Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin Uses ‘Pro Mindset’ to Prepare Rebels for 2024 Season and NFL Careers
OXFORD, Miss. — Lane Kiffin frequently refers to the “pro mindset” in how he approaches everything regarding his Ole Miss team. While his career as a head coach in the National Football League lasted only one year, the Rebels’ head coach has taken that experience and incorporated it nicely into his college career.
With Ole Miss sitting at No. 1 in the 2024 transfer portal rankings, Kiffin is known as the “Portal King” in the college game’s version of free agency. He and the Ole Miss staff have navigated the uncharted waters of Name, Image and Likeness, which is almost like dealing with an NFL salary cap.
But Kiffin is also using other pro football tools to make the Rebels successful on the field.
This spring, he implemented an almost no-tackling rule in practice. That is something that causes an unknown for the defense during drills, but it has worked well in the pros.
“Really pleased where we’re at, you know I don’t know about the tackling part because we’ve stayed away from that from a scrimmage standpoint. We’ll do that in the fall, much more of an NFL model that way, but very pleased where we’re at otherwise.“
Lane Kiffin during spring practice
Kiffin has not perfected the NFL model all by himself. He has had help from his staff that, like Kiffin, has spent plenty of time in the league.
Kiffin’s father, Monte, is a defensive analyst for the Rebels and might be the most overqualified analyst in the history of the sport. The elder Kiffin has served as a defensive assistant with the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars. He has also been the defensive coordinator with the Cowboys, Vikings, New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While in Tampa Bay, Monte was the architect of the famed “Tampa 2” defense which led the Bucs to a Super Bowl title. Three members of that defense, Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch are each enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The elder Kiffin was inducted into the Tampa Bay Ring of Honor in 2021, becoming the 14th inductee into the Bucs Ring of Honor and the only assistant coach to have that prestigious recognition.
His son is quietly assembling perhaps one of the strongest personnel staffs in the nation. He recently added two more powerhouses, Mike Williams and Joe Judge, to an already loaded group in Oxford.
Williams is a former NFL director of personnel, while Judge is a former head coach of the New York Giants who also served as an assistant in the NFL and as an analyst for Nick Saban.
Kiffin had already made some monster personnel moves during this offseason following the Rebels’ record-breaking 11-win season in 2023. In February, he hired general manager Billy Glasscock away from Texas, followed by the hire of former Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett in March. Then, the Rebels added SMU’s Alex Brown, general manager for the Mustangs, to the staff in Oxford.
“I just try to say, ‘Okay, this is where it is,’ and try to look at things a different way,” Coach Kiffin said of his staff-building this spring.
“You need to have really good personnel people because now you got, just like the NFL, you got all these investment pieces where people are paying players.”
Lane Kiffin on staff additions
With all the changes to the collegiate process, including collectives and NIL, the portal and multiple-time transfers, Kiffin is smart to add personnel experts who have experience navigating such waters.
Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, Jr., spent time as an assistant with the Atlanta Falcons and the Patriots, while passing game coordinator George McDonald was an assistant with the Cleveland Browns.
Running back coach Kevin Smith also spent five years playing for the Detroit Lions.
Ole Miss fans didn’t have to wait until the fall to see the NFL influence on the Rebels. Kiffin introduced the “Grove Bowl Games” as opposed to the format of the former Grove Bowl games. This inaugural event was patterned around the 7-vs-7 and skills competitions showcased at the Pro Bowl.
“I would kind of describe it as kind of a Pro Bowl Plus,” Kiffin said beforehand. “Meaning the 7-vs-7 would look like what you’ve watched in the Pro Bowl before, the flag football part,” he explained.
Kiffin and the Rebels are known for sending players to the NFL. And with so many top players like Jaxson Dart and Tre Harris returning for the 2024 season and the addition of transfers Walter Nolen, Princely Umanmielen and Juice Wells, who are projected to go high, the 2025 draft could feature a huge number of Rebels.
With Lane Kiffin’s pro-mindset blueprint, a talented staff with NFL experience, and players who have all bought in, expect even more Rebels in the NFL in the future.
Steve Barnes
Steve Barnes joins The Rebel Walk staff as a senior writer and brings a trifecta of journalistic experience. As a writer, he has covered college sports for Rivals.com, Football.com and SaturdayDownSouth.com as well as served as a beat writer for various traditional newspapers.
He has been a broadcaster for arena football and several national tournament events for the National Junior College Athletic Association as well as hosting various shows on radio.
A former sports information director at Albany (Ga.) State University and an assistant at Troy and West Florida, he has helped host many NCAA conference, regional and national events, including serving five years on the media committee of the NCAA Division II World Series.
Barnes, a native of Pensacola, Fla., attended Ole Miss in 1983-84, where his first journalism teacher was David Kellum. The duo has come a long way since that time.
He will bring a proven journalistic track record, along with a knack for finding the out-of-the-ordinary story angles to The Rebel Walk.
Barnes continues to reside in Pensacola a mere ten minutes from the beach because he does have taste and a brain.
