If you follow Lane Kiffin’s Instagram or Twitter, or are an Ole Miss co-ed and somehow have his Snapchat, you are undoubtedly aware of the absurd number of controversies and mini-scandals that Kiffin willingly gets himself into. It does not feel like it is going too far to suggest that Kiffin actually relishes the opportunity to troll. Whether it is related to recruiting, campus gossip, a coach firing or hiring, a former school he has worked at, some national news, or anything that might get him attention, Lane Kiffin will post, talk, subtweet, and then post about it some more. Kiffin almost seems to live for being able to drop a gif or meme whenever his name is circulating in the news.
If you ever wondered where Kiffin gets this streak from, you do not have to look much farther than the classic adage: the apple does not fall far from the tree. Quick shoutout to Monte Burke, all of these stories came from his book Men of Troy, which is a great read.
Monte Kiffin not only instilled a love for the game of football in his eldest son, but also instilled a wacky gene that is evident in almost every interaction Lane has. Consider whatever you find to be Lane’s most wild or hilarious moment. I would wager that Monte’s list of stories blows that moment out of the water. These stories include a near-disastrous horse ride, a step into the boxing ring with Smokin’ Joe, a helicopter stunt, and pretending to be thrown off a roof.
The Tree: Monte Kiffin’s Legacy
First, though, let’s get this out of the way. Kiffin, Monte that is, was a defensive guru. Ironically, as innovative and celebrated as Lane is on the offensive side of the ball, Monte was just as revolutionary on the defensive side. Monte Kiffin was responsible for the development of the Tampa 2 defensive scheme, which has been widely influential across both the NFL and college ranks. He is thought of as one of the greatest defensive coordinators in football history. However, the scheme he developed and the many different stops on his storied coaching career are not the subject of this article. His antics, and those he influenced, notably Lane and Pete Carroll, are what take center stage here. In order to better understand the apple and why Lane acts the way he does, let’s take a look at the tree.
NC State and the Birth of Chaos
This first story comes from Kiffin’s only head coaching job of his entire career at NC State. Coincidentally, Kiffin hired the then 29-year-old Pete Carroll to be his defensive coordinator. This was Carroll’s first coordinator position and served as a major jumping-off point in his career. While the Kiffin regime in Raleigh was not a success on the field, it was certainly memorable off it.
For Kiffin, pep rallies became his true stage. These rallies turned into must-see events solely because of the head coach’s antics. Try to imagine a coach like Curt Cignetti, or really any modern coach besides Lane, doing any of this today. In one incident, Kiffin promised the Wolfpack faithful that at the next pep rally he would jump out of a helicopter. Sure enough, on the day of the rally, a helicopter appeared hovering above the NC State campus. The helicopter descended to just a few feet above the ground, at which point a smiling and victorious Kiffin leapt down onto the field.
In another pep rally incident, Kiffin appeared on horseback, galloping through the heart of campus wearing a red sport coat and a ten-gallon hat while the William Tell Overture blasted through loudspeakers. At one point, the horse got spooked by the noise and nearly careened into a building, almost tossing Kiffin through a window. It was somehow both a hype moment and a near trip to the emergency room.
Another time, in an attempt to get his team fired up for a rivalry game against UNC, Kiffin brought in the legendary boxer Joe Frazier to give a speech. According to Pete Carroll, however, Frazier was not exactly in motivational-speaker mode. Frazier reportedly could not string together a full sentence. Instead, he began bobbing and weaving like he was in the middle of a fight and repeatedly shouted, “fuck ‘em up, fuck ‘em up.”
So Kiffin pivoted. He led Frazier to the basketball gym, where a makeshift boxing ring and a raucous student section were waiting. Frazier and Kiffin both entered the ring and began to “box.” Despite Kiffin getting knocked down by a punch from Frazier, the fight was ruled a tie and both men were declared winners.
While Kiffin was eventually fired by NC State after three seasons and a below .500 record, his time in Raleigh became infamous for being remembered more for these moments than for anything that happened on Saturdays. At the same time, however, this period was profoundly important in his life. He saw the birth of both of his sons. He jumpstarted one of the most legendary coaching careers in football by giving Carroll his first coordinator job. And soon after his firing, Kiffin made the jump to the NFL, where he would become one of the most impactful defensive coaches of his era.
When the Pranks Went Pro
The move to the professional ranks did not stop Kiffin’s madness. During a stint with the Minnesota Vikings, Kiffin staged a fake fight with Vikings defensive lineman Keith Millard during training camp. Later, Kiffin had the equipment manager dress a mannequin in the exact clothes he was wearing and throw it off the roof of a nearby building. The spectacle terrified players on the practice field below, who believed their defensive coordinator had just fallen to his death.
Carroll, who was serving as Monte’s defensive backs coach at the time, found this prank so funny that he ended up doing it twice himself while he was head coach at USC. The first was nearly identical, with USC running back LenDale White playing the role of the person doing the tossing. A few years later, Carroll put a more elaborate spin on it. Instead of using a player, he hired a professional stuntman disguised as a camera operator on a hydraulic lift at practice. The stuntman then “fell” off the lift behind the fence, landing on a giant cushion out of sight.
Players and coaches panicked, thinking the man had just been killed. Then suddenly Will Ferrell emerged wearing a Lone Ranger mask, an Iron Man shirt with fake muscles, and a red Speedo stuffed with a towel “for maximum junkage,” carrying the supposedly injured cameraman. It was one of the most absurd moments in USC practice history.
The Apple & The Legacy
Kiffin’s influence is not hard to see across modern football. His Tampa 2 changed the way defense is played. His schemes helped the Buccaneers win a Super Bowl. Carroll adopted both his defensive philosophy and his laid-back, player-friendly personality and went on to win both a national championship and a Super Bowl. Lane became one of the most successful, and more importantly to Lane, famous head coaches in America.
Best of all, Monte got to coach alongside his son for years, something few coaches ever experience. Sadly, Monte Kiffin passed away in the summer of 2024. But his legacies, his antics, and the chaos he injected into the sport live on. And every time Lane posts a meme, subtweets a rival, or leans into a controversy just a little too much, you can see the same thing that made Monte legendary.
The apple, indeed, did not fall far from the tree.
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