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Remembering Monte | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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Remembering Monte | Arkansas Democrat Gazette


FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas football team held opponents to an average of 7.9 points in 1977 to rank third nationally in scoring defense, but the Razorbacks were even stingier against Oklahoma’s vaunted Wishbone offense.

Arkansas capped the season by beating the Sooners 31-6 in the Orange Bowl, played on Jan. 2, 1978 in Miami to finish 11-1 and ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll.

Monte Kiffin was in his first season as Arkansas’ defensive coordinator for Coach Lou Holtz and devised a new scheme that shut down No. 2 Oklahoma, which came into the Orange Bowl averaging 32.9 points.

The surprise Kiffin sprung on Oklahoma was having nose tackle Reggie Freeman play as an outside linebacker and shadow Sooners quarterback Thomas Lott while defensive tackles Dan Hampton and Jimmy Walker — both All-Southwest Conference players in 1977 and All-Americans as seniors in 1978 — tied up the offensive linemen and used their speed against the Sooners’ bulk to gain the advantage.

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“It was ingenious what Monte Kiffin did with Reggie, and it stopped Oklahoma dead in their tracks,” said Hampton, voted into the College Sports Hall of Fame in 2024. “There’s no bigger Exhibit A of how amazingly creative Monte Kiffin was. He was amazing.”

Kiffin, who helped Arkansas to a 30-5-1 record as defensive coordinator from 1977-79 before becoming North Carolina State’s head coach and going on to a lengthy NFL coaching career, died Thursday at age 84 in Oxford, Miss. Since 2020 he had been an analyst for his son, Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin.

“It was a shock to see that Monte had passed on,” Walker said. “I just remember him being so full of energy at Arkansas, and even after he left.

“Football lost a great coach and a great person.”

Kiffin was in the midst of his 13-year run as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defensive coordinator when he spoke to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette at the Senior Bowl in January 2005 about his time with the Razorbacks.

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Designing the “Tampa 2” defense is Kiffin’s claim to fame along with helping the Buccaneers beat the Oakland Raiders 48-21 in Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003, but he clearly enjoyed talking about Arkansas.

“I used to love playing in Little Rock at old War Memorial Stadium,” Kiffin said, his face lighting up with a big smile. “When they turned the lights on down there and everybody was screaming, ‘Wooo, Pig! Sooey!’ man, you talk about getting excited. That was awesome.”

A defensive lineman at Nebraska and native of Lexington, Neb., Kiffin was the Cornhuskers’ defensive coordinator from 1969-76 and helped them win back-to-back national championships in 1970-71.

“Beating Oklahoma the way we did in the Super Bowl ranks right up there with winning the national championships at Nebraska,” Kiffin said. “That game was one of the greatest thrills I’ve ever experienced.”

Kiffin laughed when told he said “Super Bowl” rather than “Orange Bowl” while talking about Arkansas beating Oklahoma.

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“Well, it was a super game for Arkansas,” Kiffin said. “I guess calling it ‘super’ shows how big it was to me.”

Hampton, a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee in 2002 after a 12-year career with the Chicago Bears, said the Razorbacks never questioned Kiffin changing the defensive scheme for Oklahoma.

“We weren’t sitting around in our hotel rooms in Miami thinking, ‘This is nuts. What the hell is Monte doing?’ ” Hampton said. “If he would have said, ‘Jump out of the hotel,’ we would have said, ‘Which floor?’

“We bought in and it worked out perfectly. Had Reggie ever played outside before? No. He was a nose tackle. But Monte put him out there in space, and Reggie became player of the game.”

Freeman had six sacks and was the Orange Bowl’s Defensive Most Valuable Player.

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“I wish everybody could have played for Monte Kiffin,” Hampton said. “He was that great.

“He had this infectious, crazy, wild-eyed look, and you’d see him and get excited and want to go out there and play 8 feet off the ground for him. Those two years I played for Monte was as fun as fun could get.”

Arkansas lost four key players on offense for the Orange Bowl — running backs Ben Cowins and Michael Forrest and receiver Donny Bobo were suspended by Holtz for disciplinary reasons and All-American offensive lineman Leotis Harris suffered a knee injury in practice — and Oklahoma was made an 18-point favorite by oddsmakers.

“I remember us having free time in Miami and going to the malls in our red and white jogging suits,” Walker said. “People would run up to us with their pads and pens for autographs thinking we were Oklahoma players, because we had basically the same colors.

