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Mike Detillier / Houma Courier
Today, when I think about former South Lafourche defensive lineman and Ole Miss head coach Ed Orgeron, I recall a conversation I had in 1995 with then New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.
Kiffin is currently the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator.
When doing a radio show for WWL 870-AM, Kiffin was a guest with Buddy Diliberto and myself. During the show’s break, I asked Kiffin what went wrong when he was the head coach at North Carolina State from 1980-1982.
“I thought I knew everything about coaching,” Kiffin said. “I had worked under guys like Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne at Nebraska and been the defensive coordinator for Lou Holtz at Arkansas. They were great teachers, but I learned that maybe I wasn’t quite ready at that time in my career to be a head coach. You have to be smart about assistants you hire, get good recruits and win quickly. I didn’t do a good enough job in any of those three areas. I was just fortunate that after I was fired, Bart Starr, who was the head coach with the Green Bay Packers back then, hired me and gave me a new life in the pro ranks.”
After a few seconds of laughter, Kiffin added, “Maybe I just wasn’t wired right to be a head coach.” Full Story - Courierhttp://www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080127/SPORTS/928925705/1103/SPORTS02