A Fresh & Urgent Canton Call
May 1st, 2020
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BY IRA KAUFMAN
The Ring of Honor is a wonderful distinction, but why stop there?
Let’s make some noise about getting Monte Kiffin into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, just to see what that wacky bust would look like. I’d fork over 50 bucks just to hear Monte’s rambling, shambling induction speech.
The Canton shrine to excellence is a distinguished institution, but there’s a big piece of football history that’s missing. They’ve been welcoming in nominees since 1963 but not a single pure assistant coach has been honored within the walls.
I’m flagging the Hall for being way offsides on this issue.
Kiffin isn’t the only elite assistant who deserves a bust, but he’s certainly on the short list, along with great teachers like Bud Carson and Bill Arnsparger. If long-time defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau hadn’t been an accomplished NFL cornerback for 14 years, he would be standing outside the Canton doors with the others.
Sage of Tampa Bay Sports JoeBucsFan.com columnist Ira Kaufman is calling for change at the Hall of Fame.
The 14th member of Tampa Bay’s Ring of Honor should be the first assistant in the Hall. Ask any Buc fan who knows what Kiffin inherited when he arrived in Tampa with Tony Dungy in 1996.
The Bucs had endured 13 consecutive losing seasons. Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks were second-year players who had yet to stamp themselves as Hall of Famers.
Then the Tampa 2 was born and nothing would be the same.
While Kiffin slept on the couch at One Buc Place, the defense awakened from a long slumber. In his 13 years with the Bucs, Kiffin’s units would finish in the Top 10 in both scoring and total defense 11 times.
When Jon Gruden arrived in 2002, he challenged a dominant defense to raise its game — and the Kiffin Gang responded with a season for the ages.
The defense’s mantra — give us 17 points and we’ll take care of the rest — was backed up on fall Sundays by a marauding group that was undersized and overburdened. The championship season was the obvious pinnacle of Kiffin’s handiwork, but let’s not forget the 1999 defense was almost as smothering.
Showcase Year
For me, the epitome of Kiffin’s greatness came in 2005.
New faces. Same dominance.
Coming off two losing seasons, the Bucs went 11-5 and won the NFC South while allowing the fewest yards in the league. Sapp and John Lynch had departed, yet 11 of 16 opponents were limited to 16 points or less.
Then came the afternoon of Jan. 7, 2006, a day that will live in infamy for Buc fans.
Despite yielding only 120 yards to the Redskins, the Bucs stumbled to a 17-10 home playoff loss. It was the fewest yards in league history accumulated by a postseason winner and Washington’s two first-quarter touchdowns were either scored or set up by Tampa Bay turnovers.
“Honestly, we couldn’t move the ball at all,” said Washington wide receiver Santana Moss after Mark Brunell completed only seven passes.
Seven.
“They did a great job around the line of scrimmage,” Redskins guard Ray Brown said. “That defense really is the best in the league. They get a great push and they close holes fast. You’re not going to get much against them, no matter how good you are.”
The sting of that playoff loss lingered into 2006, when Gruden went 4-12. The chief culprit — an offense that ranked 31st in points scored.
Lasting Legacy
Kiffin had some terrific players in Tampa, but he was also masterful in building a scheme around the talent. That’s coaching. The beauty of the Tampa 2 was its simplicity. Brooks says the Bucs weren’t trying to fool anybody. Opponents knew Kiffin’s system, but they rarely exploited the flaws because Buc defenders were so well coached.
The nasty end came late in the 2008 season, when Kiffin publicly announced he would be leaving to join his son, Lane, at the University of Tennessee.
Pete Carroll won’t argue with Ira
The Bucs collapsed in December and Gruden was dismissed. The close bond between Kiffin and Gruden was threatened for awhile.
As Tampa Bay’s lone Hall of Fame representative, I will push for a change in the by-laws to accommodate assistant coaches. An elite assistant like Kiffin can be as instrumental as a head coach … they deserve to be recognized.
“I owe Monte everything,” says Seattle head coach Pete Carroll, who first met Kiffin in 1977 at Arkansas, where Carroll was a grad assistant and Kiffin was running the Razorback defense for Lou Holtz.
“He taught me everything I know about defense.”
Others, like Mike Tomlin and Rod Marinelli, could say the same. Kiffin would often look disheveled walking around old One Buc Place, but his game plans were neat as a pin. In meetings, he would call you out by name if he saw you loafing on tape.
Now it’s time to hustle this man into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Ira Kaufman’s column is presented by Bill Currie Ford, where the stunning offers and 0% interest rates are waiting for you. Click on Ira to visit BillCurrieFord.com, where GM Sean Sullivan will help you personally.
May 1st, 2020 at 2:30 pm
Beautiful piece, Ira!