“When they learned we were from Arkansas, they didn’t want anything to do with us. They’d say, ‘Oh well, never mind.’

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“We couldn’t wait to play Oklahoma, because nobody gave us a chance. But we knew how impactful our defense had been throughout the year, and we knew Oklahoma was going to have problems with us.

“As we watched film, Monte would point out things we could exploit, and we realized that Oklahoma played against teams like Ohio State and Nebraska with big, physical defensive linemen. They hadn’t played against teams with linemen as quick and fast as we were.”

Walker also recalled how Kiffin coached mental toughness.

“The biggest thing that impressed me with Monte was mind over matter,” Walker said. “I remember when we had a bowl practice in Fayetteville before the Orange Bowl and it was December and really cold. Monte took off his shirt and said, ‘Hey, it’s all in your mind that it’s cold.’

“We thought, ‘Man, he’s crazy.’ But to me, it worked because I stopped thinking about being cold during practice.”

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Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman in 2021 recalled meeting Kiffin in 1978. Kiffin scouted a game between Pittman’s Grove (Okla.) High School team that played Miami (Okla.).

“Miami was No. 1 and we were No. 100 in the league below them, and they ended up beating us 21-16,” Pittman said. “They scored late in the game.

“Coach Kiffin came into our locker room and talked about the fight and the grit of the Grove Ridgerunners.”

Larry Beightol was on Holtz’s Arkansas staff with Kiffin as the offensive line coach. Beightol, who died in April at age 81, also was a long-time NFL assistant coach.

“Monte’s the best defensive coordinator I’ve ever coached against or been around,”Beightol said in 2009. “He’s head and shoulders above the other guys.”

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Kiffin credited Harold Horton — Arkansas’ defensive line coach in 1977 — with making a major contribution to the Orange Bowl victory.

“We won because our defense controlled the line of scrimmage, and that was because of Harold’s guys,” Kiffin said in 2005. “Harold was a great coach. Not good — great.”

Horton played for the Razorbacks, was an Arkansas assistant coach from 1968-80 and later an administrator with the Razorback Foundation.

“I highly respected Monte Kiffin as a coach and as a person,” Horton said. “I enjoyed being around Monte. He would always be the first guy at work every morning, and I was the second, because I wanted to be where he was.”

Horton’s son, Tim, a former Arkansas player and assistant coach, told the story of his father and Kiffin having a disagreement before Kiffin’s first spring practice with the Razorbacks.

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Harold Horton, who had been coaching linebackers, moved to the defensive line position so Kiffin could coach linebackers.

“At Nebraska, Monte coached the flipper technique to get off blocks using your forearm,” Tim Horton, now an assistant coach at Air Force, said in recalling stories he heard from his father, Kiffin and Beightol. “Dad believed in using the hands technique, where you get your hands inside of a blocker’s pads and then you create separation by slinging him around.

“Going into spring practice, Monte told Dad, ‘Hey, I’ll let you try that hands technique the first day or two, but then we’re going to change and do it my way with the flipper technique.’

“The first contact drill in spring practice, the defensive line tore up the offensive line. Just demolished them. After practice Monte came up to Dad and said, ‘Harold, I think we’ll use that hands technique.’ “

Hampton said that during team meals, Kiffin often got lost in his thoughts.

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“Monte was kind of like the nutty professor,” Hampton said. “He’d be sitting there at dinner and everybody’s talking about this and that, and Monte would be off looking into space.

“You’d say, ‘Coach, you alright?’ He wouldn’t say anything, and then after a while, he’d say, ‘Yeah, I’m thinking about this defense.’

“He was picturing what we needed to do as a defense to combat whatever play the offense had coming at us.

“Monte Kiffin was one of a kind and just a glorious, glorious coach. God bless him.”

Walker said he appreciated that Kiffin cared about his players away from the field.

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“He’d come to the dorm and visit us and make sure we were doing OK,” Walker said. “Stuff that a lot of coaches just wouldn’t do, but that Monte did.”

Monte Kiffin at a glance

BORN Feb. 29, 1940 in Lexington, Neb.

DIED July 11, 2024 in Oxford, Miss (age 84)

AS A PLAYER Defensive lineman at Nebraska 1959-63. Had short stints professionally with the Minnesota Vikings, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Rifles and Brooklyn Dodgers 1964-66.

