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Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin will be moving forward with a heavy heart this season after the recent passing of his father, distinguished NFL coach Monte Kiffin.

Monte Kiffin died Thursday at age 84, leaving behind a legacy in the “Tampa 2” defense that he pioneered during a football career spanning several decades.

That defense helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win Super Bowl XXXVII while Monte Kiffin was the coordinator. He had one three-year stint as a head coach, 1980-82 at North Carolina State, and otherwise made his mark as a coordinator and position coach.

“Really grateful and thankful to so many people that have supported this challenging week from all over the country,” Lane Kiffin said in his opening statement at SEC Media Days.

“It’s just an amazing outpouring of support, stories from former players, former coaches, and especially former staff of people in the building and how many friends came out of that in the Bucs community and family.”

The younger Kiffin alluded to a celebration of life planned for his father this Saturday in the Tampa area, but he took the time to honor his dad before getting into questions about the Rebels’ upcoming season.

“In my opinion, it’s not really the place or the time to go into a lot on this; that will be Saturday in Tampa,” Lane Kiffin said. “I’ll just say one thing. I’ve talked before about (Monte Kiffin) being my hero. I had a high school neighborhood friend, middle school friend, and he said hero is not really the right term for him, it’s superhero.

“It’s what (Monte Kiffin) was to the people that he touched. (The friend) used this term, and now I’m using this term in description of him, because I feel like there is very few superheroes and very few great 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.”

Lane Kiffin, entering his fifth season as Ole Miss’ head coach, said it was time for him to “show up” and get to work — it’s what his father would have wanted.

“I appreciate everything and already been a lot of questions about it. I understand that. I’m appreciative of that,” he said. “But as (Monte Kiffin) would say, his first rule when you put on the chalkboard back in the day to all players and coaches was to show up. First rule of getting better is you got to show up. Show up and do your job. That’s what I’m trying to do here.”

–Field Level Media