pros and in college football. As the originator of the "Tampa 2" defense for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kiffin put together one of the best units in NFL history, culminating in a Super Bowl championship with a 48-21 win over Oakland in 2003. Kiffin's first Bucs defense finished 11th in the NFL defensive rankings and was in the top 10 in nine of the next 11 seasons. That included two first-place rankings and six others in the top five. His 2002 defense allowed just 252.8 yards per game, almost 40 yards better than the second-place team, and gave up just 12.3 points per game. Kiffin's defense allowed just 10 passing touch- downs, forced 38 turnovers and scored 5 touchdowns of its own. The Buccaneers advanced to the 2003 Super Bowl, where they beat the Raiders for the first championship in franchise history. In that game, Kiffin's defense intercepted 5 passes and returned a Super Bowl-record three of them for touchdowns. After the season, Kiffin was named Assistant Coach of the Year by both Football Digest and the Pro Football Writers Association. Four of Kiffin's players are now en- shrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Rondé Barber. Sapp and Brooks were both named NFL Defen- sive Player of the Year (1999 and 2002, respectively). At 13 years, Kiffin became the lon- gest-tenured coach in Buccaneers his- tory and is a member of the franchise's ring of honor, the only assistant coach so recognized. Earlier this year, the NFL immortalized Kiffin in the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he was named to the third class of winners of the Awards for Excellence, a program designated for contributors to the game outside the ranks of players and head coaches. Kiffin and Robin, his wife of 51 years, had three children, sons Lane and Chris and daughter Heidi. Like Lane, Chris followed his father into coaching and is currently serving as an analyst on Lane's staff at Ole Miss. Kiffin's final farewell was at a public celebration of life at Indian Rocks Bap- tist Church near Tampa, with a private burial in his home state of Nebraska. ■ " Coach Kiffin was definitely one of the most knowledgeable football people I have ever been around. I fully believe if he had been given more time, he would've been successful at NC State. " Former Wolfpack assistant coach Bobby Purcell