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AS A COACH

Nebraska graduate assistant 1966-68, defensive coordinator 1969-76

Arkansas defensive coordinator 1977-79

North Carolina State head coach 1980-82 (16-17 overall record, 8-10 ACC)

Green Bay Packers linebackers coach 1983

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Buffalo Bills linebackers coach 1984-85

Minnesota Vikings linebackers coach 1986-89

New York Jets linebackers coach 1990

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator 1991, linebackers coach 1992-94

New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator 1995

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator 1996-2008

Tennessee defensive coordinator 2009

Southern California defensive coordinator 2010-12

Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator 2013, assistant head coach for defense 2014

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive assistant 2016

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Florida Atlantic defensive assistant 2017-19

Ole Miss player personnel analyst 2020-23

NOTEWORTHY Defensive coordinator for Nebraska’s back-to-back national championship teams in 1970-71 … Helped Arkansas to a 30-5-1 record as defensive coordinator, highlighted by 31-6 victory over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl to cap the 1977 season … Credited with developing the “Tampa 2” defense … Tampa Bay’s defensive coordinator when the Buccaneers beat Oakland in the Super Bowl to cap the 2002 season … Only assistant coach inducted in the Tampa Bay Ring of Honor … Father of Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin.

    Monte Kiffin was in his first season as Arkansas’ defensive coordinator when the Razorbacks defeated Oklahoma 31-6 in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2, 1978. The Sooners came into the game averaging 32.9 points per game, but Kiffin’s defensive scheme shut the Sooners down. “There’s no bigger Exhibit A of how amazingly creative Monte Kiffin was,” defensive tackle and 2024 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Dan Hampton said. “He was amazing.” (Democrat-Gazette file photo)
 
 
  photo  Former Arkansas defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin died Thursday. Jimmy Walker, an All-American defensive tackle for the Razorbacks, said his former coach cared about his players on and off the field. “He’d come to the dorm and visit us and make sure we were doing OK,” Walker said. “Stuff that a lot of coaches just wouldn’t do, but that Monte did.” (Democrat-Gazette file photo)
 
 



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Arkansas

Why Ole Miss Should Beat the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday | Locked On Ole Miss Podcast

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Why Ole Miss Should Beat the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday | Locked On Ole Miss Podcast


Today’s Locked On Ole Miss Podcast discusses why Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels will beat the Arkansas Razorbacks in Saturday’s matchup. This will be the next opportunity to play clean football, and I think they will put it together against the Hogs and Sam Pittman and cut down on the penalties that have been allowing teams to stay in the game.

This matchup is absolutely massive for the Rebels because of what it means in the season as a whole, and Taylen Green against the Ole Miss defense will draw everyone’s eye. People look at the Arkansas stats and assume this is a typical Bobby Petrino team, and that isn’t quite right. John Nabors of Locked On Razorbacks said that if Ole Miss goes up by 14, it is over because this team is not a play-from-behind team.

In our final segment of the day, we give our final thoughts on Ole Miss vs. Arkansas and talk about expectations for Saturday and why everything points to an Ole Miss win, but Ole Miss fans before a trip to Fayetteville have seen this movie before.

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Ole Miss Football Reveals Uniform Combination For Road Game vs. Arkansas

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Ole Miss Football Reveals Uniform Combination For Road Game vs. Arkansas


The No. 19 Ole Miss Rebels have a big test on Saturday when they travel to face the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville, and we now know what uniform combination coach Lane Kiffin’s team will feature on the field.

For the first time in two years, the Rebels will not be wearing a different uniform combination in each of its regular season games. Ole Miss is reusing the uniform it wore earlier in the year at South Carolina, opting to don powder blue helmets, white jerseys with powder blue accents and white pants.

You can view the uniform reveal below, complete with modeling from edge rusher Princely Umanmielen.

Since this is the first year the Rebels have ever used this jersey, they are technically undefeated all-time in this uniform combination after knocking off South Carolina 27-3 in Columbia earlier this year. They hope that good luck follows them to Fayetteville this weekend, a place they have not won since 2008.

The last time Ole Miss reused a uniform combination during the regular season came in 2021, but the last time they did it in a campaign including the postseason was in 2022 when they repeated a uniform in the Texas Bowl against Texas Tech. Assuming this is the Rebels’ only road jersey in this year’s rotation, we should also see a repeat when Ole Miss travels to face Florida later in November.

