The Early Years

Born on May 19, 1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska, Lane Monte Kiffin is a former college football player, NFL coach and currently serves as Head Coach for the Ole Miss Rebels at the University of Mississippi.

Kiffin was born into a football family, being the son of successful defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. Kiffin senior played in the NFL, beginning his professional playing career with the Minnesota Vikings in 1964.

It’s safe to say that growing up with a father in the industry meant that Kiffin was surrounded by the sport from a young age, and having graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1994, joined Fresno State University to play college football.

Playing as quarterback, he quickly gained experience playing in a competitive environment, however he pulled out from playing in his senior year in order to become the student assistant coach for the Bulldogs.

Kiffin graduated from Fresno State in 1998, after which he embarked on his professional career as a football coach.

Coaching History & Timeline

His first job was as a graduate assistant coach at Colorado State University for one year, before being selected as a quality control coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Obtaining a coaching position for an NFL side was an excellent achievement for Kiffin, having only graduated from college a couple of years earlier.

He quickly became a popular figure and was spotted by the Head Coach of the USC Trojans at the time, Peter Carroll. Carroll quickly hired Kiffin as an ends coach, in what would become a six year stint at the University of Southern California for Kiffin.

Between 2001 and 2006, Kiffin wore multiple hats being promoted to wide receiver coach, in addition to passing game coordinator. After proving to be an integral member of the team, he then made the step up to the position of offensive coordinator, working alongside Steve Sarkisian who was the assistant head coach at the time.

After a successful run at USC, Kiffin was hired to be the Head Coach for the Oakland Raiders in 2007. This was his first position as Head Coach for an NFL team, and it also made him Oakland’s youngest ever head coach at the age of just 31.

Kiffin had a poor first season, going 4-12, and controversy ensued with owner Al Davis famously not being happy with Kiffin’s performance and claiming Kiffin had not been conducting himself in a professional manner in several instances.

There were attempts to terminate Kiffin’s contract early, however he completed his season in 2008 before moving to the University of Tennessee.

He became the Head Coach at the University of Tennessee for one year in 2009, with an underwhelming, but nonetheless winning season going 7-6.

The season opener was a landslide victory against the University of Kentucky, with the Volunteers going 63-7 at home in Knoxville.

Two straight losses ensued against UCLA and the University of Florida before a win against Ohio University brought him to all square for his first four games.

A win loss pattern followed with Kiffin unable to gain momentum as coach for the Volunteers, even though they had some strong wins, notably against Vanderbilt going 31-16 and Georgia 45-19.

He finished his first and last season with the Volunteers with a losing match against Virginia Tech, losing 14-37.

He took up the position of Head Coach at a college where he’d found great success previously, the University of Southern California. He stayed on for three seasons before moving to the University of Alabama where he served as offensive coordinator, and then moving on to Florida Atlantic University as Head Coach.

Present Day

Kiffin’s most recent and current engagement came in 2020 when he took up the position of Head Coach, coaching the Ole Miss Rebels at the University of Mississippi.

As it stand his current college coaching record as Head Coach is 87-47.