May 1st, 2020 at 3:08 pm
I whole hardheartedly agree. I was in a coaching clinic with Monte when he explained the defense and it was just like watching an artist paint. He was brilliant with the system. The way he knew where to put the pieces is incredible. One of the criteria they always say about HOF players is how did they change the game. Monte changed the game and the fact that they refer to the cover 2 defense as Tampa 2 should say it all. He changed the way football defense was viewed. Now all you hear on draft day is you have to have 3 types of players on defense. A – Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch type. To me that says it all about how it has changed the way we look at defenses.
May 1st, 2020 at 3:26 pm
Simeon Rice is who needs to get into the Hall of Fame. There is no Super Bowl in Tampa without Simeon. It’s an absolute disgrace that Simeon keeps getting snubbed. It’s up to you Ira to get Simeon in. You’re the only one that can.
May 1st, 2020 at 4:48 pm
HOF is a joke to me, Ronde’s numbers alone should’ve made him a first ballot and the fact the local great Ken Riley even though he played for the Bengals, lives in Lakeland is not in the HOF, is ridiculous 65 INTs, played for one team and played at a time it was all air it out all the time
May 1st, 2020 at 4:48 pm
I agree with Phil. Simeon already got screwed out of MVP in the Super Bowl.
May 1st, 2020 at 5:41 pm
Incredible article! Loved reading this about this defense and Kiffin. One of the best defenses for a decade plus. Assistants deserve every shot at the Hall. Leading the way should be Kiffin. Praying for this to happen. As well for Lynch Rondé, and Rice.
May 1st, 2020 at 5:47 pm
I think the hall should have a special this year in addition to their regular inductees, they should induct 5 assistant coaches.
May 1st, 2020 at 6:13 pm
In 2005, the Bucs still had Mike Tomlin, Raheem Morris and Rod Marinelli , and a healthy Simeon Rice. In 2006 all those coaches were gone and Rice was hurt.
Kiffin created the Tampa cover 2- and he was a good Coordinator.
But you can’t ignore the player and asst coaching talent he had that led to his success.
May 1st, 2020 at 9:21 pm
Ira has his work cut out for himself as Lynch, Rice and Barber continually get snubbed but next year might be the charm with the Brady/Gronk/Tampa Super Bowl should give the opportunity for Ira and the Bucs to hype thee guys as well as Monte. Hopefully the next ballot will get one or more of these greats a gold jacket.
May 1st, 2020 at 11:28 pm
100%
May 2nd, 2020 at 2:36 am
Great article Ira and I agree. Before changing the rules though, I’d be more inclined to change some of the voters. The voting process is a sham and filled with cronyism. Maybe once some of the bad apples are removed the Hall can recoup some of the integrity that it has lost by keeping out deserving players (Ronde Barber) in favor of lesser ones (Brian freaking Dawkins?!! Are you kidding me?).
May 2nd, 2020 at 8:19 am
That playoff game was one of the worst officiated games ever. Chris Simms caused and clearly recovered a Lavar Arrington fumble on an interception that was run back inside the five. No call on the field, replay didn’t cover that then. No fumble.
Simeon Rice clearly forced a Mark Brunell fumble that Barber scooped up for an easy TD but the play was whistled dead. The play was replayed and ruled a sack. The sack counted but the turnover didn’t count because replay didn’t cover it at the time.
Cadillac Williams fumbled and a Redskins LB that was under Williams picked up the ball and ran for a TD. He was UNDER Williams. His leg bounced up when the LB got up. The refs missed that as well as replay. Ruled a TD. That’s 21 points the horrible referees cost the team in a 7 point loss. There still should be an investigation.
May 2nd, 2020 at 9:53 am
I agree MK should be in the Quitter’s Hall of Shame, right in the Benedict Arnold wing. Right next to Art Modell.
You can tell the greatness of a coach when he quits on a team full of legends in the midst of a 9-3 Super Bowl run to elevate another football program like he did at Tennesee with his azzhole son Lane. Well, they didn’t really elevate it, they stole money there. Then when someone waved big money in front of their noses, they quit on all those kids that they made promises to and off to Hollywood they ran. Swimming pools and movie stars.
They didn’t really elevate the program at SC, they got fired for incompetence and they drove off into the sunset with a trunk full of stolen cash.
I appears to me Ira has lost a few brain cells and maybe should slow down on swilling all that free beer. You’re supposed to be the “Sage of Tampa Bay” not a oily lobbyist for the Kiffin Klan.
Concentrate on hyping true football legends like Simeon Rice, Ronde Barber and John Lynch. Don’t lessen your and their reputations by mentioning that freaking mealy mouth loser in the same sentence.
May 2nd, 2020 at 10:04 am
IMHO Monte was the best coach in Bucs history – by far.