Kickoff on Saturday between Ole Miss and Arkansas is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT, and the game will be televised on ESPN.





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Arkansas purchases Franklin County land for new prison site • Arkansas Advocate

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Arkansas purchases Franklin County land for new prison site • Arkansas Advocate


The state has purchased 815 acres in Charleston for $2.95 million to build a new prison to help alleviate overcrowding that requires housing inmates in county jails, Arkansas officials announced Thursday. 

The state spends roughly $30 million a year to house about 3,000 inmates in county facilities, according to a press release. More prison beds also likely will be needed in the future due to the Protect Arkansas Act. Backed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the 2023 law overhauls the state’s parole system and eliminates the possibility of parole for the most serious offenders.

“The Department of Corrections’ mission is to provide safety and hope for Arkansans, but we won’t accomplish that effectively without adequate bed capacity,” Secretary of Corrections Lindsay Wallace said in a statement. 

“Working with Governor Sanders, our Department has opened more than 1,100 prison beds to alleviate our state’s longstanding bed shortage and we plan to open hundreds more soon. With this new facility, we will add even more beds and deliver on our promises to the people of Arkansas.”

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Department of Corrections officials did not have an estimated timeline or a full cost estimate for the prison Thursday. The project is expected to create thousands of construction jobs, and once the prison is built, it’s estimated it will employ nearly 800 people at an annual average salary of $46,600, according to the release.

Located about a half hour east of the Oklahoma border, the secluded Franklin County site offers needed infrastructure for what’s expected to be a 3,000-bed facility, including cell phone reception, water lines, electricity and a nearby fire department, and it’s also close to thousands of workers who could staff the facility, officials said. 

Unofficial news about the purchase broke Wednesday when KDYN Radio announced in a social media post that Sanders would discuss the prison project on air Thursday afternoon. The news garnered hundreds of comments, many of which expressed displeasure about building a prison in the region and concerns about a lack of community input. 

Asked about these issues during Thursday’s broadcast, Sanders said local officials were not involved in the site selection process, which was “a state-funded, state decision,” but said some were notified ahead of the formal announcement. Sanders said her administration has been very open about building a new prison in the state and is committed to working with local stakeholders throughout the rest of the process.

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Additionally, Sanders said the project is a major economic investment in the area and will help improve public safety in the state. 

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“These people that we will be locking up in this prison can either be in this prison and in this facility where they are guarded or they can be in your community, and right now that’s our alternative,” Sanders said. 

“Right now we don’t have the space and we don’t have the ability to arrest and lock them up. So instead of letting people free, we can put them in this facility and make sure that our state and our communities are infinitely safer.”

The governor said she’d like to break ground as soon as possible, but noted it will likely be a couple of years before the facility is fully operational. The Board of Corrections must vote to approve the prison site before construction can begin, according to the governor’s office. 

It’s been two decades since the state last built a new prison. The first phase of the Ouachita River Correctional Unit opened in Malvern in 2004 when Sanders’ father, Mike Huckabee, was governor.  

Nearly 20 years later, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson proposed expanding the Corrections Department’s North Central Unit in Calico Rock by almost 500 beds using surplus funds. State lawmakers approved $75 million for the expansion in December 2022, but the project was put on hold when Sanders took office in January 2023.

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Arkansas prison board OKs managerial contract to develop new facility

Last November, the governor and attorney general began butting heads with the Board of Corrections over plans to expand the state’s prison capacity and who has ultimate authority over Arkansas’ correctional system. The dispute resulted in lawsuits and the firing of former Corrections Secretary Joe Profiri, who was then hired as a senior advisor to the governor. Officials said Thursday they anticipate relying on his expertise while building the new prison.

While discussions about a new prison continued, the Department of Corrections in August turned its attention to immediate expansions when officials announced more than 100 inmates were being moved into a vacant work release facility at the Tucker Unit in Jefferson County. Officials also announced nearly 325 additional beds were planned in three other state correctional facilities in Batesville, Texarkana and Newport. 

In September, Arkansas prison officials approved the acquisition of two facilities in Mississippi and Phillips counties for additional expansion opportunities. 

The Board of Corrections earlier this month voted to approve a contract with Vanir Construction Management to help oversee development of the new prison. 

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The board’s next meeting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Tucker Unit. The agenda includes a discussion about new bed space and an update on the county jail backup